Lessons learnt

Talking of train experiences worth remembering...I remember a case of ticketless traveling that I was into.
It was a journey from Kanpur to Delhi some time in the end of 2005, when I was a student at IIT. I think I was heading towards Delhi for my dussehra vacations. Though my parents were in Pune then, I don’t remember what was bringing me to Delhi...anyway!!
Ohhh...now I remember, those were the days’ when doing a Ph.D. was all I ever wanted in life...so I was going to Delhi to take my GMAT. That exam was another joke that I had played on myself...more on that later!!
It was the lucknow shatabdi that passed by Kanpur station, halting for a few minutes. It was suppose to take the entire evening thereafter to reach Delhi. But trains were the best way to get out of Kanpur to any metro, so I was indeed using the best means of getting out of Kanpur. Though the mean being used was best but not the journey...so to say..
Well, I hurried onto my designated compartment (I did have a designated compartment, what did u think, I wasn’t even carrying a ticket, of course I was!!) as soon as the train came to a halt. I didn’t have much time to check for nitty-gritty’s except the correct compartment number. With a two minute halt, u aren’t even expected to check on any other details...
Well, I was inside the compartment, all relieved of the anxiety. Anxiety of whether I will be able to board it in such a short duration of time; And to top it all, I was not in Maharashtra where earmarking of bogies is impeccable. It was just a station in UP, and the rest can well be understood by those who have lived there, and even better understood by those who have never, because places in UP & Bihar are more infamous than there actual practical self...I better not elaborate on that...it a sensitive issue these days, and specially sitting in some 5 sq ft of space that can be traced back as property of Maharashtra govt, I better not even talk about it...
Once on board, I was immediately on task to find my seat. When I finally pushed through the commotion of all having newly boarded the train onto my assigned sat, I saw an uncle ji of what looked like a sweet old couple well ensconced on my seat. I politely mentioned my reservation on the seat number only to be even more politely replied that the seat was assigned to them. Ok, for sure there was some confusion. And my policy in such situation was to let the commotion settle down and then ask TTE for some resolution. While I waited on for the same to happen...someone from the milieu suggested me to check the date on the ticket. Good God, could that be where I went wrong, or did the uncle-aunty have it wrong. Considering that auntyji's seat wasn’t for the taking, I was wrong!!
And yes indeed I was...that was my first reaction,
Oh shit, how did I do this?...that was the second of several levels of reaction that followed, all of which indicated what an idiot I was to be travelling 24 hours in advance of the schedule.
Well, they say being before time is a good habit, being so much before time, I am not too sure if that was ever advised to anyone...and it sure didn’t work for me!!
What followed was a surge of feeling like confusion, shock & embarrassment!!
Outside of the list of feelings there was a practical situation at hand, and my little knowledge of railway rules only made my practical situation feel no better...of course I knew that Indian railways wasn’t going to pat my back for being well before time & the couple wale uncle ji is sure not going to beg the TTE for forgiveness & share his seat with me...however, I wonder how that arrangement would have been...would he decide to go half way - me in his lap & the other half - him in mine. Auntyji was sure not going to like that!!...anyway, since that wasn’t happening, I didn’t have to bother about whether auntyji would have liked it or not. In simple words, my situation was that I was a ticket less traveler on the Lucknow Shatabdi Express, having boarded from Kanpur. Now what that meant to the Indian railways was a fine of twice as much as the ticket cost. I ran a mental calculation of what my wallet looked like, only to realize that perhaps I have as much to buy another ticket but not enough to pay for another one. Thank God, it were the days when i preferred cash vis-à-vis cards. The interesting thing was that what it meant to Indian railways was neither my concern nor would it be the TTE's. Now all depended on what it meant to the TTE & how good was I at negotiating a situation in which the ball was far from coming to my side of the court.
So finally the protagonist of what I was expecting to be a negotiation session arrived on the scene. He gave me a place in another boggie & told me that he will get back to me in a while. Not for a second did I feel that he would desert me in this new seat that he had traced out for me, because he had spotted an opportunity to make bucks and there was no chance he would miss out on it. He would have wanted to give me utmost attention so that he could have a good negotiation, favoring him. I had no choice but to wait for him to return back to me.
He did come back to me, I dont remeber after how long. The whole incident now is a vague memory and a unique experience on which I can lol.
When he did return his first ploy was to take out his reciept book ( which every TTE is provided with by the Indian railways). I must say the government equips these people well for creating havoc in situations such as the one I was in. The sight of the reciept book was good enough to strike panic in me. But the while he had taken to get back to me, I had guessed that I would have a sight of the dreaded thing and so I was quite prepared to handle it. I begged & pleaded him on account of not having enough money to pay the scheduled fine. And as I said that, he thought to himself "Even better" He called me outside the boggie near the toilet area in hope of carrying out a surreptious negotiation. I told him my financial constraint (which wasnt as much a constraint as an excuse to get away cheap). And I also used the tool that any IIT- Kanpur student does in such a situation, show him your ID card. The power of that ID card was well-known to any IITian. I had heard of cases where IIT guys on bikes used to it in place of their Driver's license in Kanpur city. The purpose of me showing the TTE the ID card was dual - one tell him that I was no street side vagabond who does this as a usual practice, infact I belong to the IIT. second is to let him know that I were only a student and that your paying capacity was limited. Well, I guess I got both the messages across, so he asked me to take my seat. That didnt mean I was acquitted. That only meant that, how much was to be paid would be negotiated later.
And the later came very late in the journey. Just after ghaziabad, when the train was pulling into Delhi area, I was once again called to the toilet area, this time with the cash. The matter was settled at the cost of one ticket, Rs. 695/- easily rounded off to 700/-. I couldnt have complained. I was a ticketless traveller & so I had to pay for the ticket atleast. To account for the money that I had spent for the next day's ticket, I had the choice of getting it cancelled the next morning. The cancellation charges could be as much as 30% but then, atleast I could pay 30% for a lesson that I learnt that day, and very simply the lesson was, check for the right dates before getting travel tickets booked...