Some mornings be like…..
It’s a beautiful Wednesday morning…. One of those real rare weekday moments where the kids have got ready on time without much of my vocal chords put to use and we wave them off with a dreamy smile (picture the hearts for eyes emoji).
I even afford to have a relaxed sit down tea session as hubby dearest is not in a hurry to rush to work.
But don’t be too quick in saying what a decent lucky day she’s having as this is just an ironic prefatory to what lies ahead!
Let’s cut to a quick background….My husband is from Ranchi and most of his family are now settled in Bihar. Its been almost three years since we’ve visited and so we pull up our sleeves and dare ourselves on planning a trip.
I say this only because the best way to reach my in-laws is by taking a direct train journey of a minimum of 36 hours and that is not even the beginning of our worries!
The real challenge lies in getting the train tickets! Big deal you may say. Well, its Bihar we are talking of…
The trains to this place are madly overbooked throughout the year and if you ask an agent to book for you….they look at you as if you have asked for their kidneys
To hell with them…we decide to book ourselves. The journey dates are fixed. The plan is laid out. The route options are decided. We check and double check the date on which we should be booking — that’s exactly four months prior to the date of journey.
You must be smirking by now. Why is she fussing about it?!
Mind you….this is of utmost importance. You have to deal with this with utmost precision and strategy.
Back to our ‘so far…almost perfect’ Wednesday morning — The D-day has arrived. After tea, as the clock ticks towards 8am, I start to get slightly edgy, nervous even…my palms get sweaty and I am getting jumpy at the slightest of disturbances. Thank God the kids are not home.
Hubby dear is ready with all his credit and debit cards, his phone for the OTP. His nephew (who’s family is also planning the trip with us) is equally well prepared and will parallely be trying to book on different train routes.
I login at 7.45….I play around the website to stay logged in. I check the availability of seats and quickly refer to the train name, number and passenger name list which I had jot down the previous day.
The IRCTC website has really taught me patience over the years. I need no damn Yoga or meditation for that….Its a perfect place to learn to hold your nerves in the most stressful of situations.
The clock strikes 8 and I click on ‘Book Now’ like I have never clicked before! I feverishly fill up all columns and type in all the required details at the speed of a bullet train.
It’s 8:02 am already!
I cross verify all the details filled and click on submit. Now its like our whole life depends on it. Anything could happen you see! The site could just refuse to move on to the payment gateway or the payment gateway may not open my preferred bank or mode of payment or it coud simply crash and log me out.
Well nothing of that sort happens…Phew! It really seems to be a good Wednesday morning J
It is 8:03! I chant the gayatri mantra while I wait for the payment page to load…..and guess what…I get a WL249!
I could kill someone right there. Nephew calls with no luck either. We don’t want to give up. I try to book a train via Patna…break journey means more challenges — long wait time between the two breaks, multiple train journeys, hopping between different stations and worst of all multiple instances of ticket bookings on IRCTC!
I don’t care at this point….I jab the details like a pro….none available…I get WL 186!
I try our last option…..We try the Kolkatta route. I am keying in the info for the third time…I swear I could type with my eyes closed now! Duronto is available! Oh sweet Mother of God. My hubby by now is cheering me more than he cheered the Indian team against PAK or Afghanistan in the ongoing World Cup!
We finally manage to book confirmed tickets at 8:10am for a group of 7 people who are now surely going to Kolkatta but are yet to figure out how to reach our destination in Bihar.
The quest for connecting trains for the onward journey will begin tomorrow. I am exhausted — probably more exhausted than the actual 36 to 40 hours of journey we intend to take in four months time plus only to realise that we have spent so much money on this Duronto that we coud probably have managed a flight instead J
Ha! The irony of it.