Tag: public-transport

A Testing Day in Delhi

On By allyncarterLeave a comment

I have just had an incredible day. Pound for pound, I cannot remember a more experience packed day. I attended a day at a test match in Delhi, between India and Sri Lanka. That’s the headline, but it is worth describing the whole process in some detail…

Journey to the Stadium

I left my hotel at 0800, determined to travel to the stadium as a local would. I asked the concierge for directions to the nearest Metro Station – the beautifully named Iffco Chowk. They immediately tried to order a car for me, but I insisted that I wanted to walk. They looked at me as though I were a complete weirdo (perhaps I am), but eventually conceded that walking was possible. There’s a lot of construction going on around the hotel and the roads were pretty dusty and dilapidated, but perfectly walkable. It was only a mile or so to the station, but this still took me past five or six casual games of cricket, played, quite literally, in dust bowls. No wonder this country specialises in spinners. This is clearly how loads of the locals spend their Sunday mornings. As well as cricket matches, I also encountered a surprising number of feral dogs. Sadly, they are so starved that they have not got the energy to be threatening, but they do present a sorry spectacle.

At the metro station, I was puzzled as to how to pay for my journey. I had read about buying a smart card, similar to the Oyster Card used in London, so I got into a queue at the ticket office. At least, I thought I’d got into the queue, but the fact that I’d left a gap of about 9 inches between myself and the person in front of me was a clear signal to one local that I was not at all serious about this whole queuing business and he squeezed into that gap. When I finally got to the front of the queue, the ticket seller looked at me as though I was a complete halfwit and pointed me to another queue where they dealt with smart cards. I transferred to the new queue, taking care to press myself against the body of the person in front. Sadly, this did not stop me from being out-flanked by one determined queue jumper, but I eventually got to the front of this queue, too. I handed over a surprisingly small amount of cash, got my card and I was away

Happily, I’d had the foresight to install a Delhi Metro app on my phone, which by now was receiving data from the cheap sim I’d bought at the airport and, impressively, I got on the right train first time. I had a relatively unremarkable journey – the train was uncrowded, so I got a seat. However, one small tale is worth relating. A young lady plugged her phone charger into the socket above my seat. Not long after, the train took a bit of a lurch and momentarily caught said young lady off balance. She stumbled backward, pulling the charger out of the socket, whereupon it landed directly on my head creating a loud “donk” sound, clearly heard by all in the coach. My thick skill was unharmed, but the girl was both mortified and humoured. She tried desperately to apologise profusely, through increasingly hysterical giggles and in the end simply fled to another part of the train, deciding that she did not need to charge her phone that much.

One change later and I arrived at the Feroz Shah Kot;la stadium. Loads of rickshaws competed for my attention, but I studiously ignored them and walked the 250m to the stadium entrance.

Getting into the Stadium

At the stadium, I was greeted by a surprisingly large number of heavily armed soldiers most of whom wanted to check my bag. I was more than happy to comply with their wishes, partly because I had nothing more dangerous in my bag than a cap, sun glasses and a jacket, but mostly because I make a habit of obeying heavily armed soldiers. All told, my backpack was checked manually and x-rayed four times before I finally got to the turnstile.

At the turnstile, I presented the printout of the ticket that had been ordered online by a friend. The actual ticket had not arrived in time, but the printout had a QR code and looked official. The people at the gate looked a bit confused and called for a supervisor, who came over and also looked confused. Eventually, he pointed his scanner at the QR code, beamed with pleasure when it scanned successfully and he let me in.

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View from my Box

Once into the ground, I quickly found the stairs that took me to the hospitality box that had been booked for me. This was a medium sized room, with a window looking out over the oval. There was a fridge, with complimentary soft drinks and an array of snacks (or “bitings” as the Indians call them). In front of this were 40 or so seats, mostly already occupied where we could sit and watch the cricket. I grabbed a coke (I was not yet 10am) and headed out to get a seat.

The Match

This was day 2 of the test, and as I sat down, Virat Kohli, the current captain of India and one of the very best batsmen ever to play the game was on 178. He quickly and elegantly moved into the 190s. The tension was considerable. A score of 200 would make him the scorer of the most double centuries by any captain in the history of test cricket. As is often the case, his scoring slowed, but he eventually passed 200 and the response of the crowd was electric.

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Kohli on 198

I confess that I have long harboured mixed feelings about Indian cricket fans. They obviously love the game, but test matches are often poorly attended, whilst shorter forms of the game attract the really huge crowds. The capacity of the Feroz Shah Kotla ground in Delhi is just shy of 50,000. It was not full on this particular occasion, but I bet there were more that 30,000 in attendance. By comparison, Lords in North London, the so-called home of cricket holds just 28,000. Moreover, the cricketing knowledge of many of the people in the same area as me was considerable. They were obviously a bit surprised to find a white bloke (gora in the vernacular) in their midst, but politely tried not to notice too much. I think I was one of only 4 white people in the ground. The other three were Nigel Llong – one of the umpires, David Boon – the match referee and the Sri Lankan Coach, Nic Pothas. However, I gave up my seat at one point so that an old couple could sit together and at this point my neighbours seemed to think I was alright. I got chatting to a few of them about cricket – not just the match in front of us, but also the Ashes games being played in Adelaide at the same time. They were full of commiserations for England’s woes. I was made to feel very welcome and encouraged to eat as much of the complimentary food as I could hold. All this before lunch.

Lunch

At a cricket match in Britain, lunch is usually taken between 13:00 and 13:40. Here in India, matches have to start much earlier, due to the shorter days, so lunch is taken at 11:30. I was not the least bit hungry, having stuffed myself with Samosas, pakora and other bitings, but I was starting to think that a beer could be justified. I went off in search of a bar. It did not take long to realise that unlike in English grounds, where you can walk around the entire stadium sampling numerous bars, here I was confined to a very small segment of the stadium and this segment did not feature a bar. It turns out that cricket in India is essentially a non-alcoholic experience. I can only assume that this is changed when the Barmy Army are in town – who would turn down that commercial possibility, but it rather turned my world on end. I’ve never spent a sober day at a cricket match before. Back to the box, then.

Air Pollution

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Vultures circling the lights at midday.

With the locals cheerfully counting down each run required for Kohli to get his triple century, he rather unexpectedly got out for 243. This was greeted with stunned silence, apart from the enthusiastic guy sat next to me who eloquently muttered “Oh Shit!”. Thereafter, the game dragged on a bit with India pushing for a big total, but the Sri Lankan fielders had taken to wearing pollution masks. The air pollution in Delhi at the moment is a real problem, with the air quality index being rated somewhere between “unhealthy” and “hazardous”. You don’t really get to see the sky, as there is a thick pall of brown smog hanging over the city. Indeed, at 13:00 on an ostensibly cloudless day, the floodlights were turned on, due to the poor light.

The lights, however, did not help the Sri Lankans. Their fast bowlers, in particular were having to leave the field more and more and eventually they were unable to field 11 fit players. How much of this was for real or how much was an attempt to manipulate the situation in a match they were losing, I cannot say. However, the locals were incensed and started loudly calling the Sri Lankan manhoods into  question. It was like they know the pollution in their city is terrible, but they don’t want foreigners drawing attention to it. The Sri Lankans got to the point where it seemed they could/would not play on, so Kohli dealt with the situation by declaring. His body language seemed to imply that the Indians were man enough to bowl in a bit of smog, even if the Sri Lankans were not.

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The Sri Lankans Leaving the Field

 

This did at least give me a chance to watch some Indian bowling and they quickly got a few wickets, to the delight of the crowd.

Getting Home

spitting

I left a few minutes before close of play, fearing a crowded metro. Unfortunately, so did 15,000 other people. It truly was as crowded as the worst London rush hour on the Northern Line that I have experienced., but there was no hassle or unpleasantness. I was grateful, however, for the occasional announcements reminding people not to spit inside the train. Coupled with the signs in the stations forbidding spitting, I have to conclude that the metro is no place for an enthusiastic spitter.

Not yet feeling that I’d had enough experiences for the day, I got off one stop early in a busy shopping district. I wandered in the mall, after the obligatory x-ray of my bag, but there’s not much of interest in an Indian shopping mall, that you would not find in a mall in the US or Britain.

It was now full dark outside, so I decided that it would be too intrepid to walk home, so instead I set about engaging a rickshaw. These come in various shapes and sizes, but most are converted motorcycles with a green and yellow canopy on the back. However, a young lad with a bicycle rickshaw caught my eye and he quickly closed the deal. 50 rupees to take me to my hotel, a mile or so down the road. I’m no lightweight, so he was always going to have to earn his corn, but I don’t think he realised that you could not get into the hotel the most obvious way, but instead had to cross a dual carriage way, travel a mile past the hotel, turn around and come a mile back. This he did without complaint, apparent fear or lights, with cars screaming past us on both sides with horns blaring.

I got there in one piece, felt that 50 rupees did not sufficiently represent my pleasure at having survived, so overpaid generously. We all went away happy.

What a day!

The Bus Ticket

On By allyncarterLeave a comment

Many of my friends have been bored recently of my story about a bus inspector trying to fine me for not having bought a ticket. I had, of course, bought a ticket – I am mostly a law abiding citizen. In the spirit of Bram Stoker and many others, this tale is perhaps told through the medium of recorded correspondence. After the event, I sent the following note to the bus company:

This complaint is with regard to an incident whereby I am alleged to have travelled without a ticket. The incident reference is 119-171015-1324.

At lunch time on Saturday 17th October I boarded one of your buses (a number 9) at Spies Lane in Halesowen, heading to Five Ways in Birmingham. I paid £2.20 in cash, took my ticket and then headed to the upper deck and took a seat midway in the vehicle, on the left. This much, I assume, you would be able to confirm with the CCTV cameras that you have on board your buses.

The reason for this journey was to collect my car from work, where I had left it the night before, as I had been drinking and, as a responsible citizen, I had taken a taxi home. The previous night’s activities had left me with something of a thirst, so before boarding your vehicle I had purchased a can of Pepsi Max, which I consumed during the journey. As I was approaching my stop, I rolled up your bus ticket and inserted it into the empty can. I put very little thought into this action, but it was with a view to minimising the litter I would need to dispose of.

Unfortunately, just one stop before I was due to disembark, a team of your ticket inspectors boarded and asked for tickets and passes. I realised my mistake and explained what I had done. The inspectors seemed sympathetic and said they would check with the driver if he recalled me buying a ticket. I walked downstairs and presented myself to your driver in what was now becoming a rather unpleasant and embarrassing situation. The driver afforded me a fleeting, momentary glance and then said that I had not paid him, but rather that I had shown him a ticket. This is the first part of my complaint, and one which will clearly be upheld by your CCTV coverage. The driver lied. This may have been malicious, or he may simply have been mistaken. Either way, he spent no more than 5 seconds on coming to this decision.

I was then asked to exit the vehicle, which I did, and was advised that I would be subject to a fine, as I was unable to produce a ticket. Fortunately, I was still in possession of the empty can of Pepsi Max, in which my ticket resided. At considerable risk of injury, I set about breaking open the can, making use of my house key. This operation was successful and happily, did not cause any serious injury. As witnessed by one of your staff, and with considerable relief I was then able to produce my ticket. Bizarrely, however, this was not deemed sufficient. Apparently, the possibility that I had hidden an invalid ticket in a coke can was now under serious consideration.

At this point I found myself hoping that I would soon awake from this Kafka-esque nightmare, but sadly this was not to be. Your staff inspected the ticket, which was rather damp with the few drops of Pepsi that had remain in the can. At the best of times, the printing on your tickets is difficult to discern. Once it has spent 10 minutes immersed in an acidic soft drink, the situation is exacerbated and your staff were unable to read the print to their satisfaction. The opinion of a senior inspector, who I later found was called Noel, was sought. He spent several seconds considering the situation and then pronounced me guilty of fraud.

I was then asked for some ID. I did consider refusing, but as a completely innocent person, this did not seem appropriate. I provided my driving license, the details of which are recorded as part of this incident record.

The final part of this sorry episode involves my request for the ID of the inspector. I asked for his name, so that I could include it in my complaint. He refused to produce any identification and would only say that his name was Noel. He refused to even provide a surname. This seemed highly inappropriate to me and forms the second part of my complaint. Your inspector was rude, intransigent and utterly incapable of demonstrating any discretion. It was clear to all of your staff that I had purchased a ticket – why else would I have made up a story about a putting the ticket in a Pepsi can?

Noel then insisted that I hand over the ticket, which I had placed in my pocket in the hopes that it would become more legible on drying out. I refused to hand over the ticket and Noel became quite concerned. He said they needed it as evidence. I find it rather odd that they needed the ticket to prove that I had not bought a ticket. Anyway, at that point I left the scene and I do still have the ticket, which I can and will produce as evidence if required.

I assume that this matter will now be dropped. Please provide confirmation in writing – an email will be fine.

If, however, you decide to pursue this matter further, could I please ask that you secure the CCTV coverage from the bus in question. This will clearly be vital evidence should this matter come to court.

13 days later, I received the following response:

Dear Mr. Carter,

Thank you for your email, forwarded to our Department by Travelcare.
Due to the nature of your complaint your correspondence has been read and noted by the Acting Revenue Protection Manager, on whose behalf I reply.
On the 26th of October our Inspector issued a Standard Fare Charge, as you were unable to present a ticket for travel upon request. It is the responsibility of the passenger to retain their ticket for inspection.
You were subsequently able to retrieve your ticket from the drink can into which you had inserted it. Our Inspector made note of this, however Inspectors are not allowed to make exception to the conditions of carriage or cancel Standard Fare Charges. It was also noted that the drink had made the ticket difficult to read.
Although the conditions of carriage state that damaged/illegible tickets may not be accepted as valid, on this occasion as a gesture of goodwill we are prepared to cancel the Standard Fare Charge. I am obliged to state that in any event of travelling incorrectly on our services in future we may reserve the right to recover any previous monies waived.
I must inform you that CCTV on our services is intended for the protection of passengers and staff in the event of assault, accident or other serious incident. It cannot accurately show any amount paid or subsequently disputed and therefore informing the driver of any mistake immediately and retaining a valid ticket is essential. Given the volume of passengers and tickets issued in a single day alone it is unreasonable to rely on the drivers memory. The focus for a driver is on the safe transport of passengers.
Your comments regarding our Inspector have been duly noted and I may confirm that in line with our company procedure they have been interviewed by a Manager. I am unable to divulge any further information from his meeting.
Whilst our Inspectors are entitled to question any passenger who is unable to display a valid ticket or pass for their journey I would like to apologise for any concern or inconvenience and would like to thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.

Should you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us,

Yours sincerely,

Philip Walchester
Administration Officer,
Revenue Department

Now, there are a number of things in this response that I could (and indeed do) object to. They got the date wrong – that was really easy, but they still fucked it up. I can absolutely guarantee that the incident took place on a 17 October. Wales were knocked out of the Rugby World Cup later the same day. Frankly, it was a shit day.
Much more importantly, they have tried to give me a suspended sentence with their wording about “goodwill” and “previous monies waived”. I really should continue the fight, but I cannot be bothered – I just don’t have the energy.