internet banking in India

I spent last 3 hours trying to buy a ticket from an Indian website. I had opened an account in India to avoid carrying cash/amex-checks with me while I am there, but I can't use the bank account for anything. Every time I try using the internet banking the password doesn't work. If I ask them for the password, they send me my password through mail (apparently that is much safe than resetting the password). I can't use the card for buying anything either because all merchants require me to login with password (another ridiculous lack of responsibility). I guess the only relief is banking exists in India and if you know the right people and are lucky enough things would work out for you. On paper, India has everything - democracy, freedom and capitalism but in practice, good luck if any of that works out for you.