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Rules for whom?

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 ticket collector now with a gray haired senior gentleman with the same argument. You have to show me your original PAN card because your agent has mentioned that that is your identity and I will not look at any other form of identity. The senior pleads to deaf ears.

I finally ask the ticket inspector. You know these guys are genuine (because they look the same as the photo on their identity though the PAN is only a photocopy) so why are you so insisting on original photo identity only of a certain kind? He says "These are the rules, I need to do my duty".

Pattern matching are for machines that have no brain of their own. But that ticket inspector that day was behaving like a machine. Work to rule, but shouldn't we use our brain?

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