And finally, the Bandh day arrives.. and what we get? haha a Bandh obviously.. I don’t see any rickshaws or buses on the road, around 84 flights have been delayed / cancelled, around 74 buses have been damaged in Mumbai so far… the trains services are hit in many areas…

The political parties claim the Bandh to be a peaceful one but I don’t see it around? I don’t see any peace in damaging the buses or halting the trains.. These parties on Twitter boast about how peaceful the Bandh is but they themselves know that it’s not peaceful at all.. The funny part is, these parties are being proud of Bandh is trending on Twitter but they are not bothered to read the content of the tweets… The Bandh is trending on twitter because everyone is frustrated of it and tweeting about it…

So, now after all this, what’s the reality? Thinking of a common man?

Well, the price hike is a really bitter truth and the worst part is, the government is not able to do anything to tackle it. The vegetables prices have reached almost double the cost than earlier.. (in some cases, the rates have touched 5-6 times costlier too), fuel prices have touched the rooftop, the movie tickets which used to cost me Rs. 50 – 75 max are now, Rs. 225 – Rs. 500, Rs. 10 popcorn costs Rs. 70 now.. Everything has become way too costly.

Now, in this, some of the prices have actually gone up due to lack of resources or say high demand but in this process, many have taken undue advantage and hiked the prices.. (e.g. cinema halls, packaged food, drinks etc..)

So, instead of doing something to control these factors, the political parties preferred halting normal life of a common man. They claim that, they are doing it for the common man and this Bandh will open eyes of the ruling government. But these parties do not understand that, the common man does not want all these.

It hurts a common man, when their one day’s wage is wasted due to this so called unwanted Bandh, it hurts a common man when he cannot travel just because of the Bandh which he never wanted..

The common man is helpless, the ruling government is not acting tough, they are just making tough statements but everyone knows the reality.. the opposition parties are forcing everyone to do whatever they want.. a common man cannot speak up.. the media is working more for the TRP than than the common man, Media is more interested in knowing what is Dhoni wearing for his marriage than focusing on the issues of the common man.

It was time, when these Bandh used to work but now a common man has become much more smarter than earlier, by doing all these forced Bandhs, these parties are making things worst and lose the remaining voters they had till now..

We should start working towards the solution rather than running away from the problem.. 

Okay, let’s get to the basics now..

Earth Hour is basically to save as much as electricity in a hour.. or in other words, it’s an initiative to save the climate change.. Okay, I agree it’s a good cause but how well can we apply this to India?

Do we have regular power and water supply at the first place? (Which I feel is necessity for the living) Don’t you think we should fight for that first? We are paying taxes to Government on time, we are paying our bills on time then why we are not getting the basic services?

In other countries like Australia, US, UK etc.. they have all these basic facilities provided by the government and they can afford to take part in these kind of initiatives.. but we certainly cannot..

Even after paying approximately Rs. 10,000 electricity bill per month, I get random power cut atleast twice in a week.. Thankfully, in our area, Load shedding has stopped since past few months.. (It used to be daily 2-4 hours), the power companies increase their rates at almost every 6 months.. The government is not aggressive in making people aware about other sources of power.. (Solar, Wind etc..) The water supply is not 24 hours, due to negligence of government authority, millions of liters of water gets wasted.. and in the end.. we face water cuts..

This was just about Mumbai, I am sure other cities and states are also facing similar issues..

So why not work towards that rather than following the crowd? We should do something about our country and then worry about others..

We have actually habit of following others blindly, another such example would be Aman ki Asha campaign.. according to me, it was one of the worst campaign I have ever came across..

At one end, militants in Pakistan making Anti India statements, the Pakistan government officials not taking action against them.. and we are working out on so called “Aman ki Aasha"?

Okay, let’s leave Pakistan aside, we won’t ever understand these political things.. Let’s talk about issues in our country first…

We see, fights on the name of language and religions going around in many states.. the government is doing almost nothing to control that.. At one end, the Congress government calls itself as secular and in the other end, they approve quotas for minority..

We don’t want to look at our own issues and we want to build bridges of peace between 2 countries..

We should actually start fixing our own system first before trying to fix something else.. Developed countries have done all that, citizens get all the basic necessities there, so they can afford this kind of initiatives.. but we certainly cannot..

We just need to wake up and smell the coffee..

But why would India welcome him? Well, because in 90s, he had painted Hindu goddesses and mother India nude.. and he hurt sentiments of so many Hindus or I should say, Indians.. but that was just his freedom of expression and there was nothing wrong in it..

I am sorry, but I don’t buy the bullshit of freedom of expression. I am game for the freedom of speech or freedom of expression but not at the cost of hurting anyone’s sentiments.. what was the need to paint mother India or any goddess nude? What was he trying to achieve from it? I am really not sure about it..

And, if he actually feels it as a freedom of expression, then why can’t he try with prophet or any other Muslim gods?  Well, he won’t.. he wants to live in this world

I have noticed that Indian media is always most interested in bringing up anti-hindu issues.. they never show the stuff on Kashmiri Pandits or other issues where Hindus are being attacked (or got injustice..) We are shown only one side of the story..

I am actually very much afraid by this “political” side of these news channels.. (Specially the English ones), these guys have got lot of power in their hand.. and they are misusing it..

I have nothing against any religion but the news or anything should not be judgmental based on the religion.. it should be balanced..

And I am yet to see that day..

Update: Following videos which will throw some light on the issue… (Excuse the poor guy’s English)

Let me start with an example..

You are driving the car, suddenly RTO stops you in the middle of the road and asks for your car papers.. you realize that your car’s PUC has been expired or you have left it at home.. so? the officer tells you, you have to pay Rs. 1,000 as fine.. and.. the process of pataofying mama starts.. you end up paying him Rs. 2oo 0r 300 bribe and feel proud that you saved Rs. 700..

But did you even bother to check if there is actually fine of Rs. 1,000 for the PUC? or he was just fooling you to get the bribe money?

Well, if you are not sure, then you should do something to make sure that, you know the fine you have to pay.. so that no one can fool you with some bogus charges or figures..

I have been into this kind of situation more than twice.. we have even fought with the RTO guys in their office and made them read their own rule book… and realized that, the charges which were told to us did not exist at all.. the fine was 10 times lesser than what they had told us..

Obviously this does not happen all the time but we never know when it will happen to us.. so it’s better to be prepared…

Not many of us know about this.. Traffic Police of Mumbai website has a PDF document with the list of all the charges.. you can download it from here, take a print of it and keep it in your vehicle.. so next time, if someone tries to slap you any charge.. you better be ready with the exact figures

I hope it helps..

My thoughts are mainly roaming around the political angle of all these recent happenings and trying to understand the Congress is playing very very smart political game here.. obviously there is nothing bad in it, afterall, everything is fair in love and war..

So how does this whole thing work? If you have noticed in this general elections, the Congress acted very differently from the earlier elections.. earlier, the party had to take the support of others to remain as the central government but this time if you see, they have made sure that at almost all the places they have the strong hold and they do not have to go begging for the seats.. so basically, they want to make a point that, in the whole India, Congress should not be depending upon anyone.. they are reaching out to poor people to get the votes.. You must have seen how Rahul Gandhi was visiting the small villages throughout the year..

Now, the game plan is, the opponent should be crushed and should not be able to stand on it’s own feet.. on the larger scale the opponent is BJP and the last election they made sure that, BJP is almost crushed.. and now they have stronghold in very few places… (Gujarat, Bihar [With JDU], Karnataka etc..), they managed to crush BJP/ Shiv Sena in Maharashtra too..

But still in Maharashtra, Bal Thackeray’s word holds more importance than any other political leader and that’s the fact.. so now how to break that?  Let’s start the divisional politics and bring in the personal wars in.. and then break the ice..

So what did they do.. In the first chapter, we saw MNS vs Shiv Sena.. they both started fighting to show the strength of each other, Congress watched the game quietly and laughed over it.. yeah, on the name of “taking action” they arrested MNS chief Raj Thackeray but we all know what happened to it.. so let’s keep that aside and stick to the main topic..

So, in the elections, you saw the votes getting divided, and it certainly helped Congress to win the seats very very comfortably..

But this did not affect the ties of BJP – Shiv Sena.. so now how to break that? But I think without pushing much, Congress just got what they were waiting for..

Marathi Manoos issue is back.. infact, back in full swing.. Senas targeting icons like Sachin Tendular, superstars like Shahrukh Khan, business tycoons like Ambanis.. Sena even threatens to stop screening of SRK starrer film, My Name is Khan.. BJP makes some statements which are not so in favor of Shiv Sena.. RSS makes statements which are again not in favor of Shiv Sena.. but what government is doing in this? Silent spectator..  Rahul Gandhi in Bihar, to get votes, makes some silly statements.. Shiv Sena strikes back on them in their own way.. Congress calls Shiv Sena leaders mental.. Shiv Sena sends notices to all theatre owners not to screen the movie.. Maharashtra government (kind of) tries to assures that no one can take law in their hands etc.. (Now that’s the different story that their statements do not carry much weight).. but in the middle of this, the war game does not stop.. sometimes it’s Shiv Sena or sometimes it’s MNS..

But if you notice.. Congress is not making any firm statements here.. they are letting these guys make the things worst, so people get angry and never bother voting these parties..

I am sure in all these things, a common man is least interested coz they are not bothered about what a superstar or a businessman is saying.. but after seeing these kind of acts by Senas I am sure, it’s hurting a common man somewhere and this is what helps the other parties.. the vote bank slowly moves towards the other party.. because Senas are not interested in development of Maharashtra, they are only interested in the communal fights between religions and languages.. (That’s what is being projected..)

So moral of the story.. at the cost of a common man’s sentiments, these political parties are playing games and dividing people.. I am sorry to say but we are divided.. we are moving backwards..

And yes, many people will say that, Congress is in power because it’s a good party and people have elected them.. my take is… people have elected them because they did not have any options..

Hmm okay, let me start this with the last day at Pattaya.. i.e. Day 4…

The Day 4 was mostly the day to rest but we had Alcazar show at 6 PM.. we went for the show.. nothing great.. not sure why people get so much excited about it.. some of the dances were very good no doubt.. but nothing impressive..

We left for Bangkok on Day 5, I was having high expectations for the hotel but sadly, the hotel was pretty bad, I am not sure why I did not bother researching about the hotel, I simply booked it, thinking if Amari Orchid pattaya is good then Amari Boulevard should be good too.. So, moral of the story… do a proper research before booking the hotels..

The only good part of the hotel was, the area.. 2-3 Indian restaurants at just 2 minutes of walk, BTS Skytrain station just 2 minutes away.. Oh yes.. the public transport.. very important thing about Bangkok.. Bangkok is mostly jammed during the peak hours.. so, get a city map from the hotel or from the airport (Don’t spend money on it, you get it for free) and hunt for the nearest BTS stations.. frankly speaking, firstly, I was very hesitant to use the public transport as I have not had any good experience with the public transport in Mumbai.. but this BTS changed my thinking totally.. it was very convenient and cheap too.. (Tip: If you are planning to travel more than once in a day, you can get daily pass for 120 baht), I think I should stop praising BTS and move on to the other things..

My Day 5, went into relaxing and then going to MBK Center in the evening.. very good place to shop, specially, footwear, leather goods (bags, belts etc..) & clothes.. dirt cheap stuff.. but at the same time very decent quality too.. At the end of the day, we found a very good Indian restaurant called Bukhara near our hotel.. (Just outside BTS station, Naana – E3), great food, very decent pricing.. what more we could have asked..

Day 6, this one was a good one.. we left at 8.30 AM for Safari world.. I was not so keen to go there but the place was totally opposite of what I had in my mind.. I thought, the place will be good only for the kids and adults will get bored.. but no, I was wrong.. we thoroughly enjoyed there.. fantastic, Orangutan boxing, sea lion and dolphin shows.. we also got ourself clicked with the tiger curb.. so overall, it was fun there..

We left from there at around 3 PM and directly moved to this place called Indra Square, this one is a wholesale market for clothes, accessories, electronics and lot more.. cheap stuff mainly.. the place is full of Indians.. (I did not find many thai people there), I went there just for the sake of it.. the things were very very cheap out there.. t-shirts as low as 40 baht per t-shirt etc.. but it did not impress me at all, I found it more like some Indian wholesale market.. we did not spend much time there..  (Tip: Do no expect anything to be original at these cheaply priced goods)

The next day, Day 7.. this was the last day at the Bangkok.. we checked out from our room at 1.30 PM, kept the luggage at the hotel and moved to MBK Center again, as we had to spend time somewhere and we did not want to visit museums and all, bought some stuff from there.. and by 6 PM, left for the airport.. (Our flight was at 1 AM but the travel guy had pickup at 6 PM).. checked in at the airport at 11 PM.. sadly, we had company of Indian crowd with us.. the ones who were travelling by flight for the first time in their life and are used to train travelling.. so they were behaving as if they are in some Indian train with no queue system and cleanliness.. (This require a separate blog post.. will try to post something soon)

So finally, we reached Mumbai at 5 AM in the morning.. as we touched Mumbai airport.. we started getting a different feeling.. the comfort zone was gone.. we started missing Thailand.. the time we spent there.. the polite people.. I will never forget the experience I had there.. this holiday is going to be always special for me…

And this brings an end to the travel diaries of Bangkok and Pattaya.. I hope my experience helps someone in someway.. if you have any kind of questions about these places.. do let me know, I will try my best to help you out..

As mentioned in my Day 1 post, Day 2 started with visit to Coral Island.. actually, we went for the parasailing first followed by underwater walking. Paid 350 baht per person for the parasailing.. it was worth trying out.. I personally loved it.. and enjoyed it fully.

Underwater walking sounded pretty interesting in the first, paid 1200 bath per person for it and 600 baht for the underwater photos and video shoot.. frankly speaking, this one was a big let down for me.. I had high expectations for this underwater walk.. but it turned out to be pretty dull.. they just made us walk around a small area.. we posed for some photos.. checked out some different types of fishes etc.. I would never pay for it again.. so moral of the story here, try it just once.. and also I would suggest, don’t bother paying 600 bath extra for the photo shoot… not worth the amount..

After that point, we moved to Coral Island.. amazing place I must say.. but sadly, we got only 1 hour to spend there.. this place had water sports like, speed water bike & banana boat. I couldn’t go for it as we were already tired.. but I would strongly recommend trying out these 2. The beach was very very clean.. the water was blue and clear.. I would suggest, plan accordingly so that you can spend more time here..

We left the place at around 12.30 – 12.45 PM, had lunch (Indian food) at some funny place.. (Lunch was included in the package), we then moved to this placed called Gems Gallery, this one was a marketing attempt by some jewelry company, but it was informative but more than that, their showroom had awesome jewelry.. so, for all those husbands, if you wife loves jewelry, don’t go to this place.. she will fall in love with it and it will leave a big hole in your pocket.. haha But seriously, if you have some cash in hand and don’t mind spending.. buy the stuff from there.. your wife will be the happiest person on the earth..

Apart from jewelry, they had some more items like, show pieces, painting and other Thailand based products for sale.. we bought some show pieces from there.. but while leaving, we found out that, the group we had come with had already left.. (I have no idea how they managed to leave without us..) but the showroom staff was very very friendly and cooperating, they did not let us go and arranged the vehicle for us to drop at the hotel.. (heads up for that…)

And we finally landed at the hotel.. dead tired with no mood to get out of the room.. we ended up ordering some funny pizza.. managed to eat half of it.. we went for a short walk after that.. got back to the room at around 7.30 – 8 PM and went to sleep.. woke up directly in the morning..

It was a nice much needed sleep..

So.. the Day 3..

Had lovely breakfast at the hotel.. followed by a super quick nap and the lunch.. we left for this place called Noong Nooch Village at 1.30 PM (We had paid USD 36 for this to the tour operator – I will list out all the expenses at the end of the trip, so it helps others in planning – ),  the place had very beautiful garden, where we did not get much time to explore.. we then rushed to the shows… 2 shows back to back.. 1st was traditional Thailand culture show – which I did not like much and felt was kind of boring – 2nd one was elephant show, it was far more entertaining.. fantastic show by elephants.. they dance on the songs, they play football, volleyball, ride cycle, give massage to people, paint and what not.. crazy stuff and a must watch.. actually, kids might like the thai traditional show too.. and yeah, make sure you reach before time and get the seats in the front.. if you fail to do that, you might have to run around to get the seats.. (it’s very difficult to get the seats there)

Also, there, you can get yourself clicked by sitting on the elephant or getting wrapped around in his trunk and all.. they charge around 50 – 100 baht for the same.. (this depends upon what you chose). Both the shows are of around 1 hour total..

So, after the show, we returned to the hotel and relaxed.. had dinner at another Indian restaurant called Shahi.. pathetic food.. very oily.. we will try another restaurant tomorrow to see if it’s good or not..

I guess that’s it for the day.. tomorrow will be mostly relaxing day with Alcazar show in the evening..

Oh yes, keep in mind that, when you travel here… the tour operator will definitely push you for the striptease shows or sex shows like Coconut shows etc.. so, go only if you want to.. don’t get into their talks and pay just for the sake of it..

And lastly… if you happen to visit Pattaya with your kids.. make sure you don’t roam around much with them on the streets in the night.. you will find lot of prostitutes around.. and I don’t think you would want your kids to see them..

So, let me start with the diary of this holiday with the Day 1..

Got boarded on the flight from Mumbai at 5.15 AM.. Cathey Pacific… pathetic service, great food, best rates.. so you got what I meant right? If you want to save money, get on to Cathey Pacific..

We landed at Bangkok airport at around 11 AM (Thailand Time 1.30 hours ahead of Indian Time), got immigration and all cleared and landed up in a coach for the Pattaya.. this experience was not very pleasing.. nothing bad at all but from next time, I would prefer to by the car next time.. We landed at the hotel, Amari Orchid (Ocean Wing) at around 12.30 – 1.00 PM (frankly speaking, we didn’t even look at the watch as we were dead tired)..  we were welcomed by super awesome traditional thai welcome drink.. we got into the room within 15 minutes and trust me..  it was heaven.. it was exactly liked what I wanted.. super cozy bed.. a big bathtub, balcony with splendid ocean view.. what more could anyone want.. I strongly recommend this hotel to everyone.. the rates are not that high at all.. (compared to what we pay in India for the five star hotels)..

So.. now what? Food.. food.. food.. Since we both are purely vegetarian, so we were in kind of dilemma about what to order for the food as their menu had mainly non vegetarian items and we were not at all in mood to get out of the room and grab the food at nearby Indian restaurant.. BUT Margherita pizza (Yea, that’s how they spell it) and nachos saved us.. awesome food..  So.. now it’s sleeping time.. we slept like crazy… and woke up directly at 7.30 PM.. headed out of the hotel to roam around.. bought some slippers and shorts for tomorrow’s Corel Island visit (As we will get totally wet there), had food at an Indian restaurant called Deli Haat (Delhi Haat), decent food..

Pattaya looked beautiful in the night.. I can see lot more people in the night than in the day..

Got back to the room.. enjoyed the beautiful weather.. now, watching Music ka Maha Mukabala on Star Plus (Sadly, that’s the only Hindi channel is being aired here).. So the day 1 comes to an end.. so far, very good experience.. really loving it.. bought an hourly net connection pack from the hotel.. so gonna, use it to post this and check the mails.. Tomorrow, have to get up at 6.30 AM and leave for Corel Island by 8.30 AM.. tomorrow is going to be the exciting day.. water sports, a walk in the underwater and much more.. really looking forward to it..

So, I am signing off now.. hopefully there will be one more post tomorrow.. 

Frankly speaking, I needed a break.. for last almost a year.. the work has taken toll on my life.. and now I need sometime off for myself..

Last year, during this time, I had planned to surprise Megha by taking her to Goa.. I booked flight tickets, hotel etc.. but had to cancel at the end time due to some issues..

So this year, I have made sure that, everything is properly planned..

I am kinda bad guy in giving surprises.. but I think I have managed this one quite well.. No one at my place knows where I am going (Including Megha)…

Currently, I have mixed feelings running around in my mind.. I am not sure what are the reasons.. But at the same time, I am equally excited about seeing reactions of Megha..  (When she gets to know about the actual thing..)

I wanted this holiday totally without phone calls & internet but I guess that might just not be possible.. though, I would love to disconnect from the whole world..  let’s see how I succeed in it..

Okay, I am gonna shut my mouth now.. have to leave in next 3 hours..  will post more details about which place I am going etc.. later..

And touch wood.. hope things turn out well this time..

So, the big question is, how was 2009 for me?

Well, frankly speaking, it was the worst year for me.. lots of ups and down.. I mean, in all fronts.. but learnt lot of lessons.. got to know new things.. slowly climbing the ladder so I don’t fall again..

Yeah, there were good things too.. moved to new office.. now, I have 15 people in the team.. started working on new SaaS based project, I am really counting on it actually.. I just hope this one works as expected..

But despite of many good things, I am still not satisfied with the way year turned out.. may be this year will be much better than 2009.. I am sure it will be.. I ain’t losing hope so easily..

I guess that’s it..

Love & Peace
Deep