In convenience

I had yet another experience with the famed Indian paradigm of technological progress. Deciding to make reservations for our journey to visit my in-laws for Diwali, I logged on to the IRCTC website which actually handles the online booking for the Indian Railways. This is something I've always wondered about - why on Earth does the catering and tourism department handle the online booking? Shouldn't the Railways be doing it themselves? Or are they simply proving the adage: Too many cooks spoil the broth?

Anyways, the familiar Indian-Government-Undertaking touch kicked in as soon as I logged on. The website was way too fast: Each page took only about 10 minutes loading. I only had to retry about 50 times - after each attempt, I got a higher wait-list number - to load the correct page. At most times, it returned the cryptic message that communication had failed. While I waited for the page to load, the system automatically berated me for sitting idle and logged me out. I could get my tickets done in four hours only, sitting in the convenience of my airconditioned office.

To while away some more time, I looked for a helpful tab that might have said Feedback but it wasn't there. Obviously, Lalu and his slaves aren't going to be able to read English and my browser doesn't do Hindi, so there was no use providing the option, right? It also ensures that the agency can say that they've been running without any complaints for the past three years. Increases their efficiency and perhaps helps them get close to that Six Sigma certification.