Bussing it to Bengaluru

I constantly claim and even mock-celebrate the fact that I have a strong mind. And no, its certainly not because of the fact that I have managed to deal with the heartbreak of bird photography pretty adeptly. After all, when it comes to birds, there is always another chance to score, if not this season then in the next (speaking of which I am more than a bit put off as of now, owing to the fact that I still haven't had a proper encounter with the Chataks or even come across the Red Avadavats or the Eurasian Wrynecks this year).

And hey, I am not referring to the thousand and one rejections that I am collecting (apart from a handful of  "actual" e-mails, they are all automated "rejections" and gathering electronic dust in a specified folder in my GMail inbox) on a certain matrimonial site.

I am referring to how I have managed to stay sane after so many run-ins with the IRCTC website for booking a ticket under the Tatkal scheme.

Primarily, because I am too poor to fly.

And because I hate buses -- especially so as it is well nigh impossible to figure out which one is yours in the chaotic bedlam that is Lakdi-ka-pul, from where most of the higher end buses (allegedly the most comfortable) leave.

Anyway, today's run-in with IRCTC was nightmarish. I am logged in long before the Tatkal hour strikes. Something like 15-20 minutes in advance. And since I don't want to be timed out, I keep "refreshing" the page every minute or so. Yet, with more than 8 or so minutes to go for the Tatkal hour, I see that "Bangalore Rajdhani" is already showing "Regret/CKWL1".

I am like WTF and I am like WTF some more.

But that (or breaking things or pulling out your hair) is of no avail with IRCTC.

Then, (quite naturally for IRCTC) I get kicked out the moment it is 10.00 AM

Even more naturally, by the time I can log back into IRCTC, the show is all over. And the tickets up for grab under the Tatkal quota for every single train (apart from one) are booked out. I keep trying and put my bull-headed nature to the utmost use and try in that one train too. And my ticket which was "Available 35" comes to me as "WL 33".

I then try once again; in the next class and this time (though it was "Available 002" at the time of booking) the ticket just doesn't manage to get ticketed! Even though the transaction goes through.

So anticlimactically enough, its a bus to Bengaluru (and no, its not from the chaotic bedlam of Lakdi-ka-pul, but far closer by and from a real "station") this time around.

This certainly has to rank as a life event for me -- but then, anything for the birds.