Monday, May 31, 2010

Railway Tickets: Everyone should stand in the queue


I don’t think I should write anything about the overcrowded local trains in Mumbai. It’s already told many times before, and I don’t want to sound repetitive. The issue I want to bring forth is the difference in people’s behavior in first class compartment from that of the people traveling in the second class compartments. This is hard to digest, but if you travel in the second class compartment, you enjoy certain facilities which never appear in 1st class.

If you see some people hanging outside a 2nd class compartment, don’t be disappointed. Some people will still pull you in, and share the little or no space with you. In 1st class, when all the seats are occupied, some people stand near the entrance to stop others from entering. They will deliver dialogues like “there is no more space inside.” When they find anyone not dressed up properly, they announce “this is first class.”

Every compartment in the local trains have two long seats where almost 7 people can sit and each of the rest of the seats can allow 3 butts to be rested on them. However, in the second class if it is crowded, four people adjust in the small seats and 8 to 9 people adjust in the long ones; in 1st class, this will be the 8th wonder.

Though the people who travel in the second class exhibit so much of benevolence and adjustments which bring in extra revenue for the railway department, the administration has been very unfair with them. The dept. doesn’t provide separate counters for issuing passes. You will find passes for both the classes being issued in a single counter. On top of that, you don’t need to stand in the queue if you are opting for a 1st class ticket or pass though others, sometimes, stand hours in the queue.

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