I doubt the "weirdness" of system is to bring "tech savvy" in par with "common man". If that were the intention why provide the feature of online booking at all

I doubt the "weirdness" of system is to bring "tech savvy" in par with "common man". If that were the intention why provide the feature of online booking at all ? It is not entirely true that online booking benefits the tech savvy/elite. Before the advent of the online booking one has to go to the railway station (as they were the only places where you can reserve a ticket) stand in a long queue and make reservation. With online booking now there are many authorized railway travel agents at many parts of the city to whom one can go (if one is not tech "savvy") and they will do the booking charging a small fee.