My parents in laws are coming on 21st September, 2009. So it’s almost three months away. They will be spending the Durga Puja with us. We plan to go to Nainital together when they come. One good habit that I have is I always plan my tours early. Last time I went to Lansdowne I booked my Hotel and Train ticket almost two months back. Such an advance booking was not necessary but then I hate taking chances. I think this is one of the reasons I never invest in the stock market. And so I am not rich. Bank FDs don’t make you rich.
So after doing all my research on Nainital, I found the best way to go there from Delhi is to take the Ranikhet Express. It leaves Old Delhi at around 10 pm and reaches Kathgodam at 6am: just an overnight journey. From Kathgodam, Nainital is around 30 kms away. I logged in to IRCTC website to book the tickets. I wanted to book for 1st October. The date was 90 days away so booking not available. Rail tickets can be booked maximum three months (90 days) in advance. Just for curiosity I checked the 30th September status. Good Lord! All tickets in waiting list. I checked for other dates in September. Most of the dates showed RAC or waiting list in 3rd AC. Few seats were available in 2nd AC but then those were in the middle of the week. This seems to be an extremely in demand train. So I decided that tomorrow I will wake up early and book the tickets when internet booking starts from 5.30am. I can’t take any chances.
I woke up at 5am and logged in. Soon the booking facility was available and I checked for ticket availability in Ranikhet Express. I got message in the pop up box. As today is the first booking day (the date is exactly 90 days away), booking facility will be available from 8am. No problem. I logged out. Soon I logged in at 8am and checked for the availability in 3rd AC. Only 13 tickets were left. No chance of getting a lower berth. What to do? It’s difficult for my mom to climb an upper berth. Anyway, I decided to get the tickets first. Berth doesn’t matter. We will see if a lower berth can be arranged once we board the train. It was 8.07 am. When I tried to book my tickets the availability status got changed to RAC3/RAC4. So within seven minutes, the entire 3rd AC seats got booked. It’s almost like six seven coaches. I checked for 2nd Ac. It was in waiting list mode.
When an entire train gets booked in 10 minutes flat, suspicion is bound to rise. Something like that movie "Gone in 60 seconds". I am sure the guys at the railways in coordination with the touts have something to do with this. Normally it’s almost impossible to book a train in ten minutes even if everybody logs in exactly at 8am for online booking. Theoretically it is possible but practically impossible.
So I am looking for our Rail Mantri’s address. I need to bring this to her notice. She has told that her agenda over the next five years will be “Ma, mati and manush” (Mother, soil and people). And I represent the people.
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This is my observation canvas! These are my opinions, my stories, my rantings, my bitching about everything under the sun. And this is also the place where I laugh at myself! And I hope to share the laughter with you too, dearest visitor. One more thing..if you donot like something in this blog do let me know. Like the pictures..all via google images..if you have a problem just inform me. And there might be loads of mistakes in my writing...point it out then pls forgive and forget..ok?
