h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: When queues go bad: Buying a rail ticket in India - A5042404
Author: al_terego - U1725379

Er, hello. This would be my first submssion. Is this entry too frivolous? It's all true, anyway...

Well it made me smile

The humour does get a little Adams-esque in places, and as we're often asked by the Editors to point out, this isn't a Douglas Adams fan site nor do we encourage people to write like Douglas Adams when it comes to the Edited Guide, but I think you pulled it off, and with a degree of panache too

There's definitely the bones of an edited entry in this I reckon, but never having been to India I must wait for others who have been to the sub-continent to come along and give more knowledgable comment.

One other thing - it's considered good manners round these parts to reply to your ACE posting F2219164?thread=696857

Good work! As a vetreran of these situations myself, your entry rang a few bells, especially the 'Freedom Fighters' queue

>The infrastructure, and indeed many of the trains, are relics from the British looting of the subcontinent - perhaps slightly unfair. I was told by a brahmin in Jaisalmer that Indians were quite happy with how we built the railways, because we linked spiritual sites as well as those of financial value. The railways were one place where we actually gave something back.

Westerners buying tickets can often jump the queue into an office for foreign travellers; certainly in Varanasi, Fatehpur Sikri and one or two other places in the north this was possible.

Mention different types of ticket? We travelled 3rd class unreserved once. Only once. If anyone is caught out with a ticket thats unreserved, it's worth knowing that railway employees will happily take a bribe to find you a seat and sit in it until you find them.

Also suggest getting to the ticket office a few days before departure wherever possible, especially if you want a sleeper ticket.

And that no-one in any of the queues seems to have any idea what they're queuing for.

The baksheesh guys outside are very helpful, aren't they?

Good job

Extremely ammusing and no doubt factual as well. Not all that different than other queues except for the clever dodge of not speaking English.

-Formerly Phred

Cheers. I hadn’t consciously tired to write in the Adams-esque style, but I can see what you mean about that – obviously something I need to watch.

Thanks for the etiquette tip as well. Always helpful to have these things pointed out. Incidentally, if I want to make revisions, should I just edit the post where it is or take it down and post it up afresh? What’s the protocol?

Hm... You reckon 'looting of the subcontinent' is a touch unfair? I take your point. There's no denying that the rail network was a positive effect of the British occupation of India, but on the other hand one could hardly say it was built for alturistic motives. Given what (little) I know of collonial history, I'm not sure that casting the British as looters is wholly innacurate, though of course the reality is far more complicated.

Good tips about other information to include, thanks for that. Come to think of it, not including possibilities for baksheesh and bribery is a bit of a shocking omission when talking about travel round Asia.

Yes, those baksheesh men are angels in disguise. It's a very convincing disguise, granted, but nonetheles...

I think you just edit in situ (that's what I've done, anyway). Click on the 'Edit' thang at the top, do your thing, preview it & update it.

It made me snigger, BTW. Thanks for cheering me up on a Monday morning.

I liked this and thought it was fair. Noone can capture all of the details for such a subject in so few words without a nudge and a wink...

Now I know more about train catching in India - something I have not tried but a special friend of mine has.

No, 'looting of the subcontinent' is not unfair, or inaccurate. But the railway served other purposes too; even if linking the the spiritual sights could be considered an act of prowess and subjugation, it undoubtedly enhanced the lives of some Indians. Many of the sites served by the railways have no material, or political, or tourist value, and never have.

Up to you if you do manything with this snippet or not; am glad you've taken my other suggestions into consideration. Thank you.

Your Guide Entry has just been picked from Peer Review by one of our Scouts, and is now heading off into the Editorial Process, which ends with publication in the Edited Guide. We've therefore moved this Review Conversation out of Peer Review and to the entry itself.

If you'd like to know what happens now, check out the page on 'What Happens after your Entry has been Recommended?' at EditedGuide-Process. We hope this explains everything.

Thanks for contributing to the Edited Guide!

Blimey, I'd forgotten about this.

I missed this one... and It's excellent

One little thing... If it's not too late and you can talk your sub-editor into adding a phrase, the only 'factual' detail I can see missing is that you don't say just where you get the form you're supposed to fill in before you go to the ticket office.

If you manage to squeeze that in somewhere you'll have got just about all the factual information anyone should need alongside an extremely entertaining read.

Well done

Oh cool, cheers everyone. I actually never did get round to making a couple of evisoin I'd intended. I suppose it's too late to edit now?

It's too late to edit, but if you want any changes making then write them here in the PR thread, that way the sub-editor should read them and incorporate them in the entry.

I've just returned this to the Eds after subbing.

When this was picked, there was a vast amount of information missing that I touched on earlier in the thread. It wasn't ready for the EG then, and still isn't now. As soon as this goes Front Page I'll be heading for the Update Forum with a whole sheaf of additions - I couldn't add the amount of information required and still be 'subbing' the entry. In my humble opinion, this shouldn't have been picked until the points in PR were addressed - there were a lot of them in post 3, none were attended to.

If you ever come back, Al, let me know and we can work on the update together.

Hello again. Excuse my disappearance there, I've been unfortunately de-interneted for a while. Ah, it feels good to be back online.

Yes, quite right, I never did sort out the omissions in that article. Not that I hadn't intended to, I just never quite managed to get around to it. Very slack.

So anyway, er, sorry if I'm sounding obtuse here but what is it I/you/we need to do to fix it?

Thanks Al; I wouldn't have been happy updating it without your input too

When this goes on the Front Page (you'll get a deserved congratulatory email on the day so you can see it in all its glory ), we can post suggested improvements to the Update Forum for the Eds to make changes. Perhaps then I'll leave a message on your personal space with some suggestions? I think that would be the best way of doing it, as we can't actually do anything practical while it's in the Front Page queue.

>Not that I hadn't intended to, I just never quite managed to get around to it. Very slack.

Don't worry, we're all guilty of that at times