troubles in Jhansi station: a personal nightmare

brianct

for those not familiar with indian travel, i am in india now, actually Aurangabad, after a bit of a worry at Jhansi station last night. As the old hands know, getting a train seat can be very difficult. I tried to book a seat when i arrived in Jhansi 3 days ago, for a train to Aurangabad, and found that they only had waiting list seats. Sometimes this is not to bad. And as i was on a waiting list at position 9 for a 3 aircon berth, i had been told it should be no problem to get a berth.
As it turned out, this was not so. I arriedv at the station the afternoon of my departure, after spending the morning at Jhansi fort and the Rani mahal. I arrived back to find i was still at position 9 in the waiting list(WL). So the hours past. At 5, i was down to 6. My train was to leave at 8pm.
I was getting more anxious: what if i couldnt get a seat! I approached some people, a autorickshaw wallah for advice. There are no buses other than to Khajuraho and Indore, so the train is the ONLY option.
Finally, i approached the chief ticket inspector.aiod to see him again at 7.30. He sounded like he could help. My gloom lifted a bit.
Meanwhile, a fellow passenger(different train) said to approach the conductor in the 3AC carriage, and try to get a seat elsewhere. This sounded hopeful. At 7.30 i still went tosee the chief ticket man. He had no hoe for me, other than getting on the train and traying for an upgrade to 2AC.
So thisd is what i did. As usual the train was late. But when it arrived, i climbed aboard, and was prepared to tough it out. I was going and that was it.
The train pulled out as i chatted with some sikhs. The TT man came along, and he without a nod, sent me off to the sleeping carriage(non-ac). I went, and it turnde out there was room there anyway! at least to Bhopal. So i got my birth, a very expensive SL berth(paid 988 for what would have been about 380). But i didnt care.
Moral, when you are in a WL, and desperate, if youve paid, just climb aboard and tough it out!

Brian