TATKAL QUEUE AND TYPE OF MEN

Queues are one of the most common things around the world. There are queues for banks, movie tickets, electricity bill and for many other things. Although the revolution with internet banking and online payment has helped in shortening these queues but still it has a strong base to exist for longer period of time. Most of the people find queues to be very much interesting and boring because in a queue, you have to wait for long, sweating, forced to listen to others gossip, people trying to jostle in queue, pushing you back, fighting on how someone entered from that side but instead of all these problems if you will look at queues, you will find it one of the most interesting place to be.

Among all type of queues, I find the TATKAL queues to be the most interesting one. Between 10:00-10:30, queues of TATKAL are the most active place in world, leaving stock market, global political meetings and even cricket matches behind. INDIAN RAILWAY started this scheme of TATKAL to help people in getting reserved tickets just a day before journey but due to bad management and improper planning, it has become a headache for the passengers. People keep standing outside the closed gates of reservation counter from 7:00 PM, 6:00 PM and even from 3:00 PM till 10:30 AM of the next day. Whenever I see the railway employee behind the ticket counter, I feel very sorry for him not because he got that job but because he will be there to listen to all the slang and scolding by people standing in the queue to do it as fast as possible.

If you will look at the queue of TATKAL, you will find different types of men. These particular categories of men will be standing in every queue of TATKAL all over India. So I have categorized all the men standing in the a TATKAL queue according to their traits in the queue

 GURU JI (THE EXPERT ONE)- Most of the time you will find him standing at the first position but sometime they also stand at 4^th or 5^th position in the TATKAL queue. They keep on suggesting people on how to fill TATKAL forms, how to get your tickets done as fast as possible. Without any demand they keep their supply of suggestion high. They will ask for your form, have a look at it and will say “ID pe signature beta, ID pe signature’. The way they give suggestion, it looks like that he came in this world through a TATKAL ticket booked by his mother. Sometimes they are also 

AGENTS or DALAAL. They will keep on saying, always keep change, book and move, don’t panic you will get it done. In case of AGENT, they will look like suffering from malnutrition, wearing grubby shirts and trousers, smoking bidi but will be booking 1^st class AC ticket for RAJDHANI EXP.

KRANTIKARI (THE FREEDOM FIGHTER)-  They are one of the most active people in the queue. They are mostly found at the middle of the queue and keep on shouting. They make sure that no one enters in the queue from any side. They are wholesaler of slang and have contacts number of friends ready to arrive at the station to fight on their speed dial. They are the one from whom, the railway employees are most frightened of.  Standing in the queue if you let anyone stand in front of you , they will shout on you, if you will make it late on counter, they will shout on you, if you will move a little from the queue, they will shout on you. They do 70 % of  RPF’S and Local police’s work.

ABHAAGA(THE FRUSTRATED ONE)- He is the most irritated person in the queue. He is mostly found 8^th or 9^th position or even behind that. They don’t talk with anyone, keep on peeping to the counter, will make faces like they have been diagnosed with HIV positive. They know that they have only 50 % chances of getting a confirmed TATKAL ticket so they are one of the most isolated persons in the queue.

SIDDHU (THE TALKTIVE ONE)-  It looks like people of these category are in the queue not to get their ticket confirmed but to talk as much as possible. They will keep on telling you about their different TATKAL experiences and if your luck is bad, they will start the never ending discussion of politics. They know that they have to do something to pass the time and they find that talking is the best way possible.

KHOYA CHAAND (THE LOST ONE)- These type of persons don’t care what’s happening in the queue , how much time if left for opening of the counters, who is in front of them, who is behind them, they are just lost in themselves. They will keep on looking at the form, mobile phones, ceiling of the reservation room, list of train timing hanging at the wall.

UMEED (THE LAST MAN STANDING)- He is the last one standing in the queue. He knows deep in his heart that he is not going to get any ticket but he has belief in god, in miracle and that’s why he keeps on standing at the last position in the queue. They are standing in the queue on the basis of hope which results in returning home at 10:30 with empty hands and hope of getting it tomorrow.