Saturday, July 25, 2015

Good days..

I keep forgetting to log this one..

I had to go to Hyderabad at short notice recently. Anyone who has attempted it knows that getting Bangalore-Hyderabad railway reservations at short notice is an impossible task!

So I logged in not very hopeful. The journey was two weeks away. Normally, for a 2 AC ticket, I would expect this to be at WL25 or so. I was pleasantly surprised to see it at RAC1!!! Shocked, I booked. Expecting the ticket to be confirmed within a day. But it got confirmed only after a few days. Again surprised. (The only explanation to this can be that the number of genuine reservations has gone up vs people just clogging the pipe)

Bottom line is, somehow the railways ministry seems to have figured out how to clean up the brokers who tended to clog up the ticket pipe and clean the whole process. Amazing! I've been using this system since 2002 and I have never had a better experience!! EVER!

For folks who keep asking when the good days will come, there you are. It is such subtle and systemic changes that will slowly bring a better quality of life to the aam aadmi, and people who don't get it, well, will never get it I guess.

The black money issue too, people were crying themselves hoarse over it. In a few simple steps, the entire issue is laid to rest. First, notes which are older than a certain date are invalidated. Two, you are given a set amount of time to exchange them in banks for newer - and get this, not notes, but - funds deposited in your bank (white, white, white). So people who've been hoarding truckloads of cash since time immemorial will suddenly find that they either have to declare it all or sit on heaps of useless paper. Much better than begging some Swiss guys to reveal details and keep waiting for someone to have a change of heart! I'm sure something is being done in that direction too, but better act on what you can seems to be the motto.

There is now talk about real estate prices (which have only been skyrocketing) taking a nosedive since black money is going to slowly start evaporating from the market..

Bring it on guys, we are with you!