- Bribe Fighter
- 14 years ago
- 2401 views
Travelled waitlisted for 56 hours
I had booked a ticket to Guwahati from Bangalore on the 17th of March. My ticket was waitlisted at 33 when the train was departing. Not having a choice I got on. Multiple TTEs did not allot me a berth after requesting them. One of them held out his hand expecting a bribe, but I had decided not to pay anyone for a berth. I barely got a couple of hours sleep the first night in an empty berth which was later allotted to someone else. The second night I rolled out my sleeping mat and sleeping bag and went to sleep in the place between two lower berths. My co-passengers were amazing. They 'adjusted' to allow me to sit the entire journey, and even to sleep when their berths were empty.
I had a similar experience three days earlier when I was returning from Kerala. That time I refused to pay a bribe as well. Empty berths were allotted to people who had paid bribes to the TTE - they admitted it themselves, and were not proud of it. One of them told me TTEs make up to Rs 15,000 a shift with the bribes they get from allotting vacant berths.