IRCTC has announced that it will accept what it calls Virtual Reservation Message, which it defines as ‘a screen-shot of the e-ticket displayed through laptops/palmtops/ Mobile phone’. About time, though you’ll still need to carry an ID proof.

This comes as a much awaited step – especially for those of us who’ve had to scramble for printouts just before journeys. Or worse, have forgotten printouts and ended up in a mess.

Why So Slow?

This, of course, begs the question as to why it takes so long for the Indian Railways to embrace any technology or change.

Of course, there’s the fact that there’s bureaucracy and red tape. But the underlying reason really is that the Railways is an economic monopoly. Because Indian Railways has no competition, it has no fear of losing business, and thus no incentives to change or to go the extra mile to improve its profits.

If say, the rights to operate trains were auctioned out to private companies, I dare say we’d see far more(and far faster) change – better food, more comfortable carriages, and perhaps even facilities like in-train entertainment. We’ve seen much change in nearly every other space – from telecom to automobiles – but not in Railways.

Railway officials point out that Railways cannot be privatized easily because it has a social responsibility. Often Railways has to take up ‘financially unviable but socially desirable routes that reach remote areas’ – those would get shot down by private companies.

Because railways is so fundamental a service and privatization would mean increased fares, any such measure to privatize railways would render train travel inaccessible to many poor people, and thus unacceptable to the Government.

Of course, the lack of privatization would also mean technology adoption will remain slow. Thus we’ve had to contend with slow change, simply because of the way Indian Railways sees itself.

For now, of course, we can celebrate small victories like being able to travel without printed tickets.

Today it’s really hard to think of a period when there was no facebook, myspace or Google+. Imagine the amount of boredom that existed during the era without the internet. It does scare you guys out there, does’t it?

Now, the next question that strikes our mind is how employees waste their time in office, before and after the advent of internet. The employees always had some ways to spend their time in office. Let’s get a sneak peak as to how employees fritter away time in pre and post internet era.

1. Real friends vs. Virtual friends

In the pre internet era, employees got enough time to bond with their co – workers which induced a feeling of friendship and acquaintance with each other. However, with the advent of internet, the boom of social networking sites has created a huge space for virtual friends on facebook, Yahoo, Google+. Globally more than 6 hours a day is spent on social networking. India alone has 25 million users on facebook and is the fastest growing nation on facebook with a growth rate of 65.32 percent.

2. Offline Games vs. Online Games

In the pre internet era, people wasted their office time playing games like minesweeper and solitaire. These simple addi ctive games can take away hours of time. But now people are wasting time on playing online games like Trivia Machine, Funky Truck which are easily available for free in websites like Zapak.com, Sify.com/game.

3. Printed Books vs. eBooks

Reading books is not a waste of time when you are not in office. Before the intervention of internet in our lives, people often spen d most of their office time reading printed books and newspapers. Now, the same has been replaced by the eBooks and new portal. ebooks are quite easily available on the websites like Google books, ebooks.com and ebookee.org. People no more likes to wait for the next day newspaper to know the latest happenings and updates, they are happy to paunch on the news portal available.

4. Gossiping vs. Apps, You tube

Day dreaming, gossiping was the favorite flavor of the employees in office to waste their time in pre internet era. However, with the advent of innumerable apps in the market, it has lowered the pace and rate of gossiping in the office. According to the mobile app analytics firm Flurry, smartphone users spend an average of 81 minutes-a-day using mobile apps. You Tube one destination where maximum of the employee like spending their productive time and enjoy funny videos, share it with friends on facebook.

5. Over planning workplace activities vs. Personal emails

Workplace ethnic day celebrations, Christmas parties, casual Fridays wer e some of the things that kept employees engaged, an half-hour meeting are often stretched out into hours of lost productivity as people offer suggestions, canvas ideas and discuss plans. However, these activities have lost its significance now as employees are too busy surfing the internet and exchanging personal emails.