An Early Bird Catches a Fly, but not so early bird catches even a Better Fly. Author: Dr. K. S. Kang

 

Early Bird catches a fly but not so early bird catches a better fly

Author: Dr. K.S. Kang

It is quite a popular dictum that an , ‘early bird catches a fly’, showing the benefits of early rising and punctuality in life. It also demonstrates the value of action taken well in time before coming of an eventuality. But that day Indian Railways proved this dictum wrong. Normally I go on periodic visit to my native town at least twice a year and as a senior citizen I prefer to travel by train and that too on lower birth. So as to get berth of my preference I made reservation nearly a fortnight earlier but still I succeeded only in getting middle birth even a fortnight before the date of journey even though Railways normally allots lower berths to senior citizens but that day even after making my preference for lower berth, I succeeded only in getting middle berth despite making the reservation a fortnight before the journey was to commence.

In that journey one of my relative was also to join me in this journey, who had made a sudden decision to go to the same place. So he booked his seat just twenty four hours before the journey making use of Tatkal or Urgent option in which Indian Railways charge a bit more than the normal fare. So as to give me company he got reservation on the same train, same date and not only in the same coach but also the lower berth, mostly preferred by senior citizens like me. I was surprised sitting comfortably sitting on lower berth while I was struggling to get on to the middle berth due to pain in my knees. I asked him that he must have got his preferred lower berth as he must have reserved his seat at least a month ago. But his reply surprised me that he had got his seat reserved only twenty fours earlier making use of ‘Tatkal’ option given by the Railways though he had to pay slightly more than the usual fare. This incident made me think over this age old dictum or to revise it as per existing current circumstances as the dictums and proverbs need to be verified regularly after a gap of particular period. So that incident on the Indian Railways made me revise this age old dictum that it is true that,‘ an early bird catches a fly but in modern circumstances not so early bird catches even a better fly’.