What Passes for a Ticket Stub these Days.

I live in the faraway land of Dombivli. It's apparently the Indian city with the highest literacy rates. But the operating methods used by the business owners here are definitely old school.

The other day I went to book movie tickets at the only multiplex in Dombivli. Now here's the tricky bit, this theatre was in the East but it also has some affiliations with a better newer theatre in the West. So you enjoy the freedom of booking your tickets right from East without crossing the railway bridge and taking a 10 min walk for booking your tickets. I was delighted to see that these two single screen theatres had found a way to partner each other and show a finger to those mighty multiplexes. As I paid for my tickets, the kind lady at the counter took my money and handed me this stub.

Yes, this is a movie ticket. 

I was taken aback. I asked her, 'No printed tickets?' Thinking in times of cloud computing, these two partner theatres must have figured a way out to book tickets online. She gave me her most reassuring smile, which actually wasn't as reassuring as she thought it was and then told me to just hand over the stub at the counter for my tickets. I thought she was joking and out to con me. I asked her for tickets again thinking she might be playing a joke and she told me again without the reassuring smile that this is all she could give me and I would get my tickets at the theatre. Any way, a few hours later I wound up at the theatre and they handed me my tickets. Turns out they co-ordinated over the phone about the ticket sales. I'd much prefer the security of a completely automated system but, hey, if it's not broken, why fix it?