Railways is the preferred mode of travel for most Indians as it is convenient,cost-effective , offers you with wide range of options and also connects to most Indian cities and remote areas . In 2015-2016 ,Indian railways carried approximately 22 million passengers a day . The extensive coverage of Indian railways can been established by the fact that "The total distance covered by Indian Railways daily equals three and a half times the distance to the moon."
Since a lot of people move from hometowns to cities for employment , be it festivals , long weekends
in order to ensure a hassle free travel and last minute inflated prices people
plan their travel and book their tickets in advance . During the time of
writing,Indian railways allow you to book tickets about 4 months in advance (Link)
In 1973 the Railway Board had an experimental scheme to
permit would-be passengers to book their reservations in all trains without any
time cap . Back then ,there were no computerized systems, bookings were made by
referring to manual calendars However
the reservation clerk on duty at Western Railway's reservation office was
shocked when a man approached him to book an AC Chair Car ticket to New Delhi
for 26 January 2000 in 1973 !!
Shri Fakhruddin Takulla, resident of Bombay wanted to book an AC Chair Car ticket to travel from Bombay Central to New Delhi to be a part of Golden Jubilee Republic Day celebrations in January 2000 in 1973 😲😲 !!
"The railways had introduced a scheme to book advanced tickets in 1973,So I thought why don't I use this opportunity to see India in the 21st century" Mr Takulla said
Back then there were no computerized systems and tickets were booked by referring to calendars and train schedule of a specific train . The clerk on duty had no calendar for year 2000 to know whether the train would run on the specified date 27 years later for the Rajdhani then (in 1973) used to run only thrice a week. Further it was also too much of an unnecessary hassle for the clerk to keep records safely for the next millennium.
It was left to Mr Takulla to calculate the exact date of his journey and he bought a ticket on the Rajdhani Express to Delhi for Wednesday, 19 January 2000.
But the enterprising Shri Takulla would not give up as he produced a manual calendar, which he had drawn up himself, to let the clerk know the exact day and date of date of his journey! Finally, thus, he got his precious ticket for Rs 120/-.
Shri Fakhruddin Takulla with copy of the ticket as he boards the train in 2000.
Later Shri Takulla indeed took the journey to New Delhi by
the Rajdhani Express to arrive there well in time to see the Golden Jubilee
Republic Day celebrations in January 2000. He was grateful to Allah for keeping
him alive to see the destined day 27 years later.
Indian Railways played the good Samaritan for they exchanged
his ticket gratis for AC 3-tier class as by 2000 the AC Chair Car class had
vanished from the Rajdhani. They also gave him a VIP treatment by deputing a
railway official to receive him at New Delhi station on arrival and arranged
for his lodging in New Delhi at a railway guesthouse for 8 days, and also
arranged for his return journey at no cost to him. Shri Takulla was also given
a place in the VIP gallery to watch the Republic Day celebrations. 'We felt
that a person who could think of doing this 27 years ago obviously had
tremendous faith in the reliability of the Indian railway network and we felt
that we needed to acknowledge that and respond to it adequately,' said Shri
Shanti Narain, member of the Railway Board.
At 61, Fakruddin Takulla now wants to book a ticket for 2038 -
when he will be 100.
His dream now is to go to his ancestral home in Kaparwaj, in the
western state of Gujarat.
Sources :
Sources :
- BBC News
- Indian Railways Fan Club
- Photo-fakruddin takulla kisses his grandson goodbye as he boards a train
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