India, Jan. 25 -- Dear Reader,

We almost missed our own wedding.

Being young and not paranoid enough, we'd booked late. The Gitanjali Express, which was to carry us from our jobs in Bombay to our wedding in Jamshedpur, was fully sold out. Our seats weren't even RAC, short for Reservation Against Cancellation, which would have allowed us onto the train in hope of a seat. Instead, we were WL-waitlisted. We couldn't afford air tickets; we tried dodgy train touts who promised our seats, but nothing materialized.

Finally, a unique Indian Railways invention came to our rescue.

Monisha Rajesh writes of this invention in India in 80 Trains: "Fortunately, Indian Railways has a useful system in place for latecomers, emergencies and the disorgan...