| Getting railway tickets once the summer vacations begin is impossible," fumed Sushil. He'd received urgent summons from his parents who lived in a village beyond Patna, and had just found that he was wait-listed 67th on the earliest possible date that he could depart on. He went to the railway booking office, hoping that if nothing else, he could get a ticket under the "Tatkal" scheme. "Even if I have to pay Rs 200 extra for a Tatkal ticket, at least I'll have a confirmed seat," he muttered. But on enquiry, he found that even those weren't available. His colleague Deepu saw him looking worried, and came up to him. "You are willing to pay Rs 200 extra, and still not getting a ticket?" he asked incredulously, "Let me ask my contact if he can help." The next morning, he came to Sushil with a confirmed ticket for the same day and the same train on which he'd earlier been wait-listed 67th. |
| "How did you manage it?" said Sushil incredulously, "Is the ticket fake?" Deepu laughed and said, "of course not! It's a Tatkal ticket." There had to be some hanky-panky, Sushil reasoned, for he knew exactly where he stood in the official wait-list. "What should I do?" he worriedly asked people in his company. His colleagues examined the ticket. It looked genuine and it was in his name "" he should just board the train and test his luck, they suggested. The ticket worked all right, Sushil reported, when he called the next day to tell everyone he had reached his village without any mishap. |
| "How did you do it?" he asked Deepu after he returned. Deepu grinned: "It's easy," he said. "There are hundreds of agents here who can get train tickets under the table. And now that the Indian Railways is online, things have just become simpler," said he, "for finding ways into their website is not tough." Deepu saw an opportunity to make money when he first made contact with a private ticketing agent. "I walked into his office because I, like you, urgently needed a railway ticket and there were no seats available," said he. The agent told him he had an 'arrangement' with someone in the railways, and would be able to give him a confirmed ticket the following day. |
| This happened six months ago, and since then, Deepu had made a handy extra income from selling railway tickets that the agent procured for him. "I must have sold at least fifteen tickets through this same agent, and nobody has ever had a bad experience," said he. "So what do you earn per ticket?" asked Sushil curiously."The system is a simple one," said Deepu, "of the Rs 200 that I charge per ticket, I get to keep Rs 100. The agent and his contact in the railways keep Rs 50 each." Sushil expressed surprise that Deepu's "contact" in the railways would run the risk of getting caught for corruption, that too for a sum as small as Rs 50. "He probably has several other 'friends' like my agent. I'm sure he makes a packet!" said he. In fact, he said, in high season, the railways official sometimes agreed to take a lower cut: "to stay ahead of the competition. After all, he's not the only one in his office in this business!" |
| "But...," Sushil began. Deepu cut him off: "It's a win-win situation for all of us "" you got your ticket and all of us made our money. Now don't upset the apple cart by asking any more questions!" |
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