The comic’s story would unravel as an when user starts to  scroll down and this concept of driving an animation based on scroll is unique and not many websites have used this .

In this comic  Rajini asks users to take a scroll down the Indian street . As and when he comes across a brand he speaks out the number of complaints which these brands have . At the end Rajini reveals his secret that he is getting all his power from ShoutOut website.

IRCTC  is the sole website from which one can book railways tickets  online in Indian Railways . The only other way of  booking a rail ticket is to head to the nearest Railway booking counter in your city . Knowing the amount of crowd in the booking center it is preferable to book tickets online .  Let me try and help you to book yours via a step by step instructions.

Sign up for the Log in to irctc.co.in

Start at the home page of IRCTC, <irctc.co.in>, and click on “SignUp”.

1. Type your desired username and check for its availability. This is a popular website , so uavailability of same username is possible. Also, put in your desired Password which you can remember .
2. Choose a security question and type the answer for it. This is  to verify your identity, in case your forget your password.
3. Provide Other details such as  address, ( address is very important, in case you are taking physical delivery of the ticket instead of priniting it out, so give precise address carefully)
4. Finally, click on the “SUBMIT” button. You will now see a Terms and Conditions PageAccept the Terms and Conditions by clicking on “Accept”. Now you can see your welcome page.

Plan your Travel

Now that you have your own username and password you may use this to plan your travel . On the left hand side of the website one see a small window like the one shown below

In the from and to  fields one need to enter the first few characters of the city which you want to visit. Based on this the system would suggest nearest match and you can select the city.  Another smart tip is to note down the 3 digit codes of the  cities which you frequently travel. After this  you need to select the date of travel  & then the quota of tickets (general / Tatkal).

Based on this the the system will suggest different train along with timing and type of  tickets available as shown below.

Once you select the type of ticket  using the radio button,  you would get a small window showing availability for the day along with the availability for the next 4 days.

Type of Tickets

1A –  First Class AS

FC – First Class

2A – 2 Tier AC

3A – 3 Tier AC

CC  - Chair Care -AC

SL –  Sleeper Coach with Berth to sleep during the night

2S  -  2nd class sitting -Non-AC

One may then use the “book now” button in the above window to make bookings .

Paying for the Tickets

PNR Status  enquiry

One of the major usecases for IRCTC website after making IRCTC login is that one can check the status of tickets . If the tickets have been confirmed or not .  The same can also be accessed by direct PNR status enquiry via IVR after dialing 139 on your mobile phone. In addition the IRCTC PNR status can be fetched from DIRECTLY via mobile too by sending an SMS to 139 WITH THE PNR number.

IRCTC provides two kinds of online tickets e-tickets and i-tickets:

i-ticket:

It is like a normal ticket which will be delivered at your doorstep in 2-3 days time. For i-Tickets you have to book the ticket at least two days in advance. i-Tickets are issued for Waiting List, Confirmed and RAC (Reservation After Cancellation) cases.

e-ticket:

To book an e-ticket you need to enter your ID proof details like PAN Card, Voter’s ID Card, Passport, Ration Card, Central/State Govt. ID Card or Driving License. After booking the ticket,  take a printout of the Electronic Reservation Slip and carry it during travel with the ID proof.

Type of Tickets TO Be booked after IRCTC login

The indian railways allows many type of tickets to be book via its portal and depending upon the train it may have boogies for  these type of  accommodation.

Apart from this there is unreserved seatc for which tickets can be bought in stations and no designated seats will be reserved instead people can sit on FCFS basis.

Print Tickets

The other facility of IRCTC log in is ,after loggingone can check and print the Tickets so that one may carry the same during the travel . Not having an e-ticket printout with you could lead to a fine of Rs 50  and a lot of  problems  with the ticket collectors so advice that we dont miss the tickets during the travel. To pring ticket one has to select the PNR number which and the one may print the ticket in Engligh/Hindi as per  one needs.

Cancellations & Refunds

In addition to booking tickets via the website one may also make cancellations of tickets  which have been booked . Please note that railways has certain rules regarding cancellation  and some amount of money will be deducted if the ticket is cancelled.

< Link for PNR Status , IRCTC  PNR Enquiry  Tickets booked via IRCTC>

IRCTC Logo

PNR is a 10 digit number which is printed on your ticket (both ticket issued at the railway counter and on tickets issued on IRCTC) and used to indentify uniquely a booking made by the passenger.

On clicking the above link one gets a place to enter the PNR number  which is normally consisting of  10 DIGITS  (e.g PNR Number is 334-444444).

IRCTC Pnr status window

Once a valid PNR Number is entered on the above page we get  details information on whether the ticket for which the PNR number is entered. The details returned for the PNR Status enquiry include  Train number , date of journey , from and to destination of the railway ticket.

IRCTC PNR Status Results page

Each of  the ticket in the PNR enquiry   will be attached with a status . The status can be any of the following

• CAN / MOD  - Ticket has been cancelled or modified
• CNF –  Confirmed  status which means that passenger can travel
• RAC – Reservation Against Cancellation , this status  indicates that ticket will be confirmed only if someone else cancels their ticket
• WL # :  Waiting Listed  and will be allocated if there are more cancellations done .
• REGRET/WL :  No more bookings are permitted , this happens once all tickets have been wait listed.

Indian Railways Cater and Tourism Corporation (http://www.irctc.co.in/ ) also provides SMS based PNR enquiry services. In addition one can also check the PNR status via an IVR number 139 (local calls applicable).

SMS PNR STATUS check and Enquiry

Note :The SMS to check PNR is charged and is not a free service.

SMS Service # 1

To check the PNR status check or enquiry  of the ticket which has been booked via IRCTC one has to  send  the following SMS TEXT ‘PNR <10 Digit PNR NUMBER> ’  to 5676747.  As an example PNR 12345678 if sent to 5676747 will recieve a response with the current status.

SMS Service # 2

One can also get the PNR status by sending sms to 54959
Sms PNR <10-digit PNR No.> to 54959

IRCTC PNR SMS Status

SMS Service # 3

One can also get the PNR status by sending an SMS TO 139 .

SMS ‘ PNR  <10 Digit PNR Number>’  to 139.

Thus one can get status  via any of the above different SMS shortcodes.  Indian Railways seems to be providing so manay different ways to get the PNR status via SMS.

PNR STATUS check and IRCTC Enquiry via IVR

In addition to SMS service it also possible to check the PNR status by dialing the IVR number 139 from BSNL & MTNL landline service.  Once you dial this number you would be prompted with the  IVR . One of the options is to check the PNR status. One has to enter the 10 digit numbe to check its status.

Its wonderfull to see the service like this working wonderfully well . One must appecriate the scale at which the IRCTC’s website is working and handling millions of tickets on a daily basis.

Hats Off to Indian Railways for coming up with the wonderfull service of online booking and also online PNR status check.

The following are the additional services provided by IRCTC  regarding trains.

• Indian Railways Fare / Berth / Availabiliy Check
• Trains between Important  Stations.

The above services can be used without login to the irctc website.

GMail

http://mail.google.com/

Visit gmail.com link given above to sign in a new www.gmail.com account or login to your existing gmail account. Gmail is free emailing solution from Google.

It first began as invite-only service but went public for-all in 2007. Gmail users who started with 1GB free space now enjoy 8GB as of 2011. For practical purpose, since individuals don’t use email of that size – it is considered as unlimited. This has pushed other 2 giants of free email services Hotmail and Yahoo Mail to free up their email storage spaces.

Gmail is also one of Google’s enterprise offerings, but of little success. Large corporations are still sticking to older methods of in-house email – mostly from Microsoft Exchange. A number of small businesses are using free email from internet. Medium businesses use enterprise email but haven’t yet caught up to become mainstream business.

TOP reasons for Signing up for a www.gmail.com  account

1. Spam will always be filtered.

Spam & junk mails have never been welcome at Gmail. The latest spam combat technology will automatically detect any suspicious emails & put them in the spam folder. I found that gmail ‘s spam control technlogy to be the best it beats Yahoo , Hotmail and Rediffmail by miles.

2. Search your mail instantly

It would make no sense if the webmail service provided by the world’s best search engine does not have a search engine of it’s own. Just type in your keywords & every messages in your inbox or sent folder will be found.

I give the search facility of Gmail  150% marks as all the old emails show up in a jiffy. With this who needs to delete and organize older emails. Details below.

3. Text, voice, or video chat

Chat with anyone you have sent an email to or reply by email by having text chatting. You can even talk face to face with Gmail voice and video chat. All you need is a webcam and a small download that takes seconds to install.

4. Labels, filters, and stars…oh my!

Still remember the days when you were in primary school, for every important element you will need to put a star beside it? Now by starring any messages you can know it is something important. Plus, it looks cute~ Gmail also uses labels to help you organize with more flexibility. A conversation can have several labels, so you’re not forced to choose one particular folder for messages. You can also create filters to automatically manage incoming mail.

5. Anywhere Access

Sign in to your Gmail account anywhere, anytime with your movile device. Gmail on the mobile application is cool as it stores the email on the device and connects to network only to sync up emails when u need them. You can also access GMAIL  emails  via POP3 s/w like MS Outlook.

6. Lots of space (and counting)

Gmail team is always working to increase the amount of free storage we offer in Gmail (Just visit Gmail homepage & you will see the space that is constantly increasing). With all these emails who needs organizing older emails.

7. Relevant Ads

You will never ever see any annoying pop up or banners, just relevant text ads right at the top of your Gmail account.

8. Save time

Take advantage of Quick Contacts and Keyboard Shortcuts in Gmail to get through your email even faster. And don’t forget that you can quickly find messages using Gmail’s search feature powered by Google search technology.

How to signin, login to Gmail?

Type Gmail.com on address bar and you will be redirected to this page.

You need a Google Account to sign in. Google Account is valid across all online Google applications. So if you already use YouTube or Docs or Photos or Blogs or Calendar or Reader from Google, you can use same account to sign into Gmail.

If you don’t have a Google account, click on “Create an account” on same page.

Fill in this simple application form and your account will be created within 2 minutes. Be careful to provide a strong email. Ensure you provide a security question and answer – this will help you in case of lost login/password. Remember Gmail is long term email which will likely remain with you for long time in future.

Once you login to Gmail, host of state-of-art email facilities are available to you. Best of them is Gmail search. Google combines its world class search and provide Gmail users its search facility. This is killer feature in Gmail which complements its infinite free space.

On Beta basis, Gmail has release priority Inbox feature. If you have too many emails, it helps to keep most important ones sorted out to read in limited time.

Google has recognized that internet access challenge will take sometime to overcome. It has therefore 2 versions – one for broadband users and other for slow internet access users. Depending upon load time of Gmail, it will decide which version to load. It helps immensely when you have very slow connection and all you care is access to new important emails. When it loads html-only version, Gmail doesn’t provide all features but is handy in urgent situations behind slow internet speed.

Gmail Motion

Gmail has taken big steps ahead and stands several notched ahead of its competition. Its Mobile version is an example in point. Gmail on Mobile is simple to use and provides many Mobile-only features. It integrates well with other Google Mobile apps.

Recently Gmail has launched Gmail Motion – a new feature which redefines way you interact with Gmail – using your body.

Rediffmail Login

www.rediffmail.com is the site which is used to login to the rediffmail portal (in fact it leads to rediff.com site  where you need to click on rediffmail NG Logo). Upon clicking on the logo  user is prompted to enter his/her  user name password .

Upon entering the user name and password  , the user has an option to keep himself signed on to rediffmail if he/she is using own PC for accessing . This option of rediffmail.com is usefull , but also is harmful when accessed from a shared PC like a Cyber cafe.  Would have preferred if rediffmail had not made this as the default option .

Using Rediffmail Service

Once logged in user can choose between classic version of rediffmail meant for slower internet connections and the Rediffmail NG version meant for faster internet connections. The search functionality of www.rediffmail.com on both rediffmail NG and rediffmail classic  leaves a lot to be desired  as it takes ages to search the content . This feature is so important if you are offering unlimited storage that i cannot underline it more than anything as i am considering to change my email account from rediffmail to gmail due to this simple reason of not having a search functionality.

Rediffmail NG

We will first tackle the Rediffmail NG version which is meant for faster internet connections.   With this rediffmail has tried to bring gmail type of functionalities  by making the  inbox ajax enabled . This means that one can read the email  without having to reload the page.

The rediffmail also provides  a service from which one can send free sms to Airtel, Loop Mobile, Vodafone, MTNL or Reliance subscriber from the rediffmail window itself. To do this one has to select the “send sms”  link and then enter the number followed by the message.

Rediffmail classic

For slower connections one may use the rediffmail classic access  . User can switch between the modes by clicking on the “classic”  or ” Take me to new rediffmail” buttons.

The rediffmail classic is the older version of the service and is suited for slower speeds of internet connection. This does not work with ajax technologies hence  all new emails will open in another page.

Rediffmail NG -mobile

In keeping up with times rediffmail also has launched a mobile version of  the rediffmail.com service.  This service allows you to access www.rediffmail.com  emails on your mobile  . But this service is not free and comes at a monthy charge of Rs 50 (no data access charges) . This  service called as rediffmail NG Mobile  can be accessed from most mobiles  and as rediff has a tieup with service provides all data access charges (GPRS) charges for rediffmail.com will be waived off by the operators.

Click here to see list of compatible handsets <Rediffmail Mobile Handset>

To use this service one has to buy “Rediffmail NG with RediffTouchNet” account online by using your credit card  (other payment options too possible).

Compare Rediffmail & Gmail and where do they stand

Rediffmail has 25 million customers in India and now that we are getting gmail as an option hence i am comparing the two to make the decision on whether once should move from Rediffmail to Gmail.  If you dont have a rediff account then it is best to use gmail  directly  and there are no dilemma . So let me compare gmail versus rediff’s email.

Pros of  Rediff ‘s Email service

1. Its user interface works well with slow connections especially the classic version of rediffmail.

Cons of  Rediff ‘s Email service versus gmail

1. Gmail’s search is far superior to Rediffmail search and this in fact is the biggest problem facing rediffmail.The search offered by rediff is elimentary at best and does not work if you have large amounts of email stored in the email box. This is unpardonable for a service offering unlimited storage.
2. Gmail also scores  with features like priority inbox which shows all emails from  frequentenly accessed contacts hence making it easy to sort through important emails . But this feature is only for professional users and does not hold much value for a normal Indian user.
3. Online chat within the mailbox . All contacts to which you have emailed will showup in the chat window within the email inbox itself for chatting and this is a neat function because most times email is not the best means to discuss topics . Rediff does not offer this feature, though it does offer rediff bol instant messenger service.
4. Gmail also organizes all related emails in a sort of transactions hence making it easy to corelate the whole email conversation. This is not there in rediff .
5. Last but not the least it also backed by Google technology hence is always on unlike rediff which does go down a few number of times in the year .
6. Gmail has advanced features like auto suggest of people to be included in an email

Demographics of Rediff.com’s users

The demographics of rediffmail users can be derived from the rediff.com’s demographics and it is an interesting information as it provides insights on how rediff has managed to survive the scare of scores of Indian portals launched .

Traffic Rank in India and world

As per Alexa rediff.com(hence rediffmail) is ranked as the 9 most popular website from India and around 159 th website in the overall traffic in the world . This makes it an very influential brand in India and rightly so as it has invested in building the portal over so many years.

Countries from where visitors visit the most

Rediff mail is mostly used in India and other markets where we have substantial portion of India diaspora . Thus it is no surprise to find 90% of traffic from India and then around 3.5 % traffic from USA and the rest slit across UK , UAE and other states. Another think to note as per Alexa is despite rediff.com being a large portal most of its traffic i.e around 40% comes from rediff mail this shows how influential the email service is.

Tidbits on Rediff

• Rediff.com has 95 million registered users and around 30% of them are using the email services so this puts the number of active users for the email service to be around 30 million which is a big number considering that india has only 40 million internet connections . As per Alexa more than 90% of the visitors using rediff.com ‘s email service are from India and the remaining are mainly concentrated in US, Uk and other countries.
• Rediff was one of the first indian website and email service  to be advertised on TV using the slogan “Lighting Fast“

• Rediffl also was the first email service to offer unlimited storage ahead of others like yahoomail , gmail etc.