Traveling to Bangalore from Chennai by flight nowadays are not time saving anymore, as the new Bangalore International Airport is more than 1:30 Hours from the city and on top of it is the 1 hour security checks and queues. So nowadays I prefer the train travel to go to Bangalore from Chennai and with train you can reach directly into the city.

Today I had to go to Bangalore and I couldn't get a ticket in Shadabthi Express, so I had to resort to flight. With my frequent flyer points in Jet Airways I got a free ticket and thanks to the reduced fuel prices I had to pay only Rs.450 as taxes. Reaching Bangalore I skipped the taxi service and took the Air Conditioned Vayu Vajra buses to city. It was very comfortable and affordable at Rs.150 from New Airport to HAL III Stage (Old Airport). You have friendly crew in the bus, racks in front at comfortable heights to store your big bags and good ambience with FM music. Overall I highly recommend taking the bus to and from the new Bengaluru International Airport.

To book the tickets and know about schedules visit the BMTC Bus Service site . You can check this site to know more about Bengaluru Internation Airport in general.

Early this month I travelled to Hong Kong while returning from USA. When I converted my money to Hong Kong Dollars to spend locally, I noticed they had a difference. Unlike currency notes of other countries say India, US or UK which are issued by Central Banks of those countries, the Hong Kong currency notes seems to be issued by authorized private banks like Standard Chartered, Bank of China, HSBC and others. All these are legal tenders in Hong Kong.

I am in Bay Area, USA for 2 weeks which will take me to Silicon Valley, Redmond (WA) and Los Angeles (for Microsoft PDC '08). Sunday evening I went along with my cousin who lives here to Fremont Temple. This is a well maintained and spacious (considering it is outside India) temple and I was impressed by the newly build area for the south indian gods.

On Monday morning I went to the Intel Museum in their campus in Santa Clara (CA). The museum covers about the history of Intel from memory chips, 4004 to the latest chips; chip fabrication process and basics of silicon, etc. The self visit doesn't take more than 30 minutes and I will recommend visiting this only if you happen to be in Silicon Valley area. Not worth travelling from anywhere far for this. I was told most of this is available online in their website as well.

Seeing the Intel 386 PC on display brought old memories for me. I started learning and doing extensive programming first on this PC - a 386SX (without the math co-processor) computer from Wipro during my school days. It is on this PC I learned my first business programming language - FoxBase and then Clipper. It is amazing the progress we have had in terms of speed and features over the last 23 years - unbelievable.

From Chennai you can buy affordable Air tickets for international destinations including return (two-way) to say Singapore (Rs.15,000 with Indian/Jet) or Kuala Lumpur (Rs.21,000) or Bangkok (Rs.19,000 with Indian/Thai). These fares are still kept cheaper despite the fuel hikes due to the heavy competition and high load-factors. But travelling within India especially to Non-Metros (where you to do a hop from another Metro) tickets are phenomenally expensive. I knew about this but didn't realize the magnitude on how costly they can become until I started booking the tickets for my vacation to Jaipur and Udaipur from Chennai.

From Chennai to Jaipur, only viable options are to do a transit either in New Delhi or Mumbai. The normally recommended option (because of more flight choices) is to fly to Delhi and then go by Road/Train to Jaipur. I didn't want to go by Road as it will be little tedious and since I had only a week time I couldn't get the tickets in Train either. I decided to go with Mumbai as MAA-BOM is shorter taking only One-and-Half Hours, compared to Two-and-Half Hours for MAA-DEL and hence a little cheaper. After few tiring hours of browsing all Airline websites I booked myself for this itinerary MAA-BOM with Jet Airways and rest all with Indian Airlines (as they had more comfortable timings) - BOM-JAI, JAI-UDR, UDR-BOM, BOM-MAA. I normally don't prefer low-cost airlines for family vacations as their flights tend to get enormously delayed, with the only exception for this being Paramount Airways.

As I said earlier the tickets for this travel was very expensive. For one person Onwards (MAA-BOM-JAI) costs around Rs.13,000 and Return (UDR-BOM-MAA) costs around Rs.12,500.

For Jaipur to Udaipur, I thought I can go by Train. Surprisingly the trains between the cities run at odd hours - not convenient with a small kid. So I was left with going by Air even for this sector with one person ticket costing around Rs.5000. You can't drive from Jaipur to Udaipur as it is more than 450 Kilometres. We don't realize how big is Rajasthan (I had earlier assumed Maharashtra to be the largest state in distances between cities there)  until you go and see for yourselves. The Aravali hill ranges (one of the oldest in the world) there has created diverse landscapes, so in Rajasthan you have Deserts, Hill stations, Rich fertile valleys and rivers.

Having done all the Air tickets I thought I was good to go. On landing in Jaipur on 27th (Saturday) I got a SMS from Indian Airlines saying the 4th (Saturday) October flight from Udaipur to Mumbai is cancelled. So I started my vacation with first redoing my return ticket from Udaipur to Mumbai, this time with Jet Airways. That was not all, yesterday when I called to tele check-in in they said the Mumbai to Chennai flight was postponed from 5:55PM to 8:30PM (combined with this flight). With my earlier experiences I knew the Indian Airlines 8:30PM almost never leaves before 10PM, so I went ahead and cancelled it. Redid my Mumbai to Chennai as well with Jet Airways - this made it easy in transit as the baggages could be through checked-in to Chennai.

I find it really surprisingly how Indian Airlines is able to get away with these changes and cancellation without worrying a bit about customer satisfaction. It can't be load-factor as the only reason, as even the Jet Airways flight from Udaipur to Mumbai was only 50% full but still they flew and nearly on time. So next time you are travelling with Indian Airlines (Air India) have back-up plans ready (or) fork-up more money the first time and go with Jet Airways or Kingfisher.

Note: For government (AAI) owned Airports that too Non-Metros Jaipur and Udaipur airports were both clean and good looking. The Udaipur airport was the best with its newly done exteriors and modern interiors & rest-rooms.

From Venkatarangan's Jaipur Photo Album (See the other photos as well)

We had a wonderful trip last four days, no rain and we got clear views of all places we went. As I said in the previous post we stayed in "The Trident", Jaipur. Trident is on the highway going to Amber fort, opposite to Jal Mahal. When I booked after seeing the hotel in their website, I thought the Hotel is on the river bank (as shown in the left photo below) and it will be great.  When I actually went there I realized that the hotel is on the other side of the road, and in between there is a park. One good service in the hotel is that of "Kids Club" where you leave your kids safe and they have toys, TV, books, games and trained people to take care. My son Vaageesh loved the place, I wish all other vacation hotels adopt this. The view from the park to Jal Mahal is beautiful but the park maintenance and cleanliness have to be improved greatly.

Day 1: In Mumbai we had few hours for transit from Chennai to Jaipur, I decided to go out of Airport rather than spend few hours inside. We took a taxi and went to Oberoi Mall (Dindoshi, Gen AK Vaidya Marg, Off Western Express Highway) which is probably the closest mall to Mumbai Domestic Airport. It took some 20 minutes one way, we had a good time there and had a great UP style vegetarian Thali (set lunch) at Sanskriti restaurant. We arrived in Jaipur in the late evening and after check in I went to their travel desk (which is oddly not manned by the Hotel but by Avis). When I approached the Avis representative, for planning my itinerary for sight-seeing next few days, he was only interested in selling his "Car Rental" services. He started the conversion by saying and then repeating Avis'es full-day/half-day charges, I had to raise my voice before he started to talk about the itinerary. Though he said it was not required, I insisted on having a "Guide" to accompany on both the days so that we can understand what we are seeing.

Day 2: On the second day we started around 9:30AM and went first to Amber Fort, which is near-by to the Hotel. The fort is not at a high altitude so the car journey to the top took only few minutes. If you wish you can travel royally in a Elephant Ride to the top which costs about Rs.550 per person. Amber fort has a beautiful palaces used by the kings then - a Summer palace and a Winter palace. We then went to see the Madhavendara Palace inside Nahargarh Fort. The palace has 9 compartments for king's 9 queens - it struck me if the king married once more for 10th time, he would have had a tough time expanding the palace!. Each Queen's compartment is self-contained with a Kitchen, Bedroom and Living area - you can see most of these rooms intact with the furnishings & fittings removed. The top of the fort has an excellent view of the entire Jaipur city. Our guide Mr.Rajiv did a great job in showing us all the places and explaining it in detail. (You can see the photo album for more details on what we saw).

For lunch we went to Pink City Restaurant which served good Thali and you can see the cooking clearly as they have an open kitchen. After lunch, we went to Jaipur Mall we saw how the block printing is done in textiles using natural vegetable colours.

Our guide recommended us to try staying in heritage hotels like Samode Haveli in our subsequent trips to Jaipur.

In the evening: We went to the famous tourist restaurant - Chokhi Dhani which is nearly 1 Hour drive (closer to airport) from Trident. It is a theme restaurant on a wide open space modelled like a typical village market of Rajasthan. Entry fee is Rs.300 per person which includes Dinner. They are open only from 6PM to 11PM. My son loved the rides - you have camel rides, elephant rides, horse cart rides and more. There is also model Rajasthani village houses for you to see. We stood in the dinner queue for over 30 minutes before being let in (crowded). The seating was in the ground with traditional low-height table for eating. The food was rich with lots of butter and ghee in almost all dishes- so be careful to eat limited if you wish not to gain weight. You can unlimited helpings of all the served items.

Day 3: Today we had another guide Mr.Vijay Singh for our city tour of Jaipur. We saw Hawa Mahal from road, I believe there is nothing much to see nowadays inside. Then we went to Birla Mandir and had a good darshan there.  

Then we went to Jantar Mantar (which is near city palace) the centuries old Sun Dials and other instruments which were way ahead of their times in their accuracy of readings. The large instruments there are believed to be used for both Astronomy and Astrology. Our next stop was City Palace.  We saw the 350Kgs Silver urn used by one of the earlier Kings to carry Ganges water during his visit to London. Apart from the usual items that you will see in a palace, there was a huge display of weapons in the Queen's Area of the palace. It had variety of daggers - one that can open up and be turned for maximum damage to the victim, one that shoot apart from the cut, 15Kg swords, metal helmet cutters and more. The kings seem to have spent a lot of money and talent, on fighting wars and building weapons. (You can see the photo album for more details on what we saw)

We had lunch in Peacock Restaurant which had a decent food but a very ordinary service, so if you are not near-by you may want to skip this restaurant.   

In the evening: We went for shopping to Jaipur Haat (which was walkable distance from the hotel) and bought some traditional style dresses. The varieties and the service was excellent, though the dresses were little pricey.

Day 4: We left this day intentionally free, spending the time relaxing in the room. In the evening we went for a walk to Jal Mahal (the mosquitos were too much on the road, making it difficult to walk).

With Dasara holidays for my son from today for a week, we wanted to go somewhere for a small vacation. My initial plan was to go to Bangkok - idea was to combine it with a business conference there and then extend it for next few days for vacation.  Unfortunately that conference got cancelled a week back and I was left scrambling for options. With only a week left, the usual international locations got mentioned and dropped due to lack of time to plan and book - including Nepal (may be next time I will do this), Malaysia & Singapore (we have been there), HongKong (I am going there for few days this month-end) and Dubai (there is no sightseeing apart from shopping I was told). So it has to be within India.

We have been to many places in South India including almost all the favourites. Our memorable once were those to Mysore (especially the Palace), Kabini, Hoysala (Hasan), Kumarakom & Coorg. So we wanted some other place, the only condition being it got to have something that interests a 5 year old (my son). So after many arguments between myself and my wife over the places (Sikkim, Shimla, Dargeeling, Andaman Islands, Gwalior, Goa featured in our deliberations) we picked up "Rajasthan" and managed to get rooms booked with "The Trident" in both places. So finally we have started our trip today to Jaipur and then to Udaipur.

For a Microsoft event I am staying here at Renaissance in Mumbai (A Mariott Hotel) and they allotted me a room in the newly constructed (nearly complete) Renaissance Towers - like in Software we were made to beta test the towers!.

In the morning when I got up and went for my bath - surprise, no running water. The housekeeping didn't even have an estimate of when they will have it repaired and they didn't even show a sign of remorse for their poor service. I had to do a "Luxury" act of brushing my teeth with bottled water, then with the help of perfumes and a set of clean clothes  I went for my breakfast meeting. I was feeling a little better that the person I met was also staying in the Towers and couldn't have his bath either

After an hour, water supply was restored but that too only Warm Water - no Cold Water!

போன சனிக்கிழமை குடும்பத்தோடு நாங்கள் ஸ்ரீமுஷ்ணம் கோயிலுக்குச் சென்று இருந்தோம். ஸ்ரீமுஷ்ணம் என் பாட்டியின் பிறந்த ஊர். ஆனால் இதுவரை நாங்கள் பலர் அங்கே போனதில்லை. இந்த முறை உறவினர் ஒருவர் அழைப்பை ஏற்று அங்கே போயிருந்தோம், நல்ல தரிசனம் கிடைத்தது.

வைஷ்ணவத்தில், இந்த பூலோகத்தில் சுயம்வக்த (சுயம்பு, தான்தோன்றி, Natural, Not man made) க்ஷேத்ரங்கள் (புனிதத் தலங்கள்) என எட்டு க்ஷேத்ரங்கள் பெரியவர்களால் கூறப்பட்டுள்ளன.  அதில் ஸ்ரீமுஷ்ணம் (தூய தமிழில் திருமுட்டம்) விசேஷமான ஒன்று, விருத்தாசலத்திலிருந்து இருபது கிலோமீட்டர் தூரத்திலிருக்கிறது. சென்னையிலிருந்து விருத்தாசலம் 220 கிலோமீட்டர் தூரம் - NH45ல் சென்று விழுப்புரம் தாண்டிய பிறகு உளுந்தூர்பேட்டையில் இடது (Left) பக்கம் திரும்பி 20 கிலோமீட்டர் செல்லவேண்டும்.

இங்கே இருக்கும் புஷ்கரணி (குளம்) - பூமியைப் பெருமாள் (விஷ்ணுவின் அவதாரமான பூவராஹ ஸ்வாமி) தூக்கும்போது பெருமாளின் வேர்வையிலிருந்து உருவானதாக ஐதிகம் (நம்பிக்கை).  இங்குள்ள ஸ்ரீ வராஹப் பெருமாளை (மூலவர்) வேண்டினால் சொத்து சம்பந்தமான தடைகள், பிரச்னைகள் விலகும், பூமி/சொத்து இவை கிடைக்கும் என்பது ஐதிகம். அது போல குளத்தின் அருகிலிருக்கும் அரசமத்தின் அடியில் ஸேவை தரும் அஸ்வத்தநாராயணனின் (ஸ்ரீ நரசிம்ஹர் ஸ்வாமி) சந்நிதி சென்று பிரார்த்தனை செய்தால் குழந்தை பாக்கியம் கிடைக்கும் என்பதும் ஐதிகம்.

(கோயில் புஷ்கரணி குளம்)	(ஸ்ரீ பூவராஹ சுவாமி கோயில் கோபுரம்)
(நாங்கள் தங்கியிருந்த ஆனந்தா லாட்ஜ்)	(ஸ்ரீ அஸ்வத்தநாராயணனின் சந்நிதி)

Last week my son had the whole week off from Tuesday through Friday for his school annual day. My work in office was relatively light, so I decided to take him (of course along with my wife ) for a tiny-vacation. We had been to almost all resorts in Mamalapuram near Chennai, so we decided to go to Pondicherry. Though I have travelled through Pondy numerous times (on the way to Cuddalore or further south) and been to few places there, I haven't stayed and seen Pondy in its entirety, that way it was an ideal choice.

From Chennai, Pondy is only 3 Hours drive - you have two choices for the route. One route through the scenic "East Coast Road" where you pay a toll-fee of Rs.45 from Chennai to Pondy; or the multi-lane world class NH-45 from Chennai to Dindivanam where you pay toll-fee of Rs.20 twice. I went by ECR and while returning come by NH-45, while coming back we had darshan in Panchamukha  Anjaneyar (which is at near equidistance from both ECR and NH-45). Driving my Honda City in NH-45 was a joy by itself, the car did (thanks to the wide road) effortlessly 120Km/Hr most of the time, of course I could've done more but the official speed limit was 80 Km/Hr !

We stayed in Ashok Resort (a part of ITDC), which had decent rooms overlooking the sees at good rates (Rs.4000 for Standard AC Room per night). The food and service was good considering that it is a public sector hotel.

The beautiful french quarters area of Pondicherry with its white buildings on the side lanes of the beach	With the Pondicherry Pier behind me (we couldn't find the entrance to get in to it though)
The first time I have seen a portable toilet (the blue boxes) for public convenience in an Indian city. Kudos to Pondy govt.	The famous pondicherry beach and Mahatma Gandhi statue

After spending few hours in San Jose Tech Museum I took the local VTA bus 180 to travel to the Great way mall. I was not sure on the direction of the bus to take, their call centre was unhelpful answering my query, then I asked one of the bus driver who guided me to take the bus going in the"Fremont BART" direction. After Seattle Bay Area seems to have a decent public transport system, which made me like this US city a bit. There is nothing exceptional about the mall other than it is big and you get all designer stuffs here.

To kill time I went to Century Cinemas there to watch "Hellboy II" - why Hellboy, because there was no other movie I would have liked. The movie's story is completely fictitious and unbelievable, but the graphics and effects are superb.

I was in San Jose area and had the whole day to spend before my return flight (Jet Airways from SFO to BOM) in the evening. So I started the day with my friend dropping me in San Jose Tech Museum.

First I went to see the IMAX movie "The Alps" which had breath taking views and an emotional story - an expert climber had been wanting to climb the "Eiger" mountain in the Alps which had killed his father 40 years back.

Then I went to see the exhibits, which included a Silicon IC (Chip) manufacturing, Gene therapy, inventions, solar energy and many more. It is a must see museum for today's students.

I wish we had something like this in India - may be in Bangalore Indian IT giants can take a clue from their Silicon Valley counterparts to fund one. What impressed me was the web page creation kit they have - in every exhibit you can insert your bar coded ticket to get a photograph of yourself and at the end you can post all of them into your own custom web page, cool!

This time while travelling within the USA, I selected to fly with Southwest Airlines. Most other airlines especially in the USA are using the Oil price rise as a good excuse to cut all the "services" they are offering to customers and deteriorating in every aspect. Southwest seems to be using this great risk as a clear opportunity to differentiate itself as a provider of great service. You might ask what great service, I could list the following:

1. On time arrival and departure
2. Courteous Staffs
3. Accommodating change request whether it is to prepone a flight at the gates or with no fees postpone your ticket online even for the lowest fare
4. Wide choice of beverages on board - Starbucks Coffee, Tea, Soft Drinks & Juices
5. Quick arrival of bags
6. Affordable fares and no charge for two check-in bags (In one sector Alaska charged me $25 for the second bag)
7. Finally, few tables in every gate with 110V Power sockets to charge your laptops/accessories and USB Power sockets to charge your iPods and phones.

Last weekend while doing some room cleaning, I came across an old photo album (you remember those chemically processed photos from photo studios). It was the photographs of my first USA trip in 1999. I selected few of them and uploaded it to my online album. You can see me "younger" than today and without spectacles .

(Below) With Actress Ramba in Frankfurt Airport (1999)	(Below) With Actor Vijay in Frankfurt Airport (1999)
(Top) In 1999 in New York with World Trade Center (Twin Towers) behind me in the horizon	(Top) In 1999 in New York on top of the World Trade Center (Twin Towers) observation deck

BTW, I don't know Actor Vijay or Actress Ramba in person. Just happened to get out from the business class together with them and I requested them for a quick "snap". Fortunately I remembered to carry my pocket camera in my backpack then (of course, nowadays every one has a Mobile Phone with Camera).

Today I came to Bangalore for a meeting. Having heard the horrifying stories of travel from city to the new airport at Devanahali I got booked by train. I should have left by Shadapti Express leaving Chennai at 5:30PM yesterday, but due to last minute business meetings I reached Chennai Central station late. I was in the platform only at 5:32PM, by then all I could see was the last bogie with a giant "X" mark as seen in Bollywood movies. I had to avoid the glaring look of a porter in the platform at me. Missing the train, I travelled today by flight from Chennai to Bangalore and return.

After long delays, several false starts and Protests against closing the old Airport, the New Airport at Devanahali was built by a consortium of Siemens (Germany), Zurich Airport & L&T finally opened itself on May 24, 2008. The old HAL Airport was certainly brimming out of capacity and facilities, Bangalore certainly took a long time in getting a new airport. Is the long wait worth it?. Overall "Yes", but several things could have been done better.

• For one, a Metro (Train) facility should have been planned and executed which could have provided convenient connectivity from City to Airport. Without a train link the new airport is putting pressure on the already crowded Makkri Circle Area and Bangalore-Hyderabad National Highway. For me it took 75 minutes in the morning (9AM) today to reach Jeevan bhimanagar from the new Airport and while returning in the evening (5PM) took me nearly 90 minutes. I was told by the taxi driver that 90 minutes in the evening is good, it had taken him two days before over 2 Hours (120 Minutes) to get to Airport.
• Second, the waiting area and facilities in the departure terminal could have been better, at this moment they are very basic and ordinary. For example as the photograph below shows there is hardly 30-40 chairs for people to sit in each gate. Certainly each gate will have a flight capacity of over 100 passengers on average, so it was more crowded than the old airport. The lack of facilities at the gate made me wonder whether Siemens wanted to recreate in Bangalore Airport, the same poor facilities that you will find in Frankfurt Airport. The last time while transit to USA I was in Frankfurt Airport and I could get to buy only a Bagel and a Donut to eat - I couldn't even find a Pizza outlet.

The best mode of transport to and from new airport seems to be the  A/C Buses (Vayu Vajra) run by BMTC. It costs about Rs.150 for travelling from Old Airport area to New Airport. To know more about Bengaluru Airport you can go to the official website, which unfortunately seems to be down at this moment.

For my summer vacation this time I selected Kodaikanal. I booked my ticket to travel from Chennai to Kodai road by Pandian Express in Class 1A. I thought this to be First AC, but we were pleasantly surprised to see a AC coupe (H1 compartment). It was well furnished with wide beds, washbasin, wardrobe, curtains and even toilet occupancy indicators (like in flights). Good comfort provided by Southern Railways for just Rs.1336 per seat. With excellent facilities like this by train, budget airlines have tough competition for them (especially with rising flight prices). From Kodai road, Kodaikannal was about 2 hours drive.

This is one of my usual rants after a trip to USA. Early this month I left to US for a business trip which included Mix '08 conference in Las Vegas (my third in a row). I normally fly BA from Chennai straight to West coast because it is the shortest and has minimum stopovers (or) fly with Singapore/Malaysian Airlines due to their service and food. This time I decided to fly with my favourite Airline - Jet Airways as they fly to US now and I also got a good deal for Business class (Jet calls it Premium class) at Rs.190,000 ($4750) roundtrip with taxes (Chennai to Newark (EWR) via Brussels & back).

Onward

The first experience was in Chennai Airport (which used to be my airport of choice in India) where it was total chaos from entering till boarding, may be because it was a Friday and there were at least 8 to 10 flights taking off within a few hours window. You normally see Jet Airways friendly staff everywhere for domestic sectors, surprisingly there were not even one outside the counters and the counters too were thinly staffed for this international sector which was running full as well.

The minute you boarded the experience starts to be a different one and the in-flight service for which Jet is famous for was excellent. I got an absolute flat-bed (which the air hostesses makes it for you on request), big flat screen for entertainment, night-suit & a designer personal hygiene kit. Each seat in Premiere also provides you with USB Port for charging and 110V AC Socket for charging. Two things Jet can improve on the in-flight experience, one increase the selection of food (like Malaysian they can do a buffet on wheels) and the second to improve the number of regional language (Tamil) & comedy video content.

Jet flies 3 flights currently from India (Mumbai, Delhi & Chennai) which arrive in Brussels one after other in say 10 minutes gap of each. And they take off to 3 destinations in North America (Toronto, New York JFK, Newark EWR) in 10 minutes gap of each. So you have a good hub and spokes model for choice here. When you land in Brussels, there are hardly any ground staff from Jet to guide you to the lounge or for other assistance. The good thing is that in Brussels Airport, Jet Airways has a well-equipped lounge on their own with a good spread of breakfast selections.

When you land in USA (Newark EWR) the lack of ground staff from Jet Airways continues. Even though I was flying Business, my bags took more than 45 minutes to arrive in the belt and no one to help you on that. Since I had to go to the West Coast (San Jose and then to Vegas) I decided to spend the day in New York with one of my early mentors and good friend Mr.Shivraj who is an independent IT Consultant there.

Return

For return I started from Seattle flying to Newark (EWR) by Alaska. Since Alaska doesn't have a baggage alliance with Jet Airways yet, I couldn't do through check-in, which means I have to get the bags and check in again manually in Newark. And once I arrived in Newark there was hardly any signs or directions to which terminal other airlines are flying from. The good thing, the airport had information staffs everywhere who guide you correctly. I went to AirTrain counters where they guided me to Terminal B (That's from where Jet Operates). I went to the Northwest lounge offered by Jet Airways (for which you have to go to a separate gate and security check) and found they carry nothing other than liquor and orange juice, absolutely nothing to eat. So I came out and had the only good vegetarian item I could find (Pizzas) in the gate. The return journey was more pleasant at Brussels, with Jet Airways ground staff taking good care of passengers, guiding them to lounge, etc. The Jet lounge at Brussels didn't have a shower but they arranged for one at the near-by Diamond Lounge on their own free.

US Airports and Carriers

Compared to other full-service airlines in USA, I found Alaska to be more on time, efficient and cordial service. One thing I don't understand is why do they want to charge for the Entertainment (Digi Players) and for the measly food they serve on board. United, Alaska and all other carriers in US, charge you like $5 or $10 for a frozen food packet and for Entertainment screen. This is the same procedure even on flights over 4 hours like the one I took now from Seattle to Newark or the earlier one I took from Newark to San Jose which was like 6 hours. They charge like $250 or more for coast to coast and they still want to charge $10 more , it is not that I am complaining about the additional charge it is the lack of good choice in food. I see all the flights I travelled in this trip were running full and I read that they are making good profits for the last 12 to 18 months. Still all the flights you travel with US carriers are old and aging, which I can understand because many of them after 9/11 are still in bankruptcy protection or just out.  What I don't understand is the lack of service mostly in-flight (I certainly don't believe it to be racism), complete in-difference to paying customers which you don't see anywhere in Asia. For example, in the Alaska flight today they missed for several seats serving juices & snacks. When I asked (so too few other customers) she just brought her own selection and that was it. I was offered an Orange Juice, when I asked her that I actually want a Tomato Juice, she just ignored it (I am sure I was very clear) banged the cup and left.

One of the things you will find it clear once you have been through few US airports is that they have a total lack of infrastructure and space for security screening. Almost all the airports are old and aging, when they were planned there was no concept of passenger screening so it all happens in long lines in cramped corridors. 

For a business meeting tomorrow I had to come to Bangalore.  It so happened in the last 5 to 6 years that I almost always did morning-evening same day return flights from Chennai to Bangalore due to my schedules and my dislike for Railway stations. Considering the growing hassles of the hour-long queues in Airport securities and the praises I was hearing from my colleagues/media about the improved service in Indian Railways I decided this time to give Train a try.

Just now I reached Bangalore after travelling by Shatabdi Express that reached Bangalore Cantonment at 10.20PM (STA 10.05PM)  which started from Chennai at 5:30PM sharp. The overall experience was very good, I am certainly pleased and I want to do this more often than the flights - I guess this is more greener as well.  Comparing to Indian Railway's historic (lack of) standards everything was clean including the coaches, seats, toilets and above all the stations at both end.  I travelled in the Executive coach and the service was certainly good, they kept giving you something to eat through out the journey - Samosas, Cool Drink, Biscuits, Cashews, Wafers, Coffee/Tea, Soup, Dinner and Ice-Cream. I was surprised to hear that they had PA systems in the coaches in which they kept announcing things like crews names, delays, approaching station, time of arrival, etc.

Above all I liked the idea you can be connected through a data card through out the journey and keep working on your laptop catching up on your work. For instance, in the first one hour, I finished most of my pending emails and in the next few hours 3/4th of a book.

Keep up the good work Indian Railways, Thanks Mr.Lalu & Team for giving us a good experience.

Last month returning from a trip to Danvantri Temple, Walajapet went with my family to Sripuram Golden Temple near vellore. It is built by Sri Narayani Peetam and is situated some 5Kms from Vellore downtown. When we went thousands of people were in the temple, after locking you in cages (like in Tirupati) they send you in batches to control the crowd. I suppose most of the crowd visiting were curious and interested to see the new golden temple rather than the deity. The temple, covering 55,000 sq ft, has intricate carvings and sculptures in gold. Except for the pathway, the entire structure has been made of gold and copper. About 400 goldsmiths and coppersmiths, including craftsmen from Tirumala-Tirupati Devasthanam, have completed the architectural marvel in gold in six years. The approximate cost of the temple is Rs 600 crore.Visit the official website here for more details and photos.

It was a long walk to the temple and inside the temple - as they make you walk a kilometre or two in a path formed in the shape of Srichakram (the holy sign of Vaishnavism in Hindu Religion). The main temple and surroundings have been done built aesthetically and maintained very well, the whole place is so beautiful and calm.

Ten days back when I reached Singapore from Los Angeles by Singapore Airlines (my favourite next to Jet Airways) I realized my checked-in bags haven't reached Singapore. I had through checked in the bags with United from Seattle, and though in LA there was over 3 hours time before the Singapore flight the bags didn't make it. It was not only my bags, but that of 10-12 other passengers. The saving grace was when I went to the Lost and Found counter of Singapore Airlines (SG), they already had a printout ready with information tracing my bag, where it was and when it will come to Singapore. So the bag technically didn't go missing, but didn't make it in the flight I came.

SG teller at the Lost and Found, gave me a printout acknowledging the incident, SG$120 to cover one day of my incidentals, a toiletry bag with a spare T-shirt all without asking - the way it should be done. I was promised the bags will be coming in the next flight from LA, they will call and leave the bags with my hotel; and the next day morning when I get up the bags will be in my hotel. So it was there next day. I really felt I was handled with respect, professionalism and the incident was resolved quick and well by Singapore Airlines.

From LA I went to Redmond (WA) where I will be in our US Office for a week before returning to India. Since I have been to many places around Seattle, I decided to go to Vancouver (BC) for the weekend. This is my first trip to Canada. Canada requires Indian Citizens to have a valid VISA to enter, I had got mine from India itself.

We booked for the trip from Seattle-Vancouver-Seattle through Clipper Victoria for about USD 212 per person including the hotel room at Vancouver, entrance to Aquarium, hotel transfers and Grayline tour on Day 2. Today morning (Saturday) we left by Amtrak from Seattle at around 7AM and reached Vancouver at 12PM. Just like in an airport, you have immigration happening at the arrival. We stayed at Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, which is a nice hotel and well in the downtown accessible to all places easily. Taxi's are easy to get by calling in Vancouver and many places cost about $10 per trip. Since this is Winter, it was drizzling almost through out the day, but it seems to be a beautiful city.

The Vancouver Aquarium at Stanley Park is hyped a lot, I found it ordinary especially after seeing many of them around the world. One show that was worth seeing there was a live Necropsy (autopsy done in a fish) performed for a dead Shark - though the event was staged it showed live the inner organs of a shark. In the same park we walked for about 20 minutes or so and saw a live Rugbe match being played and little far the Totem poles.

After this, we went to IMax Theatre and saw a 3D Movie on Dinasours, on our way back we went to Chinatown - where most of the shops got closed at 6:30PM itself. For the dinner, we went to a nearby Indian Restaurant (Original Flavours of India) on 1232 Robson Street, though the food was little pricier it did tasted good.  Sunday when we went back to the area in Robson street we found atleast 2 other Indian restaurants with in the same block.

Vancouver Nov 2007

On Day 2 (Sunday) we took the Grayline half-a-day tour of the city which took us to Lookout point, Chinatown, Stanley Park, Lions Bridge & Granville Island Public Market. The public market was an World War II abandoned warehouses (5) that were converted to shops - now they house few hundred eateries. Being a Vegetarian I didn't find anything that interested me. Post lunch we went around the shops in Robson street.

In the evening we took the Amtrak back to Seattle. Unlike in an airport, the immigration for USA happens in Vancouver Station itself, customs happens only after the train enters the first station in USA - just like in India State to State buses border checking, the US Custom officials come into the train seat by seat and check.

I have said it in the past, I will say it again. The best airport to go abroad from India is Chennai International Airport. It is small compared to Mumbai and Delhi, which means less flights depart, fewer people so you will have comfortable space. I am doing this post from Mumbai International Airport, even after privatization this airport has improved little. It is one big corridor in two floors, packed with people every where - easily few thousands and no place to sit, windowless gates and Cigarette smoke everywhere near gates. It is a complete chaos. Compared to the International Airport, the Mumbai Domestic Airport is far better.

Last week I went to Colombo and returned. I found the Arrival terminal in Colombo to be world class and the departure to be the same old airport. On return to India, I was surprised to find a new arrival hall in Chennai International Airport, this one is more spacious, more conveyor belts. One more reason for me to like the Chennai Airport

As I have said in the past, many times I find interesting articles handpicked and featured in MSN.COM homepage. Today I read one such article on World's Cheapest destinations. It covered about places where you can spend a day for $20 - Laos, Bali, Vietnam, India, Zambia, Tunisia, Honduras, Guatemala, Peru and Argentina. Sadly it has left out Sri Lanka - may be it was because of the ongoing unrest there.

Though India is featured there, don't get fooled. Anything in Travel that falls under luxury is expensive in India compared to other Asian countries. Five Star (though not everyone will be looking) accommodations are the most expensive in India, even Las Vegas is cheaper than Indian Metros. One of our abroad client is visiting us in Chennai this week and Chola Sheraton's per day rate for them is Rs.8800 (USD 225).

I was in Sri Lanka for last two days on invitation from Microsoft (Sri Lanka) to present on their DevDay 2007 event. The event happened in Mount Lavinia Hotel and I stayed there as well. What a beautiful place this is, with clean unspoiled beaches and adding to the vintage effect given by a Railway station right in the front of the hotel. Imagine the place that has Railway Station in Front and a long unspoiled beach on the other side. The hotel itself has 200 years of history starting as the house of the British governor and moving to various owners. Check out the photos of the place below:

MT. LAVINIA Hotel 16 OCT 2007

Microsoft gave me a beautiful gift, which was a replica of Sigiriya style of art of a Fresco maiden holding flowers. The replica was done on a irregular shaped stone giving it a genuine antique look - may be this is what made the Sri Lankan Customs question me on whether I am smuggling out one of their antique piece out of country. Of course, they allowed me to take it after they found it to be a replica. I have given below the images of the original painting (Left) and the replica (Right) I got.

Most of the times when you are asked to complete a feedback survey, you are left wondering whether anyone actually read it. It seems they do in some companies. Last Sunday (29/July) I was travelling to Chennai in Paramount Airways and completed a survey. Surprise!, next day Monday (30/July) morning I got an email acknowledging the survey. I guess all the survey gets into a system, generates an auto reply and goes through a workflow/BI.

Anyways, good job Paramount Airways, please keep it up.  

I might be generalizing an issue here, but nonetheless here it is.

At our office (Vishwak) we have people visiting our US office for short trips every other week. Our travel desk uses our regular travel agent for booking these tickets, don't experiment a lot as the last thing they want to have people stranded in Timpakto and calling them. Most of the time, we get good fares with BA or Lufthansa for Chennai-Seattle-Chennai, though I prefer BA due to its shortest journey time. In terms of service though, my favourite is always Asian Carriers - Jet, Singapore, Malaysian (in that order). For Domestic Sector, there is hardly any margins so ticketing agencies are not interested in the business - we do these bookings through Websites like Cleartrip or Yatra or directly in Airline websites.

This week we got a last minute confirmation for a training programme in Microsoft Redmond, WA for one of our Senior Developers. I became adventurous yesterday and booked his tickets on Expedia.com instead of our travel desk. Though the routing was long (Chennai-Dubai-Zurich-Paris-Seattle), I went with Expedia as I got a good fare @US$1300 Round-trip. It generated confirmation for every sector and I got it verified by Emirates local office in Chennai as well. Today morning when he tried boarding he was refused as there was no Airline ticketing number. I was taken aback and on checking my email I find an email from Expedia (after 10 hours of booking) saying the below - basically that they are not able to issue a Ticket.

"We are contacting you in regards to your recent purchase on Expedia.com. Due to circumstances beyond our control, we are unable to process your request for a ticket. Please call us at (800) EXPEDIA as soon as possible so that we can work with you to make alternate arrangements - Expedia Inc."

And on calling the number repeatedly, we were kept on hold and no person answering the call. Finally I gave up, wrote to Expedia to cancel the ticket. I then called my travel agent and though it was a Sunday he came to work and got a ticket in Air India for the same day @US$1650 Round-trip. So finally a happy ending to the story.

I am puzzled on why Expedia failed. May be they couldn't get the fare when they did ticketing (or) Security restrictions in US/India requiring 24 hours notice (or) simply an one-off occurrence. Whatever it is I am back to my good 'ol travel agent for my international bookings.

I have been charged on my credit card and after two days still no response back on Expedia or my money back.

I am a pure vegetarian by belief and choice from birth. So whenever I travel abroad I have to say No Fish, No Meat, No Chicken!. Immediately some people reply back How about Water? - definitely not funny especially when I am hungry. Only saving grace is that I eat everything vegetarian and Egg is OK as long as it is masked inside cakes and sweets - no omelettes though.

So why am I saying so much about me here, not only because it is my blog and I can write whatever I feel like here , but to give you the context.

Last week I was in Japan on my second business trip there, stayed there in Akasaka (ANA Tokyo Hotel). Fortunately I could find lot of Indian Restaurants in walking distance or few subway stations away. The one I liked was Moti's. Other options include "Maharaja",  last visit I had visited this restaurant in Shinjuku - but the food there is made more for the Japanese/Western taste.

Japanese are known for their hospitality and friendliness. My clients in Japan hosted a dinner specially for me and my co-worker. Like I did during my last visit, I requested them for a Japanese dinner. They took effort in finding a good restaurant near Omote-Sando station. It was a classical Japanese style home, and they served a seven (or eight) course lavishing meal. The meal was pure vegetarian and consisted of boiled vegetables, fruits, rice, tofu and Japanese tea. I was told by my hosts that the meal was modeled on what Japanese Buddhist monk have in their monasteries. For me, it was a different experience. The restaurant manager gave all of us a paper (shown in the image here) that has the entire menu we had for the dinner listed in Japanese.

Like Indians, Japanese also have their food sitting on floor. But a new thing I learned on that day was that Japanese conventionally sit in Vajrasam Yoga style while sitting on floor. The normal folded legs posture is considered in Japan to be rude - but nowadays very common. 

If you are travelling to Singapore, you can enjoy Free Wi-Fi access at StarHub Access points in Changi Airport, Suntec City and Coffee Bean Outlets. I have used during my trips to Singapore in the last few years and find it most of the time working fine. Today while trying to use it in Changi Airport I couldn't login, after few frustrating moments I realized I was doing it wrong - StarHub please improve your User Instructions in the SMS you send.

Steps:

First you select StarHub as your Mobile Phone Roaming Service Provider. Then dial *9434 from your phone, you will shortly get a SMS with UserId and Password. Then connect to "StarHub" access point from your laptop. Open Internet Explorer, you will get the above shown Login Screen. In the screen, select Mobile/Cellular Phone Roaming Customers Checkbox, before entering the UserID and Password in the Step 2 area. I missed to select the RadioButton - can you believe how dumb I am

Today I travelled from Chennai to Singapore by Jet Airways. Though MAA-SIN has several flight I picked this one, as it is conveniently leaving Chennai in the morning at 11AM and I wanted to try Jet Airways International Sector. Jet always has been my favourite airways and I wanted to see how they do in International sector. In short, I loved the flight and Jet's impeccable service.

The ground staff was efficient, and they impressed me most for two things: First for they gracely upgraded me to Business Class (though with a Jet Upgrade voucher but that is valid only on Domestic Sectors) and Second for a very small thing but a gesture I loved - the Immigration Card they handed over already had the flight number filled up. Think about service and this is service - the ability to anticipate little things and do it for customer. Let me stop here I am sounding like their spokesperson . 

Lastly, I am happy that I will get few thousand miles credited to my frequent flyer program, Jet when will you fly to USA?

I read in today's Economic Times supplement Madras Plus about Chennai Corporation deciding to beautify the Elliots Beach in Chennai. Elliots Beach in BesantNagar, Chennai is a sharp contrast to the buzzing Madras Marina Beach (One of Worlds Longest Beach). If developed to World Class Standards it has the potential to attract huge amount of travelers (both within India and Outside).   

Elliots Beach in Chennai

One of the best waterways in the world that I have seen, is Sydney's Darling Harbour. It has been developed from a marsh dumping area (that's what I heard) into a premier tourist destination. I dream one-day Chennai too has a version of Darling Harbour. Nature has been kind enough to Chennai to bestow it with everything that is needed to create one - including back-waters, Adyar River and more. Unfortunately Chennai lacks is a willing and determined Political and Bureaucratic leadership to make it happen.

The only good cosmetic development in Chennai done by Chennai Corporation in the last several years has been the development of almost a dozen Parks in the City. Almost all of them look very tempting to visit, unfortunately locked almost throughout the day - may be that's why they are still beautiful

I have been to Malaysia couple of times, I liked the country so much that I went there for my honeymoon. Last week my Sister's family had been to Malaysia and I gave them an itinery - I have given it below for benefit of others who are going to KL.

Kuala Lumpur:

1.  Battu Caves (Murugan temple, Batik/Tin/Shoe Factory) - Half a day
2. Mid valley mega mall in the city – 3 to 4 hours
3. Genting Highland (Can be seen by a day dour, go top by Cable Car) - Full day
4. Butterfly Park in the city – 2 to 3 hours
5. China town – toys and all china items
6. Lebu Ampang – South Indian Banana leaf food
7. Sri Mahamariamman Temple
8. Petronas Twin tower – need to get pass the day before; 1 to 2 hours
9. Suriya KLCC - this mall is next to Petronas Tower
10. Menara KL Tower – good to go in the evening around 5:30PM/6PM; 2 hours
11. Independence Square/War memorial – Good Photo Opportunity: 1 Hour
12. Palace: Entrance Photo: 10 minutes
13. Little India / Masjid India

Langkawi:

1. Aquarium – Definite see
2. Beautiful Beaches – Can be done as part of a day tour / seen individually
3. Eagle Square (Dataran Lang) – Can be done as part of a day tour
4. You can also rent 2/4 wheelers and go around
   

Reference Sites:

• http://www.tourism.gov.my/
• http://www.malaysiasite.nl/

While in my last trip to USA, I saw these beautiful baby dolls in Fao Schwartz. The shop assistant was good enough to give me permission to shot these photos. These dolls were cute and almost like real ones.

(Click on the photo to see more photos)

Today on our return journey from Mumbai to Chennai, I had an interesting touch of technology. We went near the Check In counter of KingFisher, quickly there came an airline staff and asked us if we travelled only with "Hand Baggage". On answering Yes, he collected our tickets, picked his PocketPC completed the check in and printed our tickets (with a pocket printer he had in his belt). All this was done in less than a minute. Hat's off to the innovative use of technology - this is much better than the stupid self-service check in counters you have in the USA.

When I was wondering whether KingFisher has improved and my loyalty towards Jet should be re-valuated, they let me down big time. No one from KingFisher to check your tickets before the Security Check counters, no announcement/sign about the gate number for our flight. Above all the flight was delayed by 1 hour, absolutely no announcement either by the ground staff or by the on-board staffs. If this is "Flying with Good Times" and as Vijay Mallaya calls it "Staff been asked to treat each guest as his personal guest visiting his house", then I am not impressed!

Related Posts:

• Indian Airlines and Delays
• Print your own boarding pass

I keep travelling Mumbai quite often for client meetings, in the last 5 years I should have done atleast half-a-dozen trips to mumbai every year. Most of the trips are same day return trips and I hardly get time to make it to airport for return journey. So it is not surprising I haven't seen many tourist/important places in Mumbai. It was only few months back that I went to the famous "Gateway of India" and saw it in person.

Luckily today my meeting for the day got over early (at 4PM) and we (myself and my co-workers) had plenty of time; we were infact in Prabhadevi locality. So we walked to Siddhi Vinayak Temple and got a great darshan. The whole place around the temple was cordoned off with security and 8 feet wall. After Ganesh Darshan, we took a taxi and had a good darshan at Shree Mahalakshmi Temple. Since today was a working day and it was raining, may be because of that there was hardly any crowd in both the temples.

Being a "Chennaiaite" and a South-Indian it was an interesting experience for me to go to a Western-India temple and see the Idols, Decoration, Puja methods, etc. there. Then again temples in North India and East India are different as well, each with the local favour. The difference is what makes India interesting I think.

Last weekend (28-30 July) I excused myself from work for a much wanted (long promised) short vacation with my wife (of course!) and our 3 year old son. One of my colleagues at office has been recommending Yelagiri to me for almost a year now (Thanks Akhila Arun for the recommendation). Decided to go for it, I booked the room at Taj Gardens in advance – the resort I was told tends to get filled up during the weekends due to high bookings from IT folks from Bangalore and Chennai.

Taj Gardens is a family run farmhouse owned by one Mr.Rahman (who is a retired Leather Businessman). Fortunately when we stayed there we were the only outside guests, so we had the luxury of entire staffs hospitality shown towards us. The rooms are decent bare bone accommodation - No TV, No In-Room Phone and Mobile Signal is also (thankfully) weak in the rooms. The resort area of course is large, with huge playground, park, plantations, rose garden, etc. Best part during the stay for us was that the menu for Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner were decided by them – no need to strain your brains in ordering; and the food is delicious/non-spicy home cooked food.

Yelagiri (thankfully again) has literally no major sight seeing spots. The complaint I have with popular tourists destinations are that you go for vacation and end up being more tired and stressed – as you have to get up early, plan and stick to a timetable as everyone around you wants to see the entire place. And you don’t get the much needed rest that you actually went in there for. For me and my wife, we both enjoy the rest, peace and quite – but our son ensures we don’t get it and keeps us on our toes all the time

The only place to see in Yelagiri is a Tamilnadu Govt. Herbal farm which has a Garden, Park and a small lake (boating included) inside. Next to the Farm is a small Lord Murugan Temple.

If you are in Chennai or Bangalore and want to go for a short weekend get away – I highly recommend Yelagiri.

Journey to Yelagiri

Yelagiri is 240 Kms (220Kms from T.Nagar to be precise) from Chennai. You take the Bangalore Highway (NH 4); keep heading towards Bangalore, just after Vanniyambadi you have to take a diversion on to your left from the main highway. This small road goes up to Jollarpetai Railway Station, but we go only up to a small village in the plains called “Ponneri” and then in the market place take a left into the Yelagiri hills.  The route up to Hilltop is easy with just 14 Hairpin bends – the road is narrow, but not difficult to climb up. We started from Chennai on Friday evening 5PM (though initially slotted for 3PM) in my Car and reached the Hilltop by 9PM. On the return journey to Chennai on Sunday we clocked little slower – b’cos we stopped in between at Vellore Hotel Saravana Bhavan for a scrumptious lunch.

Bangalore Highway (NH 4) is part of the golden quadrilateral project of Government of India initially envisioned and started by former Prime Minister “Atal Bihari Vajpayee” and was continued (though a bit slow) by present Prime Minister “Manmohan Singh”. Thanks to Vajpayee’s initial thrust the country now boasts near world-class road infrastructure. What impressed me were the overhead bridges for nearly every passing town, so that you don’t get bogged down by local township traffic. There is however work pending as you near the Chennai end (you can see the status in NHAI website).

I am not a big fan of driving on the highways; I would rather get some eye-closure with good music in the background or sight see during the road trip, so I managed to get my driver Sankar for the journey. I always believe in leaving the work to the professionals – it is the sure way to get the work done best. Sankar dropped us on the hill, returned to Chennai by bus next day; came back on last day to take us back. On the hills it was for me to drive around – which I enjoyed thoroughly.

More about Yelagiri

1. Outlook Traveller - Yelagiri
2. Tamilnadu Tourism - Yelagiri

As regular readers of my blabbering here in my blog know that I am a big fan of Jet Airways and consider their service to be the best among Airlines worldwide. I normally avoid business travel in low cost airlines due to the fear of they cancelling or getting delayed, but my experience with Paramount today was different. I have heard that they normally cancel their flights last minutes especially Chennai-Hyderabad-Chennai.

My travel today from Chennai to Bangalore was my first with Paramount Airways and I should say that I was more than impressed with the experience. The Aircraft was a brand new Embraer 175, had fine interiors and was on time. The Airhostesses were good looking, professional and served nice in-flight snacks. If they maintain this level of service they will soon get me as a loyal customer in their south sectors. I wish Mr.Thiayagarajan (who is supposed to be the youngest MD of an airline in the world) and his team good luck.

It seems that Indian Airlines, Delays, Lack of Customer Sensitivity all like to often go together in the same sentence.

I am doing this post from Mumbai airport waiting for my Indian Airlines flight to finally start boarding. My flight IC 173 from Mumbai to Chennai was scheduled at 8:30PM, at 8:25PM when few people went near the gate they were told that is delayed to 11PM - absolutely no prior announcement. Then it got rescheduled to 11:30PM. As I write this, it is 11:25PM and no sign of boarding :-(

It is common knowledge that Mumbai Airport Runway is getting repaired and flights are likely to be delayed by 2hrs; but it leaves me clueless on how the airline didn't know they are facing a delay before you allow people into Security Check (or) near the gate. On top of all this, like always it follows Indian Airlines tradition of making no announcement till the scheduled minute passes. No use of technology - No SMS, No Signboard alerts not even standard Public Address Systems.  

I am a frequent flyer in Indian Airlines and though I love Jet Airways (and rate them as the best Airline in the world in terms of Customer Service) there are lot of things I like in Indian as well; like their A320 Aircrafts and its wide LegRoom, Food, Safety, etc. But incidence like the one today, makes you wonder whether the Airline Staff will ever learn that flying people is all about Customer Service (key being it is a service). So far the Private Airlines getting 75% of MarketShare or competition from half-a-dozen airlines doesn't seem to have done the magic. May be the government has kept the magic wand to this somewhere and is searching it in the corridors of power!.

Till then Indian Travellers like you and me, have nothing but to pray and thank god for getting the three hours like this to do your pending emails and write useless blogs like this one (Or) Fly only with Jet Airways (Or) Avoid Travelling to Mumbai / Delhi altogether.

Nowadays with Mobile Phones proliferating everywhere, there seems to be a severe lack of Etiquette on how people use them on Public Places. Many don't keep their phones in Silent mode during musical concerts, films or even business meetings. If you are travelling in Bus, Train or waiting somewhere the person next to you invariably keeps talking very loudly disturbing your peace. The only peaceful place you get is when you are traveling by airplane. For many years, few engineers were saying that more than the security aspect of using mobile phones on board – the reason it is banned is due to the chaos they can cause by connecting to multiple cell towers at once; as all the towers appear unidistance from the sky.  Now this peace seems to disturbed by the recent FCC announcements in USA – read this MSNBC Technology article on this.

I had to come to Mumbai today and so I had my office book an e-ticket for me in Jet Airways from Chennai - Mumbai 7AM flight. Yesterday late evening I was told the meeting got postponed so I thought it to be better to move myself to the next flight - the one that leaves Chennai at 9:15AM. When I checked Jet website for the availability in 9:15AM flight I noticed the fares to be only Rs.5280 against Rs.7800 (or so in my earlier booking) for the 7AM flight. So I called up Jet over phone - cancelled my earlier booking and made a new booking over Internet. All this is routine stuff, but the reason of this post is that it all (Cancellation and New booking) got done within 10 minutes - Thanks to Jet Airways well-informed Call Centre Operators and their efficient website.

The best part of the online booking was that Jet now allowed me to choose the seat, checkin and even print the boarding pass right from my desktop. This definitely saves the trouble of queueing up in the check-in counters. If you travel with just an hand baggages (like me with my Laptop today), with the printed boarding pass you can go directly to the security check. Remember to take a valid photo-id (I showed my Tamilnadu state Driving License), they check for it in couple of places along the way.

Being a frequent flyer, I have had the chance to travel in over a dozen airlines (or more) around the world and I can certainly say when it comes to Service (both In-Flight and Ground) no other airline comes close to Jet's superb track record. Next will be Singapore Airlines. The best part about Jet's staff is that most of the time they anticipate your needs or get it right away after being told; And all the time you will be greeted with a genuine smile. Certainly "Naresh Goyal" and his team deserves a big "Kudos" for creating such a first class team.

Read here CNN's recent interview with Naresh Goyal

Read here my earlier post (July 2004) which was also about Jet Airways

For reasons unknown after I took these photos I was told to stop!

Though India has tons of places of potential tourist interest, and Indians travelling abroad spending the most per day, there are few tourist places in India that are of International standard. Chennai is no different in this regard - inspite of having the world's second longest beach, there was no Aquarium to educate and promote interest in marine life. This void is now being addressed with the opening of the new Marine Aquarium.

I took my son (2 Years old) last week to the aquarium. He loves to see fishes ('ish' as he calls it) and we had a good time. Comparing to aquariums I have seen in Singapore, Lankawi (Malaysia), California and other international ones', this one is quite small. But nevertheless it had about 20+ tanks with double that number of fish varieties.

The aquarium is within the Zoological Survey of India premises in Santome High Road. Roughly about 1 - 1.5 Kms from Santome Church going towards Adayar and before the right-turn to Foreshore estate, and is on your right-hand side. It is roughly the same distance from Iyappan Temple if you are coming from Adayar towards Marina. Unfortunately there is no publicity or any prominent signs promoting the existence of the Aquarium. The aquarium management seems to have got the timings completely wrong, it is open only during Weekdays from 10AM to 5PM. This timing leaves out the the target audiences (Students and Kids) from visiting it. Presently there is no entry fee!

So if you are in Chennai, it is a good place to spend 30 minutes. And do this now, when it is new - before it gets spoiled just any other public place in India due to poor maintenance.

After spending last week in LA for Microsoft PDC, this whole week I was in Redmond (Microsoft is Headquartered here). I didn't have any meetings today as all Microsoft Managers were out to MS Company Meet today - Microsoft is 30 now.

My Cousin "Vijay" who lives here, suggested I drive down to Deception Pass. Deception Pass is a beautiful scenic place and a Washington State Park, which is about 80 miles from where I stayed (Bellevue, WA). In the past I have driven in the US only twice - first time with in Bellevue area itself and the second was last week for few miles on the way from LA to Sequoia. Though I have been driving in India for more than a decade, driving in the US is different especially the road rules. In the past whenever I came to US it has always been for short stays and I have avoided driving here.

Yesterday I called up Enterprise Rental, got myself picked up and rented out a Dodge Neon Car. I went with the full insurance package which covered risk upto a million dollars (enough even for US terms). Today morning started around 10:30AM and reached Deception Pass Bridge view point around 12:30PM (520 West, 405 North, I 5 North and finally on SR-20 West). Though I feared, driving was not difficult here; Equipped with a Direction Map from MSN site, I took the correct Exits and turns. I had gone with my colleagues, we spent next few hours at various scenic spots around Deception Pass Bridge and inside the State Park. On our way back to Bellevue, we stopped at Prime Outlet before joining I 5 South. Overall it was a day worth spent, enjoyed it most.

This week I travelled for a colleagues marriage at Neyveli. Neyveli Township is located at about 200 KM South-West of Chennai, on the road from Chennai to Tanjore at about 24 KMS from Panruti. We started in my car around 6:15AM and reached Neyveli around 9:15AM, we had stopped on the way near Maamandur for Breakfast for about 20-30 Minutes. The national highway upto Dindivanam was excellent and we could go do top speeds of 120Kms/Hr with most of the time around 90Kms/Hr.

The township owes its existence to the Coal/Lignite mining work carried out by Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC). The history of NLC can be seen here - with the first site of PEAT around 1828 and forming of NLC and mining around 1956. Almost everyone in the township seems to be working in NLC or supporting industries. This led to me think on what will be the future of these folks post the availability of fossil fuel. I think Government of India needs to plan for the eventuality - though the chance of fuel exhausting may not be in the next few decades. Neyveli is a barren land, not condusive to large scale agriculture, so one possibility is to encourage knowledge based and service based industries in Neyveli. We can follow examples of Dubai, which till a decade back was dependent only on Oil for its existence, has today become more and more of a Shopping City. Neyveli can also promote tourism, by charging good monies to take on a trip to old mines which are safe for tourists or make it as a museum city educating people on energy/fossil fuel and likes.

On returning we deviated to Dindivanam-Pondicherry Road for about 20Kms (one-way) for a darshan of Panchavady Panchamuga Anjaneyar Swamy. The idol was really tall. Anyone travelling this side, especially to Dindivanam or Pondicherry should make it a point to visit the shrine.

If you like me who loves the city you live in, then you will certainly love the dialect of the local language also that is spoken over there. In my case, for Chennai (Madras) we have a famous dialect of Tamil Language called "Madras Bhashai". Just like any other metropolis this dialect is a "Kalakkal" (Mixture) of many other Languages (Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi and a high influence of Butler English). Normally I find it difficult to explain about Madras Bhashai to interested, especially to other Tamils, but that was until I came across this page from Wikipedia. The page is a good compilation about everything on this unique dialect of Tamil. Thank you Karthik Ramaswamy (my college classmate) for sharing this link on our alias.

The other interesting link I came across this time was I Love Chennai. This website is a local software designer's effort on spreading his love for this wonderful city.

The second leg of my trip from Singapore to Tokyo, then to Los Angeles was better than I anticipated. It was an 18 hour journey, the trip to Tokyo taking 7 hours followed by a break for an hour and a 10 hour journey to LA. As usual, the in flight service at SA was excellent - good meals, snacks, comfortable seats and great movie selections - though I wish the tamil movie could have been anything but Satyaraj's .

The immigration and customs at LA was breeze, I landed at 12:30PM and was out by 1:10PM. Straight I went to the domestic United gates for my domestic flight to San Jose via Santa Barbara - before this I thought Santa Barbara to be only a popular TV Serial. This was a Skywest Airlines' Brazilia Plane. Santa Barbara should be the smallest airport that I have been to, it was surprising to see an US Airport with only one flight and no big airstrip for landing. The airport was nothing but a small stretch of land for landing and talkoff and a small waiting room. That's it. From Santa Barabara I reached San Jose and stayed for couple of days with my cousin in Milpitas. Milpitas is a nice residential township.

In our busy lives, when we go about doing number of things, some “Common” people do things that makes you feel touched. This happened to me twice in the last one week.

Last week on Saturday I was returning from Mumbai to Chennai with my colleague after “3” hectic days of business meetings. We were flying JET Airways and I had tele-checked in. We went late to the airport and missed the flight, but decided to check-in to the next flight (which was two hours later). While doing the check-in I opened my wallet to take out my Jet Frequent Flyer card, but then remembering that I have tele-checked in, and they have my FF number anyway in the system, closed the wallet. We collected the boarding pass and waited in the seats nearby. Within few minutes, the lady from the check-in counter, came running to me and asked “Sir, you hold a Citibank Jet Gold Card, Right?. If you would like I can offer you the lounge coupon”.  Saying that, she rushed to the counter and gave both of us Lounge Coupons, she didn't even think twice about giving my colleague (who doesn't hold a JET FF card or flying Business) also the lounge coupon. WOW!, I was touched by the service of this person - imagine someone from the counter moving off from her desk and coming to you and offering the coupon.

Today, in the same Mumbai Domestic Airport, at the bookstore, I was browsing and as usual picked up some magazines and a business/management book. At the counter, the owner (he appeared so) didn't simply bill it, but he immediately started suggesting and showing several books which I will be liking. In the next few seconds, he went about highlighting the best points of the books, which eventually made me buy two more books. You can say this to be simply an event of good selling, but I call it “Great Service” and touching people. He certainly touched me and made my evening today.

இந்த வாரம் புதன் கிழமை நானும் நண்பன் இ.ரவியும், காரில் காஞ்சிபுரம் சென்றோம். சென்னையில் இருந்து காஞ்சி, சுமார் 75கி.மி., ஒன்றரை/இரண்டு மணி நேரமாகும். நாங்கள் காலை 9:30 மணிக்கு வீட்டைவிட்டு கிளம்பி, மதியம் 3:00 மணிக்கு திரும்பினோம். காஞ்சி செல்லும் சாலை, பிரதமரின் தங்க நாற்கர திட்டத்தின் கீழ் வருவதால், பல வழி (சில இடத்தில் ஆறு வழி, சில இடத்தில் எட்டு வழி) சாலையாக மாற்றும் பணி நடைப்பெறுகிறது. இதனால் பல இடங்களில் இடஞ்சல்கள் இருந்தும், வேலை முடிந்த சில இடங்களில் 100 கி.மி.க்கு மேல் செல்லமுடிகிறது. முழுப்பணி முடிந்தால் நாட்டிலுள்ள சிறந்த  சாலையாக இது வரலாம்.

திடிரென்று நாங்கள் காஞ்சிக்கு போன காரணம், இந்த வாரம் சக்தி விகடனில் காஞ்சி கைலாசநாதர் திருக்கோயிலின் சிறப்பைப் படித்து, கைலாசநாதரை தரிசனம் செய்யவே. திருக்கோயிலின் சிறப்பைப் படிக்க சக்தி விகடனின் இந்த வலைப்பக்கதிற்கு செல்லவும்.

காஞ்சி மடத்திலிருந்து 2 கி.மி.க்கு குறைவான தொலைவில் கோயிலுள்ளது (மடத்தையொட்டிய சாலையில் சென்று வலது திரும்பி நேர் செல்ல வேண்டும்). கோயில் மிக அழகாக இருக்கிறது, மிகச்சுத்தமாகவும் பரமரிக்கப்படுகிறது - நன்றி இந்திய அரசின் தொல்பொருள் துறை (ASI). கோயில் சுமார் 1600 ஆண்டுகள் பழமையானது. இன்றும் சில இடங்களில் அந்த பழைய வர்ணங்களை நாங்கள் பார்த்தோம் (கீழ் படம்).

நாங்கள் சென்ற சமயம் கோயிலில் வெளிநாட்டினர்களைத் தான் அதிகம் பார்க்க முடிந்தது (ஏன் நம் இந்தியர்கள் இங்கே வருவதில்லை?).  

கைலாசநாதரின் மூலச்சந்நிதி மற்றும் தினப்படி பூஜைக்கள், 1600  ஆண்டுகளாக ஒரே குடும்பத்தினர்களால் செய்யப்படுக்கிறதென்று எங்களுக்காக அர்ச்சனைச் செய்து, அழகான பிழையில்லாத பிரிட்டிஷ் ஆங்கிலத்தில் விளக்கிய கோயில் குருக்கள் சொன்னார் (1600 ஆண்டுகள், ஆச்சரியம் தானே?).

ஒரு விடுமுறை நாளில்,  சென்னையில் இருப்போர் சுற்றிவிட்டு வர காஞ்சி ஒரு அருமையான இடம். சென்றுவிட்டு வந்து, உங்கள் அனுபவத்தை கீழேயுள்ள கருத்து தொடுப்பில் எழுதவும். 

Recently if you were watching media in India, you will be surprised to see tons of tourism ads from all the near-by countries. You will see Malaysia - “Truly Asia”, Singapore, Thailand and others. 

Last week during the state visit of New Zealand Prime Minister to India, apart from IT and investments, the big emphazise was on Tourism to NZ.

I wondered why the sudden love of the World towards India and Indian Tourist. According to this article it turns out to be pure economics. Now it is not the “Japanese“ Global Traveller or the traveller from Asian Powerhouse “China“ who spend most. It is the Indian Tourist who is the biggest spender abroad - on an average $200 per day. WOW, who said India is poor!

Gurgaon is a Satellite City near New Delhi. It is promoted by its state “Haryana” as a model Cyber city. I thought in Bangalore, construction activities are being the highest in the country, but seeing Gurgaon, that title should go it.

Everywhere I saw in Gurgaon, there were new roads, bridges, multi-storey commercial buildings, housing communities, mega-malls and more.

Many major MNCs, like Ericsson, Nestle, Microsoft have their Indian head-offices in Gurgaon. People working in these companies, need not go outside, everything seems to be available in Gurgaon.

What is your opinion about Gurgaon or the tons of new satellite townships coming near various Indian cities?. Post it in the comments link below.

Couple of months back, I had travelled to Mumbai (from Chennai) by Jet Airways. Generally the in-flight comfort and service in Jet has been good.

In this trip, the in-flight experience was bad with the cabin temperature very hot, Air Conditioner mal-functioning. Even in World-leading airlines like in British Airways sometimes the Air Conditioners don't work when the flight is in Tarmac, but works when on sky. But in this trip, throughout the flight the Air conditioner was not working correctly, it was unbearable inside.

When I landed in Mumbai I had also landed up with a bad headache; Inspite of that I approached Jet customer counter, waited for their complaints form to come (they didn't have one in that counter!), completed it and gave it to the assistant in the counter. I never expected them to write to me about this, or for that matter even read it. But to my surprise, within few weeks, I received an email from Jet Customer Care. In the email they apologised for the inconvenience and their deficiency in service. On top, they awarded me “500” Jet Privilege points in their Frequent Flier programme.

For people in service industry this brings in an interesting point to thing about. While offering a consumer service, it is very important to plan, have backups and do everything possible to deliver consistent quality to customers. Even with all the precautions, at times there may be slips. When the inevitable slip happens, it is very important to first identify it, then accept it and explain it to customer. Above all, without delay compensate for the loss to the customer.

Finally I found some time to start writing and posting the photos about my recent Mysore and Coorg trip.

On our way back from Coorg, we made a stop-over in Mysore. I didn’t miss the chance to go again to Mysore Palace, this time in the broad day-light. After buying a Rs.15 ticket you are allowed inside the palace. Cameras and Footwear (Shoes/Chappals) are not allowed; both have to be deposited in respective booths. Cameras for the reason the flash lights will damage the delicate handmade paintings. Footwear to be left outside as there is a Lord. Ganesha’s temple with poojas performed everyday inside the palace. This follows the Indian Tradition of respect not to have having footwears inside temples.

Though guides/guided tours are not compulsory, we hired the services of a local approved Guide (Mr.Rajasekhar) to explain us about the palace. It costs about Rs.280 for the 90 minutes guided tour for a team of 4 adults. After the tour, I should say without our experienced guide, we would have missed appreciating 90% of the charm of the beautiful palace. So please do hire a guide to enjoy this once in a life time experience.

I have been to palaces in UK especially the Palace of Holyrood, Edinburgh (Scotland) and to Buckingham Palace in London; I should confess that in sheer beauty Mysore Palace impressed me more.

Though the “Dynasty of Kings” are abolished in India, the Raja of Mysore (Wodeyar) still lives in the Palace. He allows public access to about half of the sprawling palace. Unlike earlier days his income now comes from the many businesses which he owns. The palace itself is run by a board of Trustees with active support of Karnakata State Government.

The Palace was constructed in 1912 at the expense of Rs.42 Lakhs (!) and was designed in Indo-Saracenic style by Henry Irwin, the British consultant architect of Madras state. Indo-Saracenic architecture represents a synthesis of Muslim designs and Indian materials with some European influence.  It can be seen clearly in the following photo of the domes on top of the palace.

The main hall is adored with a set of 3-dimensional paintings that depict the splendid Dasara festivals. The specialty of these paintings are that each of the faces in the paintings are unique and correspond to real people who lived in those times (so in a way it is like a Manual Photograph). Also the paintings have a unique ability to have the objects in it face you, no matter from what angle you see it. So walking from left to right in front of the paintings the people (their eyes, shoes, dresses, face) also walk along with you. “Spell Bound” is the only way to describe this.

The palace built by Chamaraja Wodeyar also has many other interesting things. Concealed Electrical points in the floor with brass caps, Tall Belgian Mirrors and Huge Iron Cast Pillars imported from UK. There is lot more to write about the palace but I leave those for you to see in person.

You can read more about the palace from MysoreSamachar site or from Tourism Website and about the Mysore Rulers here.

This week I am on vacation in Mysore and Coorg. The first day was in Mysore. To reach Mysore from Chennai, you can drive all the way for about 450 Kms or take an overnight Train/Shatapthi Express (Super Fast) Train. But we flew down to Bangalore (45 minute flight) and then hired a Cab from Bangalore to Mysore – a 3 hour journey. The Bangalore-Mysore highway is under maintenance for expansion, to be made into two lanes. Once this massive operation is over, it will reduce significantly the journey time between the two cities.

Every Sunday, from 7PM to about 8PM, the palace, its four entrances are lit with thousands of lamps. The lighting is accompanied with Police Band music, it is a feast of lights and music. Instead of writing more about it, see these photos for yourself.

Main Palace glowing with Lights

Sri Varaha Swamy temple inside the palace

Inside view of Southern Entrance (With my son turning the other way )

Palace and the moon on top