This incident is worth sharing. Three years back, I was travelling from my hometown Nellore to Hyderabad in Sleeper Class. When I booked my ticket, it was in waiting list. However, I got a confirmed berth on the date of journey. I boarded the train, showed my ticket to the TTE and occupied my berth.
After an hour, the train stopped at the next station where five pretty ladies occupied the remaining berths in my coupe. They were well-dressed, seemed to be literate (I can’t call them educated because you’ll come to know why). Within a few minutes after they entered the coupe, they started claiming the berth I was sleeping on as theirs. They even pulled out an e-ticket (the one you can print when you book a ticket online) as a proof of their claim. Without even crosschecking the claims, the TTE (The Travelling Ticket Examiner) raised his voice and asked me to get off my berth. I tried to explain that I had already shown him my ticket and reminded him that he himself cross-checked my credentials just an hour back when I boarded the train. But he was not in a listening mode and demanded I vacate my berth (the upper one).
It was 11 O’clock in the night. Most of the travelers in the coach were sleeping. I didn’t feel like creating a scene with an altercation. I got down from my berth and showed him my ticket. He verified the same again and felt convinced that the berth I was occupying was allocated to me only. By this time, he got to know who the culprit was. It was then one of the pretty ladies murmured, “we booked six tickets but canceled one.” They made this statement in such a shameless manner. The same TTE who raised his voice against me, didn’t even utter a single word at the women for misleading everyone. He simply left the place, neither admonishing them nor tendering an apology. At that moment, he appeared incompetence personified to me.
When the five ladies knew they had only five tickets, how could they claim they have six?
Here’s what they have done:
They booked six tickets initially, took a print of the ticket. After a few days, when they realized one of them would not be travelling, they cancelled one ticket on the IRCTC website. However, they carried the first ticket which showed the number of travelers as six. They were very sure that by doing so they could simply claim the cancelled ticket also belongs to them since they were carrying a copy of a ticket for six passengers. These ladies were probably not aware the Railway Reservation system would automatically update its database, and any cancelled tickets would be allocated to those in waiting list.
This kind of things happen only in Indian train journeys because everyone knows the railway employees/police and even the fellow travelers will be biased in favor of the fairer sex whenever there’s an argument. The ladies had also their mother/aunt travelling with them. I asked her how they could make such a false claim. There was no response from her. I just blasted the TTE and warned him that he should get his basics in place without getting carried away by false claims. I was surprised at the way he handled this because he would have the final list of passengers and their berth data with him. He was so excited to see the women and was simply swept away by the claims they made. It was an occasion for him to prove his heroism.
The next morning, when the train was about to reach the destination, these ladies woke up early and started indulging in a banter. Some of them were talking in torrents while the others kept powdering their faces and applying lipstick. I got down from my berth and looked at them. I didn’t see even an iota of regret on their faces. The previous night’s false claim they made was like a water off a duck’s back. They were just enjoying the journey as if nothing happened.
I’m sure they had the nerve to pull off an unsuccessful claim because they were women, and moreover in instances like this most of the folks (including the train attendants) would be with them, trying to belittle the version of a fellow male passenger.
After an hour, the train stopped at the next station where five pretty ladies occupied the remaining berths in my coupe. They were well-dressed, seemed to be literate (I can’t call them educated because you’ll come to know why). Within a few minutes after they entered the coupe, they started claiming the berth I was sleeping on as theirs. They even pulled out an e-ticket (the one you can print when you book a ticket online) as a proof of their claim. Without even crosschecking the claims, the TTE (The Travelling Ticket Examiner) raised his voice and asked me to get off my berth. I tried to explain that I had already shown him my ticket and reminded him that he himself cross-checked my credentials just an hour back when I boarded the train. But he was not in a listening mode and demanded I vacate my berth (the upper one).
It was 11 O’clock in the night. Most of the travelers in the coach were sleeping. I didn’t feel like creating a scene with an altercation. I got down from my berth and showed him my ticket. He verified the same again and felt convinced that the berth I was occupying was allocated to me only. By this time, he got to know who the culprit was. It was then one of the pretty ladies murmured, “we booked six tickets but canceled one.” They made this statement in such a shameless manner. The same TTE who raised his voice against me, didn’t even utter a single word at the women for misleading everyone. He simply left the place, neither admonishing them nor tendering an apology. At that moment, he appeared incompetence personified to me.
When the five ladies knew they had only five tickets, how could they claim they have six?
Here’s what they have done:
They booked six tickets initially, took a print of the ticket. After a few days, when they realized one of them would not be travelling, they cancelled one ticket on the IRCTC website. However, they carried the first ticket which showed the number of travelers as six. They were very sure that by doing so they could simply claim the cancelled ticket also belongs to them since they were carrying a copy of a ticket for six passengers. These ladies were probably not aware the Railway Reservation system would automatically update its database, and any cancelled tickets would be allocated to those in waiting list.
This kind of things happen only in Indian train journeys because everyone knows the railway employees/police and even the fellow travelers will be biased in favor of the fairer sex whenever there’s an argument. The ladies had also their mother/aunt travelling with them. I asked her how they could make such a false claim. There was no response from her. I just blasted the TTE and warned him that he should get his basics in place without getting carried away by false claims. I was surprised at the way he handled this because he would have the final list of passengers and their berth data with him. He was so excited to see the women and was simply swept away by the claims they made. It was an occasion for him to prove his heroism.
The next morning, when the train was about to reach the destination, these ladies woke up early and started indulging in a banter. Some of them were talking in torrents while the others kept powdering their faces and applying lipstick. I got down from my berth and looked at them. I didn’t see even an iota of regret on their faces. The previous night’s false claim they made was like a water off a duck’s back. They were just enjoying the journey as if nothing happened.
I’m sure they had the nerve to pull off an unsuccessful claim because they were women, and moreover in instances like this most of the folks (including the train attendants) would be with them, trying to belittle the version of a fellow male passenger.
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