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The railway booking counter

 I happened to pass by a railway booking counter - the likes of which were abundant some years ago. Indian railway ticket booking is a good example of how technology changes how work gets done. 

In the olden days (before 90s) one would have to go overnight, 90 days before journey, be perfect with the train number, fill out a form and present it at the counter. My father would go sleep in front the counter the previous night (like many others), rush when the gates opened at 7, only to find the first 4-5 places on each counter occupied every single time (touts/agents), some how get a ticket and ensure our travel tickets are "booked". And there were limited counters. 

Post 90s, this became a little better as more and more counters opened - at one point erstwhile VT station had 100 counters for booking tickets. The forms were the same, but the process was faster. Agents still got tickets faster than ordinary people. But the overnight waiting was eliminated. And counters were opened not just at specific railway stations, but also at other places. 

Then IRCTC happened and online reservation started. Politicians (specifically railway ministers) had immense distrust and wanted to create employment for thousands of booking clerks and it faced hurdles depending on dispensation. 

But over the years, much of it has been streamlined and yesterday as I passed by this huge space for railway booking at a BDA complex in Bangalore - it had all of 5 people hovering about. At the peak, this place would have had 200-300 people. 

And just two days back, I had booked a train ticket in a few mns flat. Earlier this would have been a half days work. Written as I contemplate taking more train journeys (whereever trains go within overnight distance) because flight journeys are becoming more and more irritating with long wait times and time to reach the airport and what not. 

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