Indian Railways & Nirvana
Indian Railways Launch Mobile Ticketing: SMS To Be Used As Proof Of Ticket
I hope the experience here would be unlike IRCTC.
Booking a (particularly tatkal) ticket through IRCTC meant you should have achieved “inner peace” and not really bother even if no ticket is booked but money from your account is gone.
I ensure I have a good sound sleep the night before I book a tatkal ticket, get up early in the morning, meditate, read Bhagawat Gita (“What did you bring to the world” piece), boot up the PC by 730 am and be in the IRCTC page by 745 and keep refreshing till 8 am. And yeah, I should be knowing the train numbers & other such details by heart. If only I miss one of the the things mentioned above, all I would see is a “Service Not Available” page. More the mistakes, more the pain - I will be given the illusion of having booked a ticket only to show “Service Not Available” at the last moment. If I login again, no tickets would be available. The money gone from my account (& the service charge, tax, education cess etc) would come back to my account after a few days!
See IRCTC failure rates here.
I strongly feel only people who are absolved of 5 of the 7 deadly sins are eligible for tatkal tickets
Greed: Never ever think you can book more tickets than you deserve
Sloth: Try to open the IRCTC page at 8 am and you will know!! You got to in there at 745.
Wrath: If you get angry because you got a ‘service unavailable’, it will only continue. This is where good sleep and inner peace helps
Envy: If you deserve a ticket, you will get it. Never be envious because someone else has a ticket. It will only compound the situation
Pride: You have a fast internet connection? You have 10 different cards from which you can pay? And you are proud of that? IRCTC will prove you wrong! Use any connection and pray that at least one of your cards works
May be, the other 2 sins (Gluttony & Lust) are also applicable. Just that I do not know!!
Tail Piece: The new site https://www.indianrailways.gov.in/ does not open even at 8 pm. Wonder why? I know. I had a disturbed sleep last night.
