KLPD, otherwise known as CWG

They are really getting many of my goats - maybe to make mutton biryani out of them!!! So...we thought it'd be nice if we could go watch one of the sporting events with the kids. Yesterday afternoon, I tried the official CWG site, hoping to be able to book some tickets online, snce, as you know, India is an IT superpower. So I go through the entire process, log in, pick the event ( gymnastics), am all ready with credit card in hand, when the site says, "We are handling the maximum number of customers right now. Please try after some time." Okay, so some of those stadia seats will now have bums that paid for the privilege of sitting there.

I wait half an hour, then try again. same result as above. I wait another hour, then try again...have you ever heard the definition of insanity? That thing about trying the same thing again and again and expecting different results?

So in the afternoon, a friend and I trek to the one mall in Gurgaon that has a live kiosk, manned by some company called Fasttrac, which I am told specialises in food. So why CWG ticketing, unless kisi ko khilaaya pilaaya ho, I dunno. the counter is tucked away in a corner with a disconsolate looking Shera and two guys who look even droopier. We ask about ticket availability. They mumble something about how their manager has gone to get their phone recharged. We say that's nice but we weren't planning on asking for their phone number, just tickets to one of the events. They launch into a long-winded explanation about how the amount of money/ tickets is pre-charged into their phone/ computer/ id number ( didn't really understand what they were saying), and how the amount for each kiosk is limited to their manager has gone to the bank to get it recharged and will return. It was 2:30 pm then. They said the manager should return and the kiosk would be functional by 6:00 pm. Why four hours? I dunno! Why one kiosk in one mall in all of Gurgaon? I dunno!

A trekked there after 6:00 pm to get the tickets, having had another fruitless crack at the online booking by then. He traipsed home ticketless. The manager was still MIA and the recharge thing had not happened. He had run into a friend there who told him that tickets were aparently also being issued by Central Bank of India. Why only one and not all public sector banks? I dunno! Anyway, so after waiting at the bank for eons, he was finally told that yes, the bank was issuing tickets and yes, they were available but the bank's printer was not working.

We tried the online booking thing this morning, and hallelujah. It appeared to be working. So I almost went through, then saw a nasty little sign stating that tickets could only be picked up at Connaught Place/ Tolstoy Marg. Why in the name of the CWG, should there be only one pick-up point? Surely it should be easy in an IT-savvy country to create a central monitoring software and have people just show up with their ticket number at any of the 50-60 pick-up points that they should have installed? Oh, I forgot, Kalmadi and the rest of the OC was busy commenting on differential hygiene standards, holding up collapsing bridges while delegates walked across and forgetting to install food/ sanitary arrangements for the security people handling the event.

Apparently there is a ticket-couriering option but you have to book 8 days in advance, in this century. Err...why? Are they sending them by stagecoach? Why didn't they just get Indian Railways to do the ticket booking and couriering, especially as they are one of the sponsors? They have an amazingly foolproof system and barely have you clicked on book tickets when the tickets arrive at your place. Every single time.

Today we took the kids out for lunch and thought we could pick up the tickets during the outing. a went and stood in a long queue at the selfsame single kiosk in the Gurgaon mall. After patiently waiting for half an hour, he saw that the line wasn't getting any shorter, so he went up and asked the two tweedledums manning the counter. Guess what they told him? Yup, the recharge of whatever it was is still being waited for, along with Godot, and at this rate Godot may arive sooner.

One guy had actually done the online booking thing and it had taken him over 3 hours to pick up the tickets in CP. Does the OC know that not everyone has a government job and that taking off for more than half a day just to pick up tickets is likely to be behaviour that it noticed and frowned upon by one's employer? On the other hand, this is the same OC that thought sceurity people and volunteers don't need to eat/ pee so I think a small general knowledge course may be in order. Of course, that'll only happen after the CWG, which will go by with empty stadia or filled by complimentary-ticket/ pass holders. So much for making money from ticket sales/ merchandise!

Really, just when I thought the CWG had reached the zenith of pissing off and were finbally starting to move into a positive direction, we go through this. And then read in the papers how the stadia are going empty and how the Disorganising Committee is lamenting and saying, Please do attend the games.

Comments

Mahes said…
OMG! Just reading this makes me tired. Poor you :(
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