Salem

Taking trains in India is one thing - booking them is the real shit show. We tried everything. Literally everything. The good old analog way: walking causally into a train station ticket office, speaking with real employees. And the inhuman fast digital way: book online. Here is a description of both of the scenarios - to get a slight impression. What matters for both is: India has an scary obsession with formulas.

Céline: #teamdigital
Why interact with humans when there is the possibility of sweet digitalization? Here the guide: Check online for an application to book trains. First problem - there are many apps. So you choose one, fill out all the information, register just to figure out that it’s the wrong one. You slightly get nervous but auto-fill function on iPhone knows all about you anyway - so just download the next app.

New app, new problem, you can’t book the train because your a tourist. So you go to the next page to fill out the tourist form. It’s annoying but hey, it’s the last time you had to fill out your father father’s name and you move on to the; payment method. The international Visa card is ready so are you. Just as you press that "buy now button" the erroro404 appears to tell you that you can only pay with an Indian bank card…as a tourist. You start all over again, there is still another app. You again type in all the fathers fathers names only to have the app telling you: that the seats are already taken however you can book the waitlisted seats…yey.

Pascal: "let’s just go to the office."
So we’re at the train station. It’s a fresh morning and it’s 10 o’clock. There is a counter called tickets and another one named reservation. We stand patently in the line to wait our turn.
Once we’re there the limited reply is:
"no trains available".
We tried to convince the guy that there are trains to our destinations and that we just need to book the train at 12.05.
"There is no train".
People behind us start to yell past us to get the tickets guys attention.
After pointing out to the ticket guy that there most definitely is a train to our destination he nods.
"Go to the other counter."

So we arrive at the other counter. The woman removes the closed sign and looks at us. Immediately there is people behind us. Our time is limited. We explain our situation again. She wants the passports and some extra forms. We feel the impatient crowd behind us. She confirms and we’re ready to flash our credit cards… instead she wants cash. Of course.. But listen folks, we came prepared because we already know the fucking issues.

There we stand at platform 6 at 11 o’ clock, just to notify that we only booked half of the trains for today.

We decided to separate. One is looking after the luggage and the others go back to book the tickets. We’re confident now we know the process so we start with the no-train-guy.
"There is no train.."
"Yes yes we know which counter?"
"Go out, to the left, to the left again and enter ticket office."

We arrive to a new counter yet not a new scenario. After convincing the new guy that there are trains blabla.. we hear a new excuse. Apparently we can only book online. Deep breath here. We explain ourselves and after 5 minutes arguing - he might book a ticket for us - therefore he needs our passports. FUCK they are at platform 6. Celine is running, Pascal is fighting our turn. It’s 11.45 and tick fucking tock our train is leaving at 12.05.

Exactly at 12.04 we’re sitting in the train drained in sweat with not enough snacks for the next 7 hours ride…Læs mere