IRI - चाहे कितने भी हों मतभेद, फिर भी हम परिवार एक - Dr. Abhishek Rai

During the course of a trip, I had booked a hotel in Jaipur close to the station(about 5-7mins, Hotel Ashwani Palace, Kabir Marg); the payment was to be made on my arrival, so just for second thoughts' sake, decided to look through the RR options available in Jaipur Jn. My friends and I reached JP by the Ashram express from DLI, and it entered pf3 at around half past 8. In IRCTC the bookings showed only for 12hr slots whether it was at 08:00hrs or 20:00hrs, and the staff at the enquiry counter confirmed the same. But one glance at the rooms made me dart out of the station and go straight to the hotel. The rooms which we saw were ill maintained, floors were flooded with what seemed like leaking water, toilet and bathroom were at their dirty best, and when asked about the pitiable state of the RR, the...
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staff came back with this "If anyone books, we will have it cleaned when they arrive. Since you haven't booked online, you will have to book in counter and then staff will be asked to clean after that". This was the sorry state of affairs in maintaining an AC Retiring room in the head quarters of North Western Railways-cum-main station of the capital city of Rajasthan.
TIP:- Please refrain from booking online, keep it only as a last option if you are desperate for a 12 hour stay in JP. Compare prices of hotels and lodgings near the station in a 1km radius. You will find plenty of choices in a variety of price range. If a group of persons are sharing it becomes even more cheap per head. Don't book the RR without glancing at its maintenance. This tip is based on experiences of 4months ago, but I doubt if the conditions have improved by even a small magnitude. So, please make a double check before you check-in into the RRs of JP.