Recently I had to go to Mumbai for an official training along with 3 other friends of Eastern Region. It’s a long journey by train to Mumbai, so we thought to book our tickets from a place which would be convenient for the four of us. Therefore we decided to book our tickets from Patna, the date of departure was 18th.
We all were excited about this training, or to be more precise the long train journey in company of one other, and what all we could do in Mumbai. This trip was for us like a lucky and much anticipated break from the daily rigmarole of life ( company’s life). We used to share with each other our plans, and what all we would do there. Little had we known that the age old proverb- don’t count your chickens before they hatch- would apply on us.
On 15th, the state of West Bengal witnessed another incident which was to being the state to a virtual halt for the next 2-3 days. Congress MLAs were beaten/ chased away by a section of crowd ( allegedly CPM activists) when they had gone to visit Dhanyarukhi village (175 KMs from Kolkata) on “ humanitarian” grounds. This was like a wish come true for a party like Congress, which foresees more prominent role for itself in times to come in the politics of the state. So they called for a Bandh on 16th and 17th in the state. It was less to do with the protest but more about showing the caliber/ unity of its activists who for long had been relegated to menial role in the state politics, playing second fiddle to Trinamul Congress. They did exactly what other political parties’ activists had done in the past- burning buses, vehicles, disrupting traffic and virtually bringing Kolkata and other parts of state to halt-. Kolkata is the only metropolitan of the Eastern Region, capital of the state, and the biggest business center of East, and if the city is brought to halt, it automatically bags the National Headlines( and so do the activists). Historically also Kolkata has been like a magnet for all protesters and this occasion was also no different.
Coming back to our trip, one of our friends had to come from Siliguri to Patna. He was to board the train on 17th afternoon 2 PM, and it was exactly 2 PM when I got a call from him that he wouldn’t be able to join us for the journey as his train got cancelled due to the Bandh. The Buses were not plying, no trains towards Patna and to add to the abrupt end of JOurneY, I had booked the ticket for the four of us on Tatkal Quota. It was less than 24 hours for the scheduled journey to Mumbai and so tickets couldn’t be cancelled.
The three of us meanwhile continued our journey. The Ticket Examiner asked for the tickets and the four of us and on finding that one was not there, gave the tickets to another fellow of his choice. So for the 1 berth of the train, the Railways charged us Rs 300 more for Tatkal Quota, no option for us to cancel the ticket, and to add to it, gave our vacant berth to another passenger for additional revenue--A loss for me in monetary terms, a gain in terms of experience--.
Intelligent strategy, for the one who devised the “smart” concept of Tatkal, and the booking/cancellation rules for it.
Strange ways of protest, smart way of increasing revenue, and the mute spectator!!
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