The Race against time..er..you could say that
Its actually quite fun unless you have too much at stake..
I am talking about booking tatkal railway ticket on the internet. (tatkal ticket means you have extra seats which get unlocked on the day before your train which you have to book as soon as possible or it gets filled up.) Kind of like a new level of a game… I never compared this to a game till today.
It starts in the morning at 7:30…everything is set. The computer is on, the net is connected, the site is opened. Then comes the wait till 8:00. Exactly at 8 every single person who needs a ticket gets started.
In our home we open 3 browsers(IE, Firefox and Chrome) simultaneously with different ID’s . Sometimes if the laptop is available even that is utilized. You fill everything up, you give the payment option and wait with pessimistic thoughts cluttering the mind.
- will it get stuck or not
- will the internet connection fail you as always or not
- will the bank decide to take out the money or not…
And most importantly
- Did the ticket get booked or did you just lose money
- Or did the ticket get booked but became wait listed ticket in the time you took to use internet banking.
Like I said…. if the ticket doesn’t matter it’s quite fun..but most often this is not the case.
The story usually ends in getting frustrated over lost money or ticket or both…The alternate ending which happens occasionally is getting the much desired ticket. if not immediately…atleast in awhile…
After all like we say in college…. ‘It Happens’… 🙂
Just think of how each one of us get connected. We don’t know each other…yet the competition which ensues is quite exciting in a very different way 😉
P.S. We got the ticket after much frustration and angst