Hi All,
Am back to my karmbhumi, had a nice time @ home and enjoyed the function back home. Train journey was pretty hectic but then looking at the other people who travelled the way they did ... it was much easier for me, i must say!
And not at all surprising, train was full .. with people travelling with tickets confirmed, waiting list, RAC ( i belonged here) and ticketless! One thing i saw was ticket checkers actually charging penalties to illegal travellers, damn strict they were, i agree people would have bribed them for sure .. but overall .. they way TCs behaved was a welcome change.
I could get my ticket confirmed (legally) and moved to my new place. Chained my luggage and went to my friend's seat in AC compartment. Had to cross around 10 bogies to reach his A1 coach. kya batao ... full bheed, people everywhere, i even saw people running in toilets seeing the TC penalizing people and not bending his rules.
Retuned to my seat at around 9:30pm but it was not so easy. As i tried to cross AC coach to Sleeper compartment, i found the door locked and hence connection lost. Doors were closed and i had to plead to the police at the station to allow me opening the door and swiftly move to the Sleeper compartment.
Funniest part was .. as i was crossing bogies to reach my coach, i had to stop at the end of AC coach as the next connection was closed (connecting door locked), now i had to find the attender and request him to open the door for me. Now a general question came to my mind ... "where does the AC coach attender sleep?" - My Ans: "The cupboard in which he keeps all pillows, blankets which is just besides the coach door" (hope u have seen this earlier). So i thought and i turned to see if anyone is in the cupboard sleeping and i saw two people sleeping in two cabinets. (k. gr8! my thinking was right) ... so i asked one person who was awake ... "Saheb, jara connecting door open kar doge, mera sleeper ka confirm ticket hai, mujhe cross karna hai!!!" ..... and he replied ..... "Saheb, i m not the coach attender, am a waiting list traveller, ticket not confirmed, so i paid the penalty and me and the person sleeping in other cabinet, both are travelleing"
I was shockedddddd!! ;-)
That summed it up all ... this was yesetrday's pathetic condition ... !!
Luckily i got the berth and i didnt have to search for any such cabinets!
