Thoughts

I am travelling from Bangalore to Mumbai in a fairly "full" train with a confirmed upper berth in one of those AC bogies. One round of checking by the ticket inspector - all set - everyone has ticket. [6 hours into the journey] "You need to pay a fine" says a special inspector to a co-passenger and reads out the rule "You need to carry your original proof of identity mentioned at the time of reservation for Tatkal tickets". This poor co-passenger has (his agent who booked the ticket) mentioned PAN card as the proof of identity and this chap does only have a color photocopy of the PAN card and not the original. The ticket collector does not budge even after the co-passenger shows him his original driving license and few other original photo identity documents; sticking to the rule by rereading it. The co-passenger finally pays up and collects the receipt with some monetary support from one of his co-passenger. As I walk along the aisle I see the same ticke

My bank mentioned that they had couriered the two Demand Drafts that I had ordered online by Courier. [6 days later] The courier is yet to arrive after 3 calls to the courier call center with the large number of digits ABW number. The call center response (in Hindi translated to English) It is only four days since your courier has been posted. The two letters did not have to travel a whole lot of distance; may be 20 kms in Mumbai. It should have taken lesser time for even the slowest half-marathon runner, ughh. In the name of technology, where we can track our courier, we get to know that we have not received but the actual receiving is pre historic. Why even the Indian Post (which is generally a target of humor) would have delivered the letter sooner! We build technology (helps you know the status of the courier!) but do not use technology to make sure the courier is delivered. Where are we heading? Technology should better the whole process isn't it?

This is a suggestion that I thought I should communicate so that it will be useful to passengers who use Indian Railway (IR). I have often traveled in train and I very frankly I have never traveled in the allocated berth especially when I travel alone. Why? There is always an elderly lady or gentleman who has been alloted an upper berth and the request is made for a change with the lower berth. I have no problem giving up the lower berth for the elderly. However I feel we can avoid this situation. How? Let us say at the time of booking IR does not assign the seat numbers but only mentions that the ticket is confirmed or not. Only at a later date say 1 week or 1 day before the journey (so that it is quite clear who will travel and who will not) the seat allocation is made which possibly can make use of the age to determine who gets the lower berth. That way atleast the elderly will be assured of a lower berth (which they rightfully deserve) and would not have to "ask" a co-pa