The Sunday Scroll #7 – Woes of a Traveller!

Hi all!

Yes, Sunday is back again and so am I with the Sunday Scroll! This Sunday turned out to be a bit lot different than expected.

Expected: Morning in train, few hours away from my college city.

Reality: Waking up early morning at home :/

Courtesy: Indian Railways, can’t be anything else!

It happened for the first time that after everything was set and all stuff packed (that is now sitting in the corner of my bedroom), I didn’t go. No, I didn’t cancel my plan but Railways made me do that. The ticket that was booked in the day the dates were open was still waitlisted! Being the e-ticket that it was, the moment chart was prepared me and my friend became W/T instantly! So that left us with no other option other than the cancellation.

Let bygones be bygones, but what I experienced today was a experience one of  a kind (yet another first). I along with my dad went for Tatkal reservation in the morning. I had heard that people get there hours before the counter opens but never had thought that I would be one of them one day, today was this “one day”. Counter opens at 10, and I reached there at 7! My friend also joined me sometime later. After waiting for two hours or so, fidgeting while in queue, we got the tokens for the reservation. But getting the token also wasn’t so easy! Why, you must be thinking if there was a proper separate queue for men and women both. Well, Is there anything proper and disciplined in this over-populated country? Surely NO!!! And Railway Stations are the worst place to expect this! There were some men for control and management if something went out of hand or some notorious lot created ruckus! They had laathis in hand to be ready for anything that might come. A lady-policeman was there too. It seemed like a battlefield for tickets rather than a reservation counter! Phew!

Finally after the tokens, we got a seat to rest. Although I didn’t have much hope of getting the reservation done but  the quick processing at counters gave me a little hope. But these hopes were soon shattered as the clock struck 10 and the Tatkal Reservation was available for the next day. It just took a minute when the clock showed 10.01 and all the Tatkal Quota seats vanished with waiting list shooting up by each second! Unbelievable!  Dejected with all hope shattered, we returned home empty-handed! 🙁

If I would have heard of someone’s experience like this, I surely wouldn’t have believed. But after having such tiresome and hope-crushing experience in the scorching-summer Sunday morning of May, I can only say that it adds up to my “Worst Travel Experiences” list! (Oh yes, I have a list of experiences worse than this, which can surely be compiled into a book some day! 😛 )

And now for those who were curious to know what I painted last week, its my sister’s Tee that she wanted me to paint. I share it here (reluctantly): (Pardon me for the poor picture quality)

Until we meet again,

Keep Smiling!