The Onward Journey:
Here, I present you the list of 'facilities' that we pay for in a normal Rajdhani Express:
Welcome Drink
Morning/Evening Tea
Apetizer: Soup/ Rasam
Lunch/Dinner
Dessert: Sweets/ Icecream
(source: Railway menu slip given with every meal)
You are also entitled to get a newspaper every morning in such trains.
And the train provides with one bottle of water every 20 hours ( though even the doctor prescribes minimum two litres of water everyday. )
I now tell you what all were the provisions in my journey.
Well...after boarding the train from Hazrat Nizamuddin, I was a little scared as my co-passengers had their luggage spread everywhere below the seats. It was really funny as one of them even said "Yahaan to jagah hi nahin hai"
Whoa!!...GAGAN...LETS GO BACK...was my panic reaction!! LOL!!
For your information, I was carrying one small briefcase (well...you dont need more than that for a couple of days survival)
Somehow, I got to keep my luggage under my seat and got some space to rest my butt on.
well....this was the "welcome" forget about the drink.
After around an hour (or so) they were distributing soups (awful in taste I must say).
Dinner followed half an hour later followed by ice cream.
To my surprise, when one of the passengers (who was certainly not feeling well) asked if he could get the bedroll a little in advance if there's not much botheration; the response that he got from the attendant was, "Of course there will be a botheration, still I would provide you with that."
I found it really weird, the guy need not be rude to someone he is attending. We (passengers) pay for his salary and he can at least be a little hospitable if not courteous.
The weirdest part is that the passenger was the last one to get a complete set of bedroll.
The attendant had started distributing entire series of bedsheets blankets pillows etc to the entire bogey. what a dumb ass!!
As we were reaching Hyderabad, a series of "sewa paani" seekers started coming. Well...these guys were the same pantry and bed-roll attendants. I found it thoroughly cheap. My query being why should they be begging for a tip?? What all did they do beyond their duty?? Are we supposed to get out bedrolls and meals all ourselves??
The no. of hours from Nizamuddin to Hyderabad is 22, and I had to be content with a single bottle (1 Litre) of water throughout the journey. Do they want to dehydrate their passengers??
Though we reached Hyderabad at around 6 in the evening, I didn't even get the newspaper for that day.
With the experience of this kind, I would rather suggest to take a flight if you are in hurry, or get a normal 3AC reservation done rather than wasting your money and mental peace in such disgusting trains.
6 comments:
aah....i was about to blast on that guy with 3-4 whatever bags, but found the luggage space at the right moment i guess...!! :)
I know honey...and that 'gentleman' from the side lower and side upper berths had also convenienly 'parked' their luggages under my seat.
I tell you...travelling on a Rajdhani is sure to give you a headache and a hole in your pocket.
I don't know how helpfull this would be, but after reading your write-up, I looked for any online forum and found this -
http://www.pgportal.gov.in/
I think we can lodge our complaint for Ministry of Railways and bring to light of what's happening in India's most premium railway service. Mom and Dad are also pretty off with the quality of service being provided in Patna Rajdhani..... specially the food... both of them suffered food poisoning :(
I'm not sure how the other Rajdhanis are doing but by your account and the experience Mom and Dad had off late, I guess Bangalore Rajdhani and Patna Rajdhani are pretty much avoidable
thanks for the link Sajal...have you lodged the complaint about uncle and aunty's grievance??
I asked you this because I wanted to check if this site really helps.
I have a similar link for consumer coordination council (supported by ministry of consumer affairs)
http://www.ccccore.co.in/
but somehow there was always a technical error whenever I hit the submit button. (even if no field is left blank)
Maybe they dont want the consumers to actually lodge any complaint...LOL!!
Interestingly!! they do have "success" stories LMAO!!
I did lodged a complain long time back (if I start counting the duration I'm pretty sure I would go back in time when dinos ruled the earth)
I was given a complaint number and everytime I check with the complaint number, it says it's under investigation..... seems like the ministry is looking for actual faces in pain and agony!!
I would anytime avoid a certain Patna Rajdhani, but only because of the reason that the train gets a preference of completing is on-side journey over say a Sampoorn Kranti.... I have to opt for Rajdhani when Mom and Dad are travelling.
For that link you mentioned.... boy that link has way to many "C" associated.... no wonder you get technical error when you hit submit... so many "C"s involved for a single link!! ;)
The only thing I can think of is of as low expectation from these services as possible and to keep ourselves prepared (like taking our own food in a Rajdhani too!!)
whats the point in paying for the facilities when you are not availing them. My mom and dad came to hyderabad in Patna-Secundrabad Express and they said that their journey was more comfortable than mine. To my surprise, they mentioned that there were curtains even in the 3AC class of that train, and the hygiene was such that there were cleaners with phenols and sprays every half an hour.
Impressive non-rajdhani!! :)
Post a Comment