What kind of reservation system is this, you may ask? But this is a well oiled, CMM level 5 matured reservation process that an occasional traveler like me may not be privileged to use!
This is very unique to Indian Railway system. This reservation system is an age-old system that has taken a life of its own. Even the police are unable to either monitor or control this metamorphosis to benefit the occasional travelers. Why is this reservation system hated by many is loved by the frequent travelers?
Ask the frequent Mandya travellers from Mysore and the frequent Chennapatna travellers from Bangalore. They do it without shame or concern for their fellow passengers – aged, women, kids. They do it as though they are the absolute authority over and above any other regulatory authorities concerned.
These groups of regular travellers have taken this reservation system to newer heights. Well for those who are not conversant with this method of reservation, simply put, it is a ‘reservation done by friendly passengers for other passengers belonging to their group even though seat is otherwise an un-reserved seat’ – for train, bus or any other public transportation.
The process is simple – take out a personal item – hand towel or cap or bag and place it on a seat and claim the seat. Some times you can claim the seat as yours even before you can get to that seat – by throwing a personal item through the window and waiting relaxedly behind other rushing passengers to claim that seat later. Another method mostly used by Mandya and Chennapatna travellers is to ask their colleagues to reserve a seat for them they might be arriving a bit later than usual.
A bit later than usual – in indian terms is very misleading. It is a well-practiced system that the members of these groups take turns on a daily basis to make this friendly reservation system work for other members of the group. A group of four people arriving earlier sometime reserve seats up to four times their capacity. If your dare to question them, you get an answer to mind your business or directed to search for a seat somewhere else.
This is pathetic and should stop. I witnessed a policeman helping other passengers to occupy the seats reserved through this FR system.
To regain the societal trust or to bring back the balance in the societal trust I will address two more happenings that are worse than this. One, rushing into the queue with the strongest elbowing others out-of-the-way and the other promising to ‘doing it’ immediately or ‘arriving immediately’ with absolutely attaching no meaning to the word ‘immediately’.