Simply Travel

Hyderabad School Admissions

2015-09-12T20:45:00.000+05:30

It has been two years since i relocated to Hyderabad from Gurgaon. One of the main challenges for us, as is for other families with kids is to search for a good school in the new city. My son was 3 years when we moved to Hyderabad. When he was 2.5, at Gurgaon, we did a lot of research and "traveling" (though within the city) to find a good school and finally chose Lotus Valley International School near South City 2 due to multiple factors, one being its proximity to our home. For details, see my other post for Gurgaon school admissions.

At Hyderabad, it was even more difficult compared to Gurgaon to find a good school of choice. Lotus Valley in Gurgaon had set a high benchmark and it was very difficult for us to find a school that could meet that benchmark (unfortunately, the fact is that we were not able to find a school that could match it). We considered the following schools for my son:

1. Rockwell International School
The reviews on the internet about this school were positive. The location was also relatively close to my place (though not as close as it was in Gurgaon). But somehow the school did not appeal to us much.

2. Orchid International School
Considering the fees that this school had and compared to Lotus Valley in Gurgaon which had similar fees, we did not think it a wise investment option. Lotus Valley in Gurgaon looks more like a mall with centrally AC building and professional look.

3. Manthan International School
We found this school the best of all that were in our budget. Though the infrastructure of the Madhapur campus is no where close to Lotus Valley in Gurgaon (can't resist comparing while writing this post), we had our relative's daughter going to this school. The feedback from them was positive and so it became a 'natural' choice for us.

4. Phoenix Greens

We had also heard good reviews about Phoenix Greens but since it was quite far from our place we did not consider it.

Feedback about Manthan

We are okay with the school, though I'd recommend Tellapur campus instead of Madhapur campus as it's bigger and better. Pluses are that children get limited homework, 2 teachers for about 25 students in a class, activities like dancing, music, physical education, art and craft, computer education, phonics, a long summer break, accessibility of teachers for any issue, uploading of pictures on facebook, engaging students with activities for occasions like festivals etc.

A few things I don't like are no winter break. There is a week off for Dusshera and a week off for Sankranti in Jan which is a big problem for us as we are from north and can't travel so frequently for 1 week each (prefer less frequent but longer breaks to go home), class sections keep changing every year because they want to make kids adapt to change fast (would like to highlight that changing job across cities is a big enough and frequent change these days for kids than any other change and some of my good friends are from school with whom I studied for 6-8 years in school), no activities like swimming, skating and others (we even had horse riding in Lotus Valley at Gurgaon) and no big playground.

All in all we're okay with the school but we'd prefer something like Lotus Valley here in this budget!

Hyderabad to NagarjunaSagar by Road - Weekend Getaway

2014-05-01T14:35:00.002+05:30

We moved to Hyderabad in September 2013 and in October decided to do a quick weekend getaway. Unfortunately there are not as many weekend getaway options from Hyderabad as from Bangalore. But still we thought of exploring whatever options we had.

One of the options that seemed interesting was Nagarjunasagar. I was a three hour drive from my home. We left on Hyderabad on a Saturday

We started with the ORR (Outer Ring Road) and then followed Google Navigation till we were on the main road to Nagarjunasagar. As i look in hindsight, it seems that we took the ORR and Nagarjunasagar Road as shown in Google maps. The road condition was unexpectedly good (I am comparing it to highways in my native place). The ORR is like an expressway. Even on the state highway, the traffic was not heavy and I could easily drive my i10 at 80 kmph.

When we started from Hyderabad, it was drizzling. But as we moved towards Nagarjunasagar, it was a heavy downpour. That's one of the reasons that it took us a bit longer to reach (3.5 hours). It was raining incessantly and we thought that our short trip would be screwed.

We had pre-booked the Haritha Vijay Vihar Resort NagarjunaSagar through the APTDC website. The cost was around Rs.2,500/- per night which was okay considering the kind of rates that hotels charge these days. While we were about to enter the room, it was drizzling. We see rivulets in the resort itself. So even the bell boy did not turn up (not sure if they have someone for this purpose considering that it is a government property). The room was spacious with view of the Nagarjunasagar lake. The bathroom was not that great.

We unpacked the food which we had brought along with us (pooris), as it was not a good idea to step out for the restaurant in the rain with my 3 year old kid. By evening around 4 PM, the skies were a bit clear and it was just drizzling. We thought of what we could do in the next 2-3 hours. We thought of going to the Ettipotala waterfalls. It took us about 30-40 minutes if i can remember correctly to reach the waterfalls. We also had to pay an entry fee of about 20-30 rupees some distance before the falls. I had already read about this (being unauthorized or what...) on another blog but still shelled out the money as it was getting dark and there was no time to haggle.

As soon as we stepped out of the car, a monkey jumped into our car in search of food while our kid was still on the rear seat. My god. It would have taken the monkey 2 seconds to get into the car from the rear door on the right and come out of the left side from the front door carrying an empty packet of chips which was kept in the bottle holder. My wife literally screamed, i was also shocked and other people came to our rescue. Thankfully none of us was harmed.

We were advised by the people standing there not to carry anything especially polythene bags as it would attract monkeys. We just carried our umbrellas as it was still drizzling, purchased the entry tickets to the waterfall and went in the resort campus. APTDC has another resort here. It is cheaper but I would not recommend this to anyone especially with kids. Lot of monkeys and it is at a very deserted sort of place. Due to the rains, the water in the waterfall was muddy, though the expanse was good because of the rains for the past few days. Generally you see a waterfall from its bottom when you are so close to the waterfall. But here you were at a higher point than the waterfall. It was okay and would have been better without the monkeys.

We returned by about 7 and after a break in the room went to have dinner in the restaurant. We ordered North Indian food and it was okay - better that we had expected. Post dinner, we went back to the room and retired for the day.

The way it had rained the previous day, the next day was a pleasant surprize for us. It was a perfect weather that one would want on a holiday. Clouds but no rain. Pleasant breeze. This made the environs of the resort look even better. We did an extensive photo session. My kid was busy playing in the water in the resort as it was flowing into the lake. All of us had great fun that day.

We also went to the point where boating is done in the NagarjunaSagar lake but did not opt for it. Took photos of the dam on the way.

Again, on our return journey, we took a lot of photo shoots stopping at various places on the road. Everything seemed so fresh and lively.

Overall, it was a nice weekend getaway. Would recommend visiting during the monsoons when the weather is good as nice weather would add more fun to the trip.

Car Registration in Hyderabad

2014-03-22T00:04:00.000+05:30

I relocated to Hyderabad from Gurgaon in Sep 2013. I have an i10 which I moved with me to Hyderabad. I had a lot of questions and apprehensions while moving to Hyderabad about car registration etc.

I also had a 6 month old (or rather new) Verna in Gurgaon which I sold before relocating to Hyderabad as I had heard that RTO is quite strict there. It would have costed me ~1.25 lakh for the Verna registration.

Below are a few experiences of my colleagues who moved to Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh) from other states:

One of my friends paid road tax for his Gurgaon HR 26 Ford Figo diesel car in Hyderabad soon after coming using the help of a broker. The broker charged him Rs. 1,000 over and above the registration cost. Advantage: Got rid of the tension of being caught up soon.
I also took the quotation from the same broker but tried to delay the process as much as possible, though it was a stressful time while I was driving on roads. I was caught by an RTO officer who did listen to my excuses but impounded my DL. I paid the road tax and got my DL back. Advantage: Saved Rs.1,000 which I would have paid to the broker! I have never been caught after that.
Another colleague has been driving his Karnataka car for about 8 months. He has paid Rs.500 so far as he was stopped by a constable twice - both times being in the last (eighth) month.
One of our team managers has a Honda City but has not yet paid the road tax even after 6 months. He has a West Bengal car. He was also caught up initially but made excuses like he has recently arrived in the city etc. Not sure how many times he's been held up for this. In fact, he avoided coming by his car for a few days but I see him driving again.

Suggestion:

Ask me for the RTO officer number if you are interested in paying the road tax to avoid broker charges!

Yamuna Expressway – A world class infrastructure piece is here in UP!

2012-09-26T11:33:00.000+05:30

Thanks to a family function in Agra – I got a chance to drive on the Yamuna Expressway. I had heard a lot about it from the point when people were using it even when it was not officially opened to the news of tyres bursting due to over-speeding. We were travelling from Meerut to Agra on 23rd September. As we got on to the expressway, we spontaneously had the expression “wow”! Wide roads with minimal traffic – a sight rare in India. Even the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway which used to have limited traffic a few years back is now sometimes choked at peak hours.

The expressway is 165 km long with a 3 lane road on each side. It has 3 tolls on way to Agra. On the first toll, you need to inform the person that you want a ‘ticket’ to Agra. The cost was about Rs.320 for one way and Rs.510 for the return journey within 24 hours. At each subsequent toll, you need to show this ticket which would be scanned by the person and you’d be allowed to go through.

On every toll there are public conveniences like toilets and restaurants which you’d not find anywhere else on the expressway. Also, it would be good to get your fuel tank completely filled much before you touch the highway as currently we could not spot a petrol pump on the highway. There had been news when a car ran out of petrol on the expressway and the “victims” had to call their acquaintances from Mathura to get petrol for them. Though there are plans to set up petrol pumps on the highway.

On the way, billboards with the messages like those over-speeding will be prosecuted; Nilgai prone area; slow speed vehicles prohibited or asking commuters not to stop for picnics could be seen. The last point was very valid. The expressway was such that you would be tempted to park your car by the side and enjoy the beauty for some time. As we were driving, we could actually spot a family stopping and clicking pictures on the expressway.

The legal speed limit on the expressway is 100km/h. Again, with minimal traffic and excellent road, one would be tempted to speed past the 100 km/h mark. But provisions have been made to penalize violators at the next toll.

It took us about 2 hours driving on the expressway before we reached Agra. The drive was of the sort I had never experienced earlier. My left foot was down on the floor instead of being on the clutch. And the right one was on the accelerator. I knew that even if I had to brake, I’d be using only my right foot and left foot would not be needed. It was only at the three tolls that the clutch had to be used – just thrice in a 165 km journey.

On our return journey, we started from Agra at about 8 in the evening. ON touching the expressway it was again the same feeling – “wow”. This time because it was dark and we could see the glowing . It seemed as if we were on a runway – just that we were not taking off.

The Buddh International Circuit (the same where the F1 was held in India) could be seen from the expressway. And though it would be difficult to get to drive on the BIC, the Yamuna Expressway is a way to get close to experiencing Go-Karting live!

After having experienced the journey to and fro, I’d like to congratulate the Jaypee Infra team for such a marvelous piece of infrastructure. As I read on Wikipedia, the expressway was completed 2 years before its targeted completion date. (The reason could be political – perhaps the builder thought it was better to complete it under Mayawati’s regime than take the risk of a political tumult which would create roadblocks for the project). And though the toll may appear to be on the higher side, such infrastructure is what India needs to be able to come to speed with the rest of the world!

Gurgaon School Admissions – My Two Cents

2012-08-23T18:01:00.001+05:30

We’ve almost finalized our son's admission in Lotus Valley International School. The experience was interesting but we had a lot of confusion while choosing the school. You can read about my thoughts on various schools on another blog I’ve written. Below are some tips for parents searching for schools in Gurgaon. My experience is based on choosing a school for pre-nursery and may differ from those seeking admissions in higher classes. Therefore, please use your best knowledge, information and judgement to arrive at a decision.

Registration – Registration means that you are interested in seeking admission in a school. If you go and visit a school and ask for the form, the school will generally charge Rs. 500 – Rs. 1,000 for giving you a school prospectus, CDs, fee structure and other material along with the registration form in which details of the student and parents are filled.

A suggestion here would be to go to different schools which you are interested in – see the infrastructure, interact with the admissions coordinator and get your queries answered. You would certainly want to have information about the fees. If you’re paying Rs.1,000, the school will give you a sheet with the breakup of the fees – admission, annual charges, refundable, quarterly etc. But if you’re not willing to shell out the money, the school may not give you the “fee sheet” (I’ve seen the receptionist refusing to give the fee breakup sheet in one of the schools, though she did allow the parents to make a note of the fees on a separate piece of paper).

In such a case, the parents may take a note of the fees by writing on another piece of paper or taking a picture from their mobile cameras. I found parents doing this and I consider it smart and sensible. Why would I want to pay the registration fees for a school which is beyond my budget or not up to my expectations in some aspect? I would also want to do a “cost – benefit” analysis for the various schools before finalizing for which I would need the fee breakup.

The best thing is to do an internet research on the schools, shortlist a few, visit them, come back home, reflect upon and then finally come to a decision. Once finalized, you can download the school form from the internet (school website or other school admission websites), take a print, fill, go to the school and pay the registration fees while submitting the form.

Some schools here in Gurgaon give admissions on a first-come-first-serve basis. If you are choosing such a school, following the above procedure will save you from spending on registration fees unnecessarily, if you start early.

I myself purchased admission forms for Lotus Valley and Shalom Hills, Nirvana. We got admission in Lotus Valley and haven’t yet filled the Shalom Hills form. Looking back, it seems we could have save the 1,000 bucks we spent for Shalom Hills…And though I read on another blog that you should keep 4-5 schools in hand, acting smart can save you a couple of bucks without taking any risk.

Please share your experiences and views in the comments.

P.S.: Experience based on admission in pre-nursery in Gurgaon

Gurgaon School Admission Experience for Pre-Nursery

2012-08-23T17:59:00.001+05:30

It’s August 2012 and our son will be 2 in November. And though we found schools which “admitted” children as young as 9 months, we’d made up our mind to send him to school (pre-nursery) once he is 2+. And thus began school hunting. Admissions in Gurgaon begin as early as August-September even though the academic session only starts in April the following year!

The internet is the first source of information - Google…Google and more Google – for list of schools, schools close to our home, reviews, fee structure and anything else that comes to mind. Then come acquaintances and neighbours with who could provide relevant information on schools they had considered for their child. You tend to ask every kid who you see while strolling in the evening – “Which school do you go to?” Most of them would answer LKG A or UKG B. And then we’d have to clarify – “you’re telling your class ‘beta’ …we’re asking for your school”.

We are putting up at Gurgaon Sector 49, near South City 2 - D Block market and preferred to have a school close by. After doing quite some research on the internet we were able to shortlist and the ones which we visited are marked as ‘(Visited)’:

Lotus Valley - Nirvana Country (Visited)

Shalom Hills – Nirvana Country (Visited)

FasTracKids – Golf Course Extension Road (Visited) – Wunder Kinder, if I remember the name correctly, is opposite to FastTracKids but we did not visit this school neither was this in our shortlist.

La Petite – GD Goenka – Malibu Town, Sohna Road (Visited)

The Shriram Early Years (Near Vipul Greens, Sohna Road) (Visited)

I Play I Learn (Though not keen, we tried to visit it but could not find this school and so came back home!)

Xseed iDiscoveri (Though in our list initially, we left it out as it was relatively farther from our house compared to the schools mentioned above)

We also had Pathways play school in our mind as it was walking distance from our home but a relative who had been to the school said that it was too expensive specially for pre-nursery and thus it went out of the list (The relative I am talking about have admitted their younger kid in Shriram The Early Years and their elder one is in Scottish High).

FasTracKids – In absolute terms, the school was okay. It is a franchise of a US school. The teaching methodology was theme based. They had a smart (touch screen) board in some classes and had day care facility and meals. Fee was the most reasonable amongst all schools. The centre coordinator was pleasing and took us around the school, showed us classes even when they were going on. Quartery Fees ~14,400

GD Goenka La Petite – The school became operational in July 2012 only and looked promising. It deals in classes from toddlers to KG. The school follows a Montessori way of teaching. Class rooms were spacious, well lighted and aesthetically pleasing. Also offered a day care facility and meals. Since this is a new school, it offered an inaugural discount on one of the components of fees. But the admission would not be directly transferrable to the main branch of GD Goenka World school. We did not consider it further as it was only till KG and admission blues will still come to us after KG + the quarterly fees was almost as high as Lotus Valley’s. Quartery fees ~20,000 Annual Fees ~15,000

The Shriram Early Years – The school only offered classes till Nursery which meant ‘admission issues’ would come again very soon. We were not able to see the classes as they were going on. But the school would give admission anytime you would go to them – which means they do not strictly follow a ‘session’. We did not consider it further as it was only till nursery and there was no direct transfer from this school to their main school. Quarterly fees ~Rs.19,000/-

Shalom Hills, Nirvana – The head mistress was pleasing and took us around the school. We visited the school when the classes were about to be over. She seemed to remember names on many kids in the school. The advantage with this school was that it is till 12^th. But it was written on the internet somewhere that the school follows a conventional teaching methodology. Though KG and above do have smart classes. Quarterly fees ~ 13,000/- Annual fees ~14,000/- Admission fees ~15,000/40,000

Lotus Valley: The school campus and building is nice, centrally AC. Classrooms are spacious. The school has various activity rooms like dance room, crafts room, music room. But these are more useful for grown up children. For the kindergarten students, these activities are done in their classes itself. But the fee for classes Pre-Nursery to 5^th is the same! The lady at the reception took us around the school building/floors and was very cordial. Overall, the school is good – in fact the best of all the schools that we saw.

We were also thinking from the perspective that we’d admit our son in a school which goes all the way to 12^{th –}the reason being that we’d most likely and preferably be in Gurgaon. Only Lotus Valley and Shalom Hills had this advantage. Though Lotus Valley gave us a feel good factor when we visited the school, the fees was considerably higher compared to Shalom Hills, Nirvana.

After considering most factors, we finalized Lotus Valley International School as it perhaps the only “international” school in our vicinity and within our budget!!!

Another blog: “Gurgaon School Admissions – My Two Cents”

Country Club Membership - Things to consider before enrolling

2012-08-11T13:45:00.001+05:30

You would have come across a person offering you a lucky coupon at a store in a mall or at a petrol pump. These are the holiday club membership coupons where if you fill them, you’d be invited for a presentation and a voucher which you can use for a 6N/7D domestic and international holiday. If you have the time and patience of listening to the person detailing you about the holiday, you might consider going, listening and taking the “free” holiday voucher and come back. However, you should be very clear before going into the presentation that you’d not be buying the club membership. Do your homework – search the internet for the reviews before going for the presentation. More often than not, they’ll be bad.

Certain points that you’ll hear from the sales person (SP) and counterarguments you (U) can give to them:

1. SP: If you buy your own holiday home, you’ll have to pay for maintenance, security of the home, limited choice of holidays (e.g. if it’s in Goa, you’ll have a holiday home only in Goa) etc. While if you take our membership, you don’t have to bother about all this stuff.

U: If I buy a holiday home, I buy it to use as a holiday home. Plus I am also looking at capital appreciation. If I buy your holidays, it’s just the holidays and nothing tangible. While if I buy a holiday home, say in Goa, I have something which will appreciate with time. It’s similar to paying rent vis-à-vis paying an EMI. If I keep paying rent, at the end of a certain time period I don’t own anything. If I pay EMIs, at the end of it, I have my own home. Which one should I prefer?

2. SP: Our properties are 5 star.

U: Please do your home work. Most of the properties are not 5* but 3* or 4*.

3. SP: You’ll be protected against inflation, if you book our holidays for 10/25 years.

U: But I’ll also be losing on the interest if I pay you the booking fees. I can get even higher returns, if I invest the money somewhere else.

Other counter arguments for not buying the package:

1. We’d like to take the free coupon, use it and see how the services are. Only then we will consider buying your membership.

2. Who would want to stay in a single place for 6N/7D when it is not worth those many days? For example, generally Goa packages are 3N/4D. Why would I want to stay only at Goa or only at Bangkok or only at Kuala Lumpur for 6N? I would rather want to cover Goa and Mahabaleshwar in that time or perhaps Phuket with Bangkok or Genting with Kuala Lumpur. These clubs only offer you to book for 6N/7D in a year. So for example, if you want to book for 2N/3D then you’ll only get 2 sets of 2N/3D which is a total of 4Nights and 6Days in a year at 2 places/2 times. And you’re at a loss of 2 nights and 3 days.

3. Also consider whether you travel alone or with another couple family. If you take a membership, you restrict yourself to travelling alone!

4. Only the accommodation is included in the membership. You might/will have to pay for airfare, airport/station transfers, sightseeing, meals, visa for international trip. All these can be more than 50% of the cost of your trip. Add to this the hassle of dealing with multiple people. And some of these like food are said to be too expensive at their resorts. Please check with the company what they are offering and what they are not. In fact, if you book the same package with a tour operator (www.holidaycooker.com), it might cost you lesser than opting for the membership with much more – breakfast and sightseeing is almost always included.

5. Flexibility: With these clubs, you have to book certain period in advance. Also the availability of the resort at the time you are planning to visit is under question. If you are booking through a tour operator, you can book even a week in advance.

Important points to note:

When one has spent almost an hour and a half listening to the sales person, one has a tendency to sign the docs without reading them. One is actually in a hurry to go out of that room. Even if one finds the plan interesting and wants to enrol for it, one should spend time to read the documents carefully before signing them. There are certain clauses which are either not told to you by the sales person or are misrepresented. For example, dates at year end 25^th Dec – early Jan might be blocked out dates and you cannot book your holidays during this period. Or the sales person has told you about club membership (start nights etc.) also but they are not marked in your form. Such things most likely will not be told to you but would be written in the documents. Therefore take you own time to read the documents and ask questions before signing and making the payment.

Have you ever faced such a situation? Are you a holiday club member? Are you happy? Or do you feel cheated? Please share your thoughts.

Issued in public interest.

The article represents my own personal opinions/suggestions.

Customer is the king, but only in marketing textbooks…

2012-07-27T23:45:00.000+05:30

If you have ever opted for a marketing course, you would have heard the phrase ‘Customer is the king’. But how many times, as a customer, have you felt so? “Never” would be the most common answer. Even if you have had pleasant and delightful experiences, I’m quite sure that you’d be able to count them on your fingers. Some experiences which I have faced in the past:

1. I had shifted my rented apartment in Gurgaon and so also wanted to get my internet connection shifted. It took more than 2 months to get the connection shifted. That too when I sought help from one of the legal service providers who help customers file case against companies in consumer courts.

2. I’ve invested in a flat. It’s been 5 years since I booked it. A decent amount has already been paid to the builder but the construction has still not started. It was only when I sent a legal notice to the builder that I received a phone call from them updating me about the status of the project.

3. I placed an order for a parenting on an online retailer site. While booking the website showed the book showed as available and was also reflecting an expected delivery date/time. After placing the order, they did not deliver the book for 2 months. I called the customer care to check the status. The person said that the book was not yet launched and that they would inform me when the book would launch! What? Why was the website showing a delivery date/time when the book wasn’t even launched? I called again 2-3 times but to no avail. Finally I asked for my money and got a refund cheque of the amount I had paid. This, when I started conversation on the company’s facebook page.

4. I ordered a smartphone from a very famous online retailer. But my misfortune that I had a “negativish” experience this time as well. They delivered it about 4 days late. The phone was meant to be a gift to someone.

5. I bought a refrigerator from a consumer durables retail chain. The moment I plugged it at home, it started making some rumbling noise. I called the store only to find that the store was responsible for sales and not after sales service. I told them that it wasn’t about the after sales service but a defective product that they had sold me. Nothing happened. I had to ultimately register a complaint at the company’s service centre when the guy came, told me that the fan was broken and took Rs.150 to replace the part and only to say that plastic parts were not covered under warranty. I still remember the pain of being cheated by the retail chain/company.

And it’s not just me. I’ve heard people saying that value added services have been activated on their phones without their consent. I’ve read people not getting a room on their vacation and being transferred to a property different from what was initially promised. I’ve read people lodging complaints against companies on numerous other issues. The internet is full of sites that take such complaints.

These experiences are at the top of my mind perhaps because they happened to me in the past one year. But there would me numerous other instances, if I were to strain my memory, where I have had a negative experience. The only power that the consumer has these days is the power of social media – the company against which you raise voice replies quickly if you raise the issue on their facebook page – at least that’s what my experience has been and I have been able to resolve a couple of issues this way. When someone from the company replies, if nothing else, you have that comfort – at least someone is listening to you.

But the story is not that bad. I’ve had positive experiences as well – which are like a drop in the ocean of experiences. My laptop charger had ‘broken’ and I thought that it would be covered under the (3 year) accidental coverage that I had taken. On calling Dell I found that the charger was not covered under accidental protection! I had a long conversation with the company and finally Dell replaced it as an exception (it was sort of customer delight). I truly appreciate Dell for their service and the management for exception handling. And I most certainly will buy a Dell again!

With Oberoi’s, I and my wife had a wonderful experience. We went to the restaurant in their Gurgaon property on our anniversary. It was meant to be a surprise for my wife. And even though I had not informed the restaurant that it was our anniversary, the sort of experience we had there was something we’d remember all our life. Similar was our experience in the Leela Kempinski at Gurgaon.

The difference in services, as I can think, is due to the segment that the services cater to. Barring Dell, the Oberois and the Leelas cater to the luxury segment – the rich – something which an ordinary Indian or the common man would not have a chance to experience in his or her lifetime.

In fact, most of the times, it seems that companies think that “Customer is a fool - Let’s use him to achieve our sales”. And it actually is okay because no one really cares for the customer. So the customer has no option but to get fooled, knowingly or unknowingly.

If you have had some really good or bad customer service or product experiences, please share.

Note: This article has been particularly written in the Indian context. These are the personal views of the author.

Lakshadweep (Agatti) & Kerala Honeymoon Tour

2009-08-15T15:36:00.004+05:30

Kerela (Kochi – Alleppey – Kumarakom – Houseboat – Kochi)
&
Lakshadweep (Agatti)
Honeymoon Trip
18th February 2009 – 3rd March 2009

DAY 1 – 18th Feb
After having a couple of tips on the previous day from Papa and on this day from Papa ji and Baba ji, we were all set to go to God’s Own Country – Kerala.

We set out for Sethan Gali at 8:30 A.M. After spending about an hour there, we picked Rohit ji and Sonia ji and started for the airport. Accompanying the four of us were Prachi (with Rohit and Sonia ji in Honda city) and Rohan (with Priya and me in Scorpio). We had to board an Indigo flight to Kochi which was to depart at 2 P.M. We reached the airport at around 12:30 P.M. We had a quick lunch at the airport terminal – pooris and aloo matar (the same matars which I brought from Guru Nanak Nagar in my Jodhpuri suit. Imagine someone buying peas in a wedding dress! I remember other customers staring at me like anything. ) Having done with lunch, we queued up for cheking-in the luggage. Our luggage, comprising of four items, weighed a whopping 69 kgs which was 19 kgs in excess of the permitted free capacity! But since we had negligible hand baggage the airline staff allowed us to carry all the check-in luggage free of cost.
The flight was on time. It was the first flight for Rohit ji and Sonia ji. Our seat numbers were 15E and 15F. Rohit ji and Sonia ji’s were 14A and 14B. Priya was sitting on the window seat and I was in the middle. To my left was a gentleman working in BoA who was going to Hyderabad (I initiated the conversation with him!)

indiGo’s “Ek Cup Paani” Cost Cutting Strategy – Prior to boarding the flight, based on my past experience with indiGo, I had told Rohit ji that we need not take water since it would be provided in the flight. Inside, we (Priyanka and I) came to know that indiGo had done away with gicing free water bottles. They were instead giving water in thermocole cups! Slightly embarrassed (coz it was not quite what I had told the couple accompanying us), I purchased a water bottle (for Rs. 25!) and asked the air hostess to give it to Sonia ji. They did not know that we had paid for it (which was what I wanted. Later, Rohit ji told us that he was wondering whether one bottle was being supplied to each couple (!!) because neither he nor their co-passenger on the aisle seat had got it.)

All this and some other discussion as to how they could further reduce costs by supplying water in innovative ways (carrying a jug and refilling the cup, in case a passenger needed water again, instead of giving a new cup!) kept me and Priyanka engaged for about half an hour and we had a hearty laugh during this time.

We reached Kochi on time (about 6:30 P.M.) and got out of the airport only to see a Heritage India guy carrying a placard with ‘RAHUL MAHESWARI AND FAMILY” printed on it! This made me and Priyanka dad and mom respectively and Rohit and Sonia ji our kids for the next 3-4 days. All of us wondered what people would think of guys getting married now having kids of age older than the parents’!

In the cab (Tavera), I was sitting like carrying the laptop bag in my lap thinking that we would reach hotel in 10-15 minutes. But 5-10 minutes after getting in, when Priyanka asked the cab driver (Subhash) how much time it would take, we came to know that we were to travel for another 45 minutes!! I placed the laptop bag onto the floor to sit more comfortably.
On way to proper city, Kochi seemed to be a very neat and clean, quite, properly designed city. Cannot say how much of it is true as we were mainly confined to M.G. Road and had only explored Broadway on March 3, the day on which we were to return to Delhi.

The hotel was much better than I had expected in that they had taken care of any and everything that one may need – the room had sewing kit , shaving kit, comb, shoe shiner, executive kit, stationery and a refrigerator (the only hotel/resort where we had a fridge during our trip).

About an hour after we reached the hotel, Mr. Ubaid from Heritage India had come to collect the Remaining amount for the tour. He also gave me coupons which were to be shown at each hotel/resort at check-in. This was one of the greatest advantages of having a tour operator – no hassles at all during check-in and check-out (only extra bills to be paid at check-out, if at all any).

DAY 2 - Feb 19
We were to leave for Munnar today. Yesterday we were confused whether we should see Kochi today or after returning from Lakshadweep. We were also planning to skip it altogether in case there was nothing worthwhile to see. When I told the cab driver that we would leave for Munnar straight without seeing Kochi, he told me that it would take only 2 hours to see all things.

Besides, the sightseeing today was included in the package whereas it would be charged another 600-700 bucks in case we were to see it later. Finally we finished seeing Kochi before leaving for Munnar. We visited St. Francis Churh followed by Chinese Fishing Nets (What was so Chinese about them and what were they to be seen for will have to be researched on the internet). From there we went to Santa Cruz Basilica which was much beautiful than the two we had visited earlier. Then we proceeded to the Dutch Palace which was a museum and not a palace from any angle! The entry ticket for it was Rs. 2 but inside it wasn’t worth even that (may be I am biased as I rarely like any museum – Salarjung in Hyderabad was OK types). After coming out of the “palace” we had coconut wate - the only one time during our entire tour (Oops we had it once again as welcome drink at the Agatti Beach Resort).

After this we started for Munnar at about 12 noon. It was supposed to be a 4 hour journey. The driver halted at a small restaurant and asked us to have lunch there. When we asked if there was a better option ahead, he said there wasn’t any. So we sat down and looked into the Menu. There were very limited options – We ordered a paneer dish and an aloo dish. The aloo dish came out to be kind of potato wedges. Paneer was ok and so was the “parantha” (the ‘Chennai’ parantha) – These two items helped us fill our stomachs quite liberally.

On our way, we had some lean waterfalls. But the most striking sight-seeing was the Spice Garden. With Rs. 100 as the entry fee, some of us were in a dilemma whether to enter or not. But we went ahead and saw a number of known and unknown spices, fruits and vegetables. It was in this garden that I came to know that “amla” is called “gooseberry’ in English. We came to Munnar at 6:30 P.M. checked into the hotel and locked ourselves in the rooms only to see each other next morning. (We tried to wake Rohit and Sonia ji for dinner (puris) but were unsuccessful at our attempts. They had slept early only to wake up late night when they did not deem fit to wake the two of us for taking their dinner). Priyanka and I had a dim-light dinner that night (instead of the usual candle light dinner!). This was the night when I had answered one of the questions asked by Priya.

DAY 3 – Feb 20
Today I got up before Priyanka (or had I planned to?). And so I took the opportunity to write ‘I LOVE YOU’ on the bathroom mirror with red “close-up”.

We had breakfast in thehotel and left for Munnar sight-seeing. We first went to Matupetty Dam. We could have done boating there but the thought that boating was the only activity that we would be doing during the later part of our trip made us skip it. There we had candy floss (‘gudiya ke baal’) and had snaps taken in various poses. From there we went to the Echo Point. There I had to do “something” for “some” reason. Then we proceeded to Kundala Dam where we hired a row boat and spent about an hour under the sun on water in the boat.

On our way back to Munnar city, the driver spotted a snake and stopped the car for us to have a closer look. This snake seemed to be an offspring of the one I encountered while cycling in IIT Madras - same colour but smaller in size. We had already booked an elephant ride when we were going to Matupetty Dam. While returning, we got to experience it. It was for Rs. 400 per couple. Our elephant was a male and had both its teeth intact while Rohit and Sonia ji got a female (who was going off the track when she spotted the male on which we were resting!)
Our hotel Edassery Eastend was situated right in the market which gave us the flexibility to have dinner outside the hotel. This made us reach Hotel Sarvana Bhavan where we had an average north Indian cuisine today. The restaurant was, no doubt, famous in the region as many foreign tourists could be seen there. I also noted that besides our hotel, Munnar Inn, and Issacs Residency were also within the Munnar town.

DAY 4
As Priya was taking bath, I opened the box of small dairy milk chocolates which I had brought with me all the way from Meerut for this purpose – writing “I LOVE YOU” on the bed. I had written it today morning but we could not take pics as we were in a hurry to go out for sight seeing. The driver took us to a Tea Museum where we were explained (so to say) how tea leaves were processed into the tea which we get in the market. I had earlier seen the same in Ooty and my interest in it was the same – nil. We also watched a movie as to how tea estates came into being in Munnar and how finally Tata got the control over those estates. Interestingly, Munnar once had a railway and a ropeway but both had been washed out by a rain. Since we had already covered all sights, the driver took us to a ‘view point’ discovered by himself. The fact is that any point in Munnar is a view point. On our way to this ‘manufactured’ view-point we came across a forest kind of an area. This was much more interesting than the view-point. We took some snaps here. As we were were about to leave a group of college girls along with their faculty came there and started showcasing their athletic feats on a tree which had fallen down. This entertained us for about 20 minutes after which we started back for the hotel. The evening was at our leisure.
We purchased a ball, home made chocolates, coffee beans, a scrub and a coffee filter in Munnar.
The four of us had dinner at the same Sarvana Bhavan but we ordered dosas instead of the usual north Indian we had been ordering earlier. The dosas were crisp and you could gauge how much we liked it by the fact that the waiter got a tip of Rs. 20 from Rohit ji.

At night, when we returned to our room, we thought of taking photographs with “I LOVE YOU” written with chocolates. To our surprise, the chocolates had reduced in number. No doubt, the housekeeping person had pocketed some of them. He would have thought them to be a very minor thing which would not come to our notice. I was hurt. Probably she was, as well. “I LOVE YOU” turned to just “LOVE” due to lack of chocolates. We also tried to locate those chocolates in quite a few confectionery shops in Munnar but to no avail.

DAY 5

After our three nights’ stay in Munnar, it was time to bid it goodbye. The journey to Alleppey would take 4-5 hours. We left Munnar at around 10:30 in the morning. I was sleeping for most of the journey only to get up when the driver stopped at a restaurant. We went inside, had a look at the menu, got ourselves fresh, did not find anything worthwhile to order and came out. Please note that I haven’t mentioned that we had our lunch there! We started again with the hope of finding a better restaurant but to our dismay we founded none. But we realized this in time and took out our pooris and ‘achaar’ to have a meal sufficient enough to suppress our hunger for the next couple of hours. The time when we had our meal would be around 3 – 3:30 in the afternoon. The driver told us that our resort was 40 kns away from Alleppey town. It was on an island so he asked us to take any fruits, soft drinks, biscuits we wanted to as we would not get anything at the resort. We did as per his instructions.

We reached the resort at around 5 PM. It was literally on an island which was not even connected to the “mainland”. We had to load ourselves and our luggage into a boat and then reach the reception. Thankfully, the reception, restaurant and our cottages were on the same island so we did not have to take the service of the boatman often. (There were rooms which were on an island different from the one where the restaurant and the reception were located!).
In the evening, we asked the boatman to take us to another island (just opposite to ours). We sat there on the grass and started playing cards. We also took some random snaps there. Realizing that it could be late and that the boatman would leave for the day and we would get strangled on an island(!), we decided to head back for our island. After reaching back, we had dinner in the restaurant which was just good enough for us – Sonia ji as usual took out achaar to have it with ‘chapathys’. Following this, we went to our rooms to sleep.

DAY 6
This day was planned to be a “rest day”. What I had thought while planning the trip was that it would be hectic and would involve extensive traveling. So this full day in Alleppey was meant to be a relaxing day. On the contrary, we had ample time to be at leisure during the whole trip.
I remember that we had asked the man at the reception the previous day the charges for a backwater trip. It was Rs. 150 per person. Our cab driver had given us an idea that we could get this as ‘complimentary’ from the resort. On requesting to get it as ‘complimentary’, the man agreed. He asked us to be at the reception at 5 P.M. We were there before time. Four of us and another couple (six people) plus the boatman were seated in a narrow but long boat which seemed unstable. After about an hour on the backwaters, we were back on land safe and secure!
At night, before dinner, Rohit ji and I somehow had Kingfisher beer followed by a 15 minute “nautanki” which would make us get offers from Bollywood J! It was serious fun. The climax was my planned fall from the tree “swing” (donno what it’s called). After our wives were about to leave us outside the rooms for night, we decided to end it. We had dinner and went to our respective rooms.

As far as I remember, Alleppey was the place where we first played cards extensively, even at the table in the restaurant while our order was being “processed”.

DAY 7
We were to leave Alleppey today. The driver had to come at 9 A.M. We first went to the Alleppey beach. For Rohit and Sonia ji, it was their first beach trip. Priya had been to Daman during her stint at AC Nielsen. I had spent 2 years of my life just 5-6 kms from the beach. Going to the beach is always fun. You can spend as much time there as you want listening to the pleasant sound made by the waves. At least I never ever felt like returning from a beach. But there are constraints. And you have to be ‘back to work’.

On the beach, Rohit ji had taken his slippers off. A wave came and carried them with itself. The scene where Rohit ji was trying to save his slippers from going into the sea was worth a watch. As he was trying to ‘rescue’ his slippers, his goggles slipped from his shirt pocket. We all had a “LOL”!

Since it was hot, we had ice-creams. One each wasn’e sufficient and so went for a second one. We took quite a number of photos there – while having ice-creams, with something written on the sands, with different patterns of waves and waters...

After about more than an hour we decided to return to the car to move for the next and the biggest attraction of Kerala – The Houseboat. Just as we entered the houseboat, all others (the three of them) started to thank me. This was a kind of delight we were experiencing. The houseboat had 2 AC rooms with attached lat-bath, a kitchen, a lobby with a dining table and a kind of a living room. The very sight of the houseboat as well as noting the details of the interior was fascinating. The houseboat was to take us from Alleppey to Kumarakom. Our driver would leave us at the jetty and he would reach Kumarakom by car. As the houseboat started to move, we all felt elated. It was an experience of a lifetime. If I were to travel to Kerala again, it would be for the houseboat. On our way, we could spot innumerable of houseboats – it was just like traffic in a not so populated area like Udaipur (I remember it as being a famous city with least traffic I’ve seen in my life). I was able to spot a milestone on the waterway. Similar to the school buses we have generally, here we could see school-boats – children travelling in boats between school and home!! As some motorboat passed by the side, our houseboat would start to move up and down (forgot the technical word for it, there was one in mechanical engg!).

In the evening the houseboat was ‘parked’(!) by the side of a field. We took a lot of pictures witht he houseboat. We were supposed to stay here for the night. It seemed strange to us – had this been in U.P., the houseboat would have disappeared in the night with no evidence that it was there the previous night. But all states are not as “great” as U.P. We were safe till the morning. In fact, when the AC had stopped functioning, I wanted to go out. But Priya asked me to stay inside. I thought for a while and then it came to me – we were in Kerala and I would be returning safe to my room. So I went out and asked the boat wala to start the AC. He did the same. It was only then that we had a sound sleep.

DAY 8
The boat started for Kumarakom at 8 A.M. We had our breakfast on the houseboat and reached the resort in Kumarakom by 9. We entered the resort from the back side as we had come by a houseboat! Initially, we were given normal cottages. But then I realized that we had paid an extra 500 bucks for the lake-view cottages. I went to the reception and told the issue. We were shifted to the lake view rooms in about 2 hours time in which we got ready to go out to see the bird sanctuary. Till such time all four of us were to stay in the same room. Priya and I decided to venture out while Rohit and Sonia ji would get ready. We took some snaps in the meantime.
After sometime, we switched positions – Rohit ji and Sonia ji would venture out whereas we both would get ready. After all of us were ready, we proceeded to have breakfast following which we left for Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary. There was nothing much to see there and as Priya wasn’t feeling well we decided to return to our resort. There we spent the afternoon sleeping and the evening in the swimming pool. We also lost our ball which was carried away by the wind into a “drain”.

Since there was no a-la-carte system of meals at the resort we decided to have our dinner outside for which we had to specially call Subhash, the driver. He took us to Lakshmi Resorts (the same place where he had taken us for lunch) which wasn’t quite near to our place.
We packed most of the stuff at the resort at night as we had to leave for Kochi Airport next morning to catch our flight to Agatti.

DAY 9
It would have taken us about 1.5 hours to reach the Kochi Airport. It was a small but we could see many foreigners. Kochi is one of the two gateways to Kerala, the other being Thiruvananthapuram.

There was only one flight to Agatti - from Bangalore via Kochi. The plane to Agatti was smaller – an ATR 72 rather than a Boeing or an Airbus. The propeller had three wings without any outside casing which made me feel a bit jittery when I thought of a bird hit! This plane was also different from the bigger ones in terms of seating. There were two seats on either side of the aisle.
The flight took off on time and soon after takeoff we were served with goodies – pen, wet tissue and toffees followed by lunch which was better than some of what we had on land! We also took some snaps of the HIDESIGN bag shown in one of the magazines which was the same as the one which Priyanka was carrying that day. In about 1 hour 20 minutes, we were at Agatti. The view of Agatti and nearby islands from the top was amazing. I could get only a glimplse of it as Priya was sitting towards the window. She had offered me the window seat (and she also said – “dikhawa to karna padta hai” L).

After we landed we were made to stay in a room which wasn’t so comfortable. There was no AC in it. We had to wait there for quite sometime before our luggage came. In the meantime, we met the resort representative there who collected our travel permits. He told us that we would have to walk to the resort which was just a 2 minute walk away. It literally was!

We were served coconut water as a welcome drink and were allocated rooms which were not so well positioned compared to a few other ones. We had booked non-AC rooms in Agatti. We had a good afternoon nap and “warmed up” during the evening for the rest of the days to be spent in Agatti.

DAY 10
We went for a glass bottom boat ride for 1.5 hours in the lagoon and to the reef. It was a sunny day. We were to be under the sun for more than an hour. We could see a number of corals in the crystal clear water. In Agatti, one could also go for scuba diving to explore the world under water. But I did not quite feel like exploring it (I have an anathema towards sea creatures!). Initially, we were all very enthusiastic about the clear water etc. But as time passed and with sun’s fury, the ladies expressed their desire to go back to the land. Rohit ji and I insisted that we stay in the boat for some more time as we had to get value out of what we had paid! (Rs. 1000/person is not a meagre amount for an hour and a half). In the resorts list of water sports, turtle watch was listed as a separate activity for which they were charging about 400-500 bucks per person. We asked the boatman to show us some turtles towards the end of our time thinking we would save some money (or rather get some more value for what we paid!). We found that watching turtles at Agatti was no big deal. One could see them while kayaking (which is the only free water sport at the resort).

So at the end of our boat trip we were a bit happy (about seeing the aquatic life which we had never seen earlier) and a bit miffed (as the ride was long (30 minutes ride would have sufficed) and we were sitting direct under the sun (although there was a cool breeze flowing)).
All in all we were satisfied for the fact that in our life time the probability of coming to Lakshadweep again was close to zero. So whatever we were doing here was for the first and the last time, at least this place.)

It was almost lunch time as we finished our boat ride. We had lunch and then went for an afternoon nap (this was almost of a daily affair as it wasn’t very enjoyable during the hot and humid sunny afternoons).

In the evening we turned a little adventurous and ventured out in the lagoon for Kayaking (How can Indians not taste something that’s free, right!!??). I had already done kayaking once at Phookote Lake in Waynad (It was also Kerala!) Those kayaks were air-filled balloon type, bigger and looked safe. Here in Agatti, the kayaks were made of plastic and very thin (low height) and looked as if they would sink if water flowed into them which was a definite possibility given the increased turbulence in water during the evenings (water was usually calm in the morning). I was the first to kayak with an uncle ji who was already kayaking with his wife. I found it safe! So Rohit ji and I went again in another kayak. Meanwhile, Priya had also gotten ready for kayaking. Both Soniaji and Priya were apprehensive of kayaking (It looked so!).

Priya and I would have kayaked for hardly 5-10 minutes when I got to see a turtle. As already

mentioned, I have an anathema towards aquatic life (not when challenged!!!), we turned our direction towards the land. And I decided not to get into a kayak again. The irony of the kayak scene is that we did not take a single photograph sitting in the kayaks.
In the evenings the weather in Agatti became extremely pleasant. Once we came out for dinner, we did not feel like going back to our rooms. It was in Agatti that we played a lot of playing cards sitting on the “beach beds” (not sure what they’re called) after dinner under the moon light with the music of the waves.

DAY 11
We had plans to go out for an island tour this day. But when we came to know that 16 people had already registered for the same trip, we dropped the idea. What fun in going to uninhabited islands with so many people? So we decided to do something else – to take a “sight seeing tour” of Agatti. We hired an auto for Rs. 300 (the same bajaj auto which we have here). All four of us could easily fit into it. On enquiring the auto wallah he told us that there were 10 such autos in Agatti. Petrol cost was around Rs. 65 per litre. There was no petrol pump on the island. We observed that the vehicles carried a LD number (Lakshadweep registration number). We wondered how many vehicles would be there in all islands put together (we could see a jeep, an ambassador and a few two wheelers on the island).

The prior information I had about Agatti was that it had a population of about 8000 – all muslims (cannot be very sure of this as the source is ‘internet’). The length of the island was about 8 kms.

We first went to the museum. We were the only four people to visit it that time. On our way to the museum, we could see some kids waving towards us. We realized that we were like aliens to them. They would hardly get to see someone from the mainland of India or a foreigner. The reason for that being that although a plethora of visitors thronged the Agatti Beach Resort, few thought of exploring the island itself. All museums are alike to me – so was this. After the museum, we went to a jetty. We also saw a new jetty (Eastern jetty) being constructed, dredging going on, a coir factory and a sight (this was the best).

It took us about 2-3 hours to see the whole island. The most memorable experience for us was when some of the natives of the island wanted to talk to us as if we were VIPs. They asked us our names and place and tried to converse with us in whatever Hindi they could speak (we couldn’t speak Malayalam) - who would do it to a stranger at a new place!!?? Their reaction made us a bit jittery – why were they trying to be so friendly with us, we thought. Looking back one would realize that for them seeing a new person (outside of their island) would indeed have been a rare experience.

We came back to the resort before lunch time and after having lunch went to our rooms to have a routine afternoon nap. We usually enjoyed the evenings playing cards on the beach in the pleasant breeze. This evening we all “lolled” – Thanks to Kaho Na Pyar Hai and Bakhuda. I am sure all four of us would never forget that evening.

DAY 12
We had booked an island trip for this day. We were the only four people to be travelling on the boat today compared to the previous day when 16 people had gone for the same trip. It was like hiring a private boat!! We were to “travel” to four islands – Bangaram, Thinnakkara, Parali I and Parali II. The boatsman first took us to Thinnakkara and then to Parali I and finally to Bangaram. He skipped Parali II saying that both the Parali islands were similar. What was astonishing was that although there was nobody living on those islands, we received full mobile signals on Thinnakkara and Parali I (both these islands are uninhabited) as well as Bangaram (which has a resort). Hats off to Airtel! (There were only two mobile operators in Lakshadweep – state owned BSNL and Airtel). This was the only time when an Airtel customer could truly distinguish him/herself from the others! (If you’re planning to go to Lakshadweep, have either of these two connections to stay connected with your near and dear ones on the mainland of India – or else use telephone facility at the resort).

I had not anticipated that travelling in the boat could be so fearful. I was literally afraid. Initially we were in the lagoon where there were no waves. As we moved to the deep ocean, waves became so strong that sometimes the boat would leave the sea surface and ‘take-off’ in the air just to land back on the sea with a thump! Initially the ladies were feeling jittery as well but they got accustomed to this very soon. And it was only Rohit ji and I who were yelling for someone to help us! The boatmen were also laughing seeing us nearing the life jackets to ourselves. (Prevention is better than cure, isn’t it!!??)

Finally when we saw the destination island, and as we re-entered the lagoon area of the other islands, we could tone town our anxiety. The fact is that the journey back to Agatti was far less fearful.

The boatman pulled a coconut from the tree and peeled it to offer us the pulp (yes! pulp in coconut! kind of a solid cream, which we had never seen in mainland India!). After initial resistance (pata nahi kya khila raha ho, behosh kar ke paise leke bhaag na jaye kahin – this was what came to my mind – we are from UP!), on his insisting we tasted a bit of it. I didn’t quite like it.

We also saw small shells moving with living creatures beneath them. It was for the first time we had seen something of this sort and it evoked this response from me – yuckkk!!!
After visiting the two uninhabited islands of Parali and Thinnakara, we went to Bangaram. Here we had our lunch. That lunch is perhaps one which none of us would forget – such an ugly one – but we had as much as we could because we had nothing else to eat except for fruits (oranges and apples) which we had carried with us from Agatti. Bangaram was beautiful. We though that instead of staying in Agatti for four nights, we could have stayed 2 nights in Agatti and one in Bangaram (total 3 nights in lieu of four for the same cost!).

After taking snaps at the island we started back for Agatti. In the evening, we explored the area out side our resort. The beach on the other side of the island was much cleaner than the resort beach. I was regretting why we had not been to this side of the island earlier. As it was getting dark, we decided to go back to the resort t come back early next morning on this side of the island to see the rising sun.

DAY 13
This was our last day at Lakshadweep. Priyanka and I got up at around 6 O’ clock in the morning to see the sunrise. Since Lakshadweep is to the west of mainland of India, here the sun rises and sets with a delay of about an hour. After waiting for quite sometime, when we could not see the sunrise due to the clouds, Priyanka went back to the resort. I was still on the beach to capture some pictures of the sun. After taking some snaps, I also went back to the resort to catch on some sleep (getting up early in the morning was like getting up at midnight). We had made it a norm to take pics at our hotel/resort on the very last day only. So it was time for us to cover the whole resort in pics. Both the couples took innumerable snaps after which it was time to finally pack our luggage. We had lunch at the resort and moved to the airport. At the airport, unlike the arrival, we got to sit in an AC waiting room.

We were one of the first few people to get into the flight. As soon as we got in, we took snaps. The food on way back to Kochi was South Indian and it was not comparable to the food which we got on our way to Agatti. Rohit ji and Sonia ji would have filled the feedback form quite opposite to what they had filled on their way to Agatti (all because of the food!)
At Kochi airport we had a cab waiting for us. We went to Hotel Yuvarani by about 5 O clock. After resting for about an hour we got ready to go out and explore the nearby market (MG Road). I purchased the much demanded banana chips (for office guys as well as for ourselves).

DAY 14
This morning we went to Broadway to purchase massage oil. This was for the first time we were travelling there in an auto! Besides massage oils, we also got to purchase “Happy” umbrellas (there was a shop dedicated to umbrellas!), scents and aloe vera gels. As we had to catch our flights at 4, we left for the airport at around 1:30.

After landing at Delhi, the pilot “drove” (!) the plane for half an hour making us impatient. Temperature in Delhi had risen – we didn’t need to put on our pullovers after coming out.
We had dinner at Haldirams’ after which we travelled non-stop to Meerut to land in beds in our HOME SWEET HOME!!

Amazing Queensland Amusement Park

2008-06-07T17:16:00.007+05:30

After a “Terrific Trip To Tada” in January, it was time for some action again. It was not that we were totally idle during the break. Some of us had been to Tirupati and almost all of us to the Golden Sun Resort in Mahabalipuram. But it was time for “our group” to pack bags and set out again for a picnic. This time we chose an amusement park – Queensland Amusement Park – in Chennai.

As usual the unity in diversity could be seen. The ten people who were part of this amazing amusement park trip were:

Arun (Haryana)
Luma (Rajasthan)
Gaurav Sunkar (Maharashtra)
Nitesh urf Naughty (Delhi)
Raghavendra (Karnataka)
Rahul (that’s me) and my friend Apoorv (representing Uttar Pradesh – two in number as we had to portray the high population density in our state!!!)
Shyam (Kerala)
Suresh (Andhra Pradesh)
Sougato (West Bengal)

We got up at 6 A.M. in the morning. Plans were to have our breakfast at 7 and reach IIT main gate at 8. After futile attempts to draw any other class member for the park, we dropped the idea of hiring a bus. We reached the park by public transport – government buses (From IIT to Guindy, Guindy to Poonamalle, Poonamalle to the Park) - which were no less comfortable than our own vehicle would have been.

We reached the park by 10 A.M. and purchased the entry ticket. Being a group of IIT students we were able to get Rs. 50 off on the entry ticket (Rs. 300 instead of 350). The day was hot and being a Sunday, there was a lot of rush in the park, which unfortunately made us, wait longer for some rides.

The first ride we went on was as shown in the pic below!!! (Oops, I forgot the name.) But it was like a giant wheel, though not exactly similar. It was for the first time in my 23 years of life that I was going to try something of this sort. RBI (who was also a first timer) had gone for the ride before most of us. And he came out vomiting!!! I found the ride good – giving a sensation as if you were flying vertically up in a rocket and then down.
There after we went for simulator – I had experienced this one in Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad. But here, the effects were more predominant – with fans blowing at times. The best part of this ‘ride’ was that although this was a ‘mild’ one, RBI ended up vomiting again!!!
After having neembu-paani and ganne ka juice, we went for go-karting. These people were offering only one round and I was told that the cars weren’t accelerating :-(. This was the first time that I was go-karting and I found it okay.

After some other rides and lunch, it was time for slides. Yes, the park had some water slides and the wave pool!!! We spent around two hours in water. By this time, the sun’s fury had also reduced. And so, we returned to the dry rides once again.

This second phase of dry rides was very very exciting and one full of anxiety. The only trouble was that some of us – RBI (still thinking of vomiting!), Naughty (who had slept for just 2 hours last night), Shyam & Luma (tired) were reluctant to go for rides. These people kept on sitting at a place where as the others went to explore. The first ride we went for was the Centrox. Centrox machine is available at only three places in the world – one of which was Queensland. It was for the first time that I saw the practical application of Centrifugal force where I was the subject matter concerned. Suresh and Arun had already enjoyed the ride. If one would look at it, one would tremble at the very thought of being vertical (83 degrees from horizontal). After much ado, Gaurav (Sunkar) and I went ahead to try it. It was real fun and we experienced not even a quarter of the fear we were anticipating. I would have loved to do it once more had it been allowed. Sougato went for this ride after the two of us.
After Centrox we headed for the Free Fall Tower. This one was very deceptive – I would say the reverse of Centrox – which seemed more dreadful than it was. This one was terrific. We were seated on the lower bench where our feet were dangling in the air. Imagine yourself at a height of 75/150 feet with absolutely nothing below your feet. For the first round, we were taken to only half the height of the tower. I was reluctant to look above or below. The only thing that was running in my (and hopefully others’) mind was – Abe kitna upar leke ja raha hai? Kab rukega? And finally it stopped. And after 5 seconds or so, we were falling with acceleration due to gravity – ‘g’ – 9.81 metres per second square!!! Then was the grand finale – we were at 150 feet – eyes were having a visual treat but the heart was about to get an attack. And the machine made us feel twice like we were going to fall but kameene maja le rahe they humse. Sab chupp they. And finally it happened. Free fall from 150 feet to the ground – what a relief it was to place the feet on the ground. And all of us who were on this ride (Arun, Apoorv, Gaurav, Suresh and I) were of the same opinion – that each one was thrilled to the core.

After the free fall we went to take on another challenge – Columbus. Though it was a very common ride, I had never experienced it earlier. Sougato also caught up with us on this ride. This too was terrific, man. It was again a thrilling experience. My god. What a feeling in the stomach and the head – too much!!! And RBI missed an opportunity to vomit with this one!!!
After Columbus, we went for the cable car. But since the queue was long we decided to skip it and go for roller coaster. Sunkar and I were in the same ‘car’. This ride was again deceptive. When the car would go up, it felt as if it would leave the rails and would take-off. With so many twists and turns, I was afraid that the car would leave the track. But finally we were on the ground once again – safe and secure.
Queensland Amusement Park is more than an ordinary amusement park. It has some exclusive rides, which thrilled us to the core. Being just a day before our “group’s” people started leaving for their homes, it was our last trip as IIT students and I am sure it would have given lasting memories to all of us.

MBA Class Trip to Kalpetta, Waynad

2008-03-06T19:39:00.021+05:30

DoMS, IIT Madras - MBA Batch of 2008
Class Trip…
From Coromondel to Malabar Coast…
From Bay of Bengal to Arabian Sea…
From Eastern Ghats to the Western…
From the Land of Sunrise to that of Sunset…
From Tamil land to that of Malayalam…
To God’s Own Country…In Our Own Country…
To Kalpetta,.. Waynad…

Complete Photos on: http://picasaweb.google.com/rahuldangra/Waynad ...

WHEN? 29th February 2008 – 4th March 2008
WHO? 22 Students of MBA Batch of 2008 – 13 guys & 9 gals
HOW & WHERE?

INTRO
It was afternoon of 29th Feb. At a time when I should have been excited about the trip, I was struggling with my team-mates to somehow complete the Mergers and Acquisitions presentation which was to be delivered on 5th March – the very next day of our return to Chennai. But as always Parkinson’s Law was proven true this time as well – “work expands to fill time” – and we decided to complete the presentation on 4th March itself. (The ppt making continued till 1:15 PM on March 5 and was to be presented at 1:45PM on the same day!!!)

DAY 0 – 29th February 2008
GOING TO CHENNAI CENTRAL RAILWAY STATION
Initially we had planned to go to Chennai Central station individually but then the news spread that IIT authorities (transportation department) had arranged the institute bus (an application in this regard had been submitted earlier) for us to go to the station.

We had booked tickets through bulk booking – Train No. 2685, Mangalore Express. The train was to start at 5:30 pm but it was late by 1.5 hours. We spent time taking snaps, playing cards at the platform…In the train we again spent time playing card games like Bluff, Donkey, Judgement etc. At around 8 pm we had delicious dinner – arranged by “toco” from “Agarwal Bhojanalay”.

DAY I – 1st March 2008
AFTER REACHING CALICUT
We reached Calicut at around 6:30 am. After getting down at the station we had ‘breakfast’ at Calicut station. A bus (Bus no. KL 10 / Y 1010. I remember it!!!) was waiting for us (this was to be with us till our return to Calicut station on 3rd March).

Along the way, the view from the bus was quite good. It is said, “the grass on the other side is always green”. Here I found that grass/plantations on my side were green too!!

REACHING WAYNAD - KALPETTA
Two and a half hours in the bus and we were in Waynad(Kalpetta, to be exact – Waynad is the district name and Kalpetta its headquarters). The hotel rooms had already been booked by “TOCO” in Chandragiri Inn. Three people were to stay in a room. Suresh, Arun and I stayed together. The rooms were decent enough (spacious, well furnished, neat) with very good bathrooms (with all taps in proper places and in working condition!). The service (providing drinking water) and hospitality were also good enough.

We had lunch at Udupi Restaurant which was at walking distance from Chandragiri Inn.
Since our train was late, we could only start visiting places after lunch. We set out for Edakkal Caves at 1.00 PM.

EDAKKAL CAVES
Climbing to the top to reach the caves was not easy. The sultry climate made it tougher. Initially, we had to walk on steep paths till the point where tickets were available after which there was no proper way. We had to find one on our own although at some places “stairs” were provided for easy access to the next level. After reaching the top, we had a photo session. In an attempt to be in a photograph, I hit Meghna on her injured toe (The first-aid box came into use now!!!). After spending about 45 minutes at the top we started to move back down to the ticket counter. Towards the end of it all, I found my feet trembling (due to lack of sleep, I was more tired than I would have been otherwise). Somehow managed to get into the bus after which we started for Soochipara Falls.

SOOCHIPARA FALLS
We had to walk down to get to the falls. Initially there was a way but towards the end it again got lost (seems like they make roads initially to attract tourists and then leave it when they feel that people won’t go back to the starting point!!!) – with only rocks and more rocks to be seen. Some of the guys took a bath in the falls. Raghuram and I being the only LMOs (Lean Men Organization…wanna join???…visit http://www.lmo.com/) started shivering sooner than others.
A few people could be seen slipping and hurting themselves a bit, due to the slippery rocks.

CAMPFIRE
After coming back from the falls, some of us ordered Maggi - the taste was simply superb – thanks to Lavanya. We also had a campfire where most of us performed something (from hip hop dance to singing songs). We had dinner at the same place – it was ‘made-to-order’. The dinner (North Indian) too was grrreat – daal, rotis, aloo subzi, one tomato dish and chicken – it’s difficult to say which was better than the other.

By the time we finished our dinner it was completely dark. We spotted some constellations in the sky – the one I had seen in ‘Swades’ – the Orion – and also the Saptrishi.

ON WAY BACK TO THE HOTEL
This could be one of the perfect examples of customer delight – when you get something good at a time when you don’t expect it. The bus had a good lighting system – colored and blinking. Opposite to the popular concept of having “dance floors”, we had “dance ceiling” in the bus. (No..no..we danced on the floor only!!!). And most of us rocked on dance numbers. It was real fun – so much so that we were upset when we reached our hotel!!!

DAY II – 2nd March 2008
MATHUNGA WILDLIFE SANCTUARY
The challenge that had been put to us the previous night was to get ready by 5 am today, as we had to leave for Mathunga Wildlife Sanctuary. It is said that chances of sighting various animals are higher in early mornings than if you go late. So we had to get up at around 4 am which was like getting up at midnight. Since buses were not allowed in the area (we could spot some SUVs), we hired ‘Mahindra’ Jeeps (run by the authorities there). We spotted elephants, bisons, foxes, monkeys and deers in the forest. The driver also showed us the foot prints of tiger/leopards/lions and told us that they had been on the road before we came.
Near the entrance of the Sanctuary was a water-body with flowing water. We had a photo session there as well.

KURUVA ISLANDS
This was the part of the trip which I enjoyed the most - a group of islands which are surrounded by rivulets. These streams are to be crossed to get to another island. We also enjoyed rafting here and climbed on a house tree only to find that it was locked. Nothing much to describe here – pics would tell the story better.

BANASURA SAGAR DAM
This dam is located 21 km from Kalpetta in the Western Ghats. It is the largest earthen dam in India and the second largest in Asia. We decided not to go for boating here as we were to do that the next day. The view from the top of the dam was good especially the sunset.

DAY III – 3rd March 2008
POOKOT LAKE
We visited this lake on our way back to Calicut. This beautiful lake nestles in the lap of mountains surrounding it. Boating in the Pookot Lake was a memorable experience. Tall trees and dense forests lined the pathway around the lake. Besides the regular pedal boat, we also enjoyed rowing the kayaks – which was a new experience for all of us. There was also a children’s park which made some of us get into the ‘child state’.

MOVING BACK TO CALICUT
After Pookote Lake we got into the bus to move to Calicut. Since we had some time, we decided to visit a beach there. We missed the sunset as we had to catch the train at 5:30 pm – Train No. 2602 –Chennai Mail. The train was on time. Unlike our ‘to’ journey, seats in the ‘fro’ journey were scattered all over the train despite the fact that we had gone for bulk booking. This was due to less number of seats available at the time of reserving the berths. But that did not dampen our spirits. We (where I was located) sung songs, took snaps, played cards, had dinner and finally slept (got very good sleep that night).

DAY IV – 4TH March 2008
BACK TO CHENNAI
We were back to Chennai. In fact, the train was before time (may be Laloo Prasad wanted to compensate for the delay in our first journey). We went back to IIT by MRTS (Mass Rapid Transit System) – which is nothing but Chennai local train. After taking snaps at the main entrance, we waited for IIT bus to go inside.

OVERALL EXPERIENCE / LESSONS LEARNT
All in all it was a nice trip.
My image of Kerala being a safe state for women (like Tamil Nadu) is gone.
Kerala is not just sight seeing. It is adventure as well.
Stay away from people who are injured!!!
Girls need not necessarily take more time to get ready. It is worth mentioning that at none of the places we got delayed because of the girls. They were always ready in time. (Was this an exception??!!) I must Congratulate them for this. Well done gals!!! Keep it up!!! Asutosh…are you reading???
Hand your camera to others before you speak out “Photo Lo”.
Thanks to all those who took snaps and sacrificed being in them.

Terrific Trek Trip To Tada

2008-02-12T17:33:00.012+05:30

WHEN? 10th February 2008

WHERE? Chennai>SriKalahasti>Tada Falls>Chennai

WHO?

From Left to Right:

Raghavendra (aka RBI) where again BI for his middle and surname

Amit (aka AKG) where KG = Kumar Gupta although I prefer calling him A-KFC-G for his fascination for KFC chickens!!!

Arun (aka Jat)

Dinesh (aka Kaka)

Shyam (aka Bloomberger – for he did his summers in Bloomberg USA)
Nitesh (aka Naughty)
Luma (aka Lums)
Suresh (aka Stalin) took this photograph...

(From back to front - Arun, Dinesh(right), AKG, Naughty, Luma, Shyam, Suresh, I)

The coincidence was that our group was almost a representative sample of India – Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Delhi, Bihar, UP, Haryana and (should i say it Luma?) Rajasthan.

HOW? A hired SUV – Tavera

WHAT?
We never knew it could be sooooo interesting, thrilling, wonderful, adventurous and terrific trip. Even these adjectives aren’t doing justice to the experience all of us faced during our trip to Tada Falls. We were a group of 9, 2nd year MBA student at the Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras, setting out for a day’s journey to SriKalahasti and Tada. This is how it went:

We were planning for an outing but the problem was where to go. When one thinks of 1 or 2 day tour from Chennai, Pondicherry and Mahabalipuram seem to be the places coming to the mind by default. But we wanted to explore (the word is totally justified) more areas. Thanks to the internet (i think someday it will be called Googlenet and internet users-Goolizens or Googlers (instead of netizens). , Naughty came across a place called Tada Falls.

We could find many things on the net mainly the blogs – what to do, what to take etc. Accordingly, we had imagined what the place would be like. But most of us who went there would agree that it was not the place but the “way” (was there one!!!???) to the place that made the trip so very much interesting.

We had hired a Tavera for the trip. People have rightly mentioned in their blogs that there are no roads and have accordingly advised not to take private vehicles (small and medium sized cars) there. I agree with them. You can take your own SUV or hire one. Sub Urban Trains and Buses from Chennai are other options which we did not explore much.

We got up at mid-night (for us, 5:30 in the morning is akin to midnight!!!). Got ready by 6:45 am. Had breakfast in our mess. And left IIT at around 7:30. The travel agent had suggested that we leave at 6 in the morning. Going by his standards, we were late by 1.5 hours. We planned to go to SriKalahasti first. It took us about two hours to reach there. On the way we strained our vocal cords singing songs. I agreed with Arun when he said that the “generation gap” could be seen by the way different people were singing songs of different ‘eras’. AKG, Luma predominating on one side and RBI, Suresh, Shyam and I on the other. Arun (and unexpectedly for me) Naughty were in the transition era.

(RBI and I)

We reached SriKalahasti at about 10 am. In order to cut the waiting time, we purchased tickets for darshan. Naughty had already gone there the previous week-this helped us to some extent. We had good darshans. After spending about an hour in the temple, we started (back) for Tada Falls.

(SriKalahasti Temple)

We reached the base camp (i donno which is base camp 1 and which is base camp

2). We took our vehicle till where it could goJ. There was another SUV ahead of our vehicle and at some points of time it reminded me of Jurassic Park where one car followed the other (we were also driving at almost the same pace).

We started trekking at 1:20 PM in the afternoon. The first 2.5-3 kms. was normal ‘walking’. The best part of it was that God had his umbrella (clouds) on us!!! Otherwise walking in the sun would have been a tedious task and we would have been drenched with/in sweat. We took lots of snaps on the way to the falls. So much so for the first 3 kms.

And then we came to “Hollywood” (I wonder if those people have seen this place!). Rocky terrain and water stream flowing. There was no road/path/way (whatever you call it). We had to make/search one on our own.

We reached the falls at 3 PM Took bath. Got fresh. Had our lunch. Took lots and lots of snaps. And started back for the base at around 4:30 PM We took some snaps again on our way back. We started for Chennai at 6 PM And reached IIT at 9 PM.

(With Suresh (Above) & With Amit)

As far as my personal story is concerned, it was a bit different from others and because of others (i’ve written “because of others” because had i been alone, i am not sure whether i would have been back!!!). My Woodland shoes were so supportive for the first half of the trekking. They provided an excellent (i mean it) grip on the ground. But on my way to the falls, i slipped into the water (once and then, often) and then it seemed to me as if some one had poured oil on everything that i stepped on. I was able to move just because of these-Luma, Arun, AKG, Suresh, RBI, Dinesh, Naughty. They were there for me at a time even when my Woodland shoes ditched me (no comparison with shoes please, don’t take it that way. I wanna show what friends and friendship means).

("Dagabaaz Joote")

(Under the Falls)

I was not feeling like eating something despite the fact that i was feeling hungry!!! (donno why!) It was Suresh who fed me (“fed me” because usne mujhe apne haathon se khilaya (pata nahi English me kaise likhoon!!!)). That was a wonderful experience for me. And i have thought of this – when i go home now, i’ll ask mummy to ‘feed me’ (i know i am 23+, still i think it would be a experience in itself).

Also for the first time i put on a cut sleeves (t-shirt?). It was a beach wear which ma-pa had brought for me from Goa.

I also broke my specs partly (though they are functioning now but i’ll have to go for a new one). And my hands are feeling the trip much more than my legs. That’s because i had to use them for crawling on the stones because of the wet slippery WOODLAND shoes!!!

I had many new experiences during the trip. But i think there’s nothing new in it. The more you explore the more new experiences you have.

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Thanks to all those who made sacrifices by taking photos and videos on the trip by voluntarily eliminating themselves - especially RBI, Dinesh, Shyam and Suresh.

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My First Journey by Garib Rath - H. Nizamuddin (Delhi) to Chennai

2007-08-03T23:11:00.000+05:30

I was to go back from Meerut, my home town to Chennai, where I am/was doing my MBA. I was excited to travel by this train - The Garib Rath - from Hazrat Nizamuddin to Chennai which ran only on Monday. I had my batch-mate Amit traveling with me.

I found the concept of Garib Rath something similar to the Low Cost Airlines. I would rather call these trains "no-frills" Rajdhanis. All coaches are AC - with just two categories - 3rd AC and Chair Car. Although there was no pantry car in the train, food facility was available. We also paid a nominanl INR 25 per berth for the bedding - a blanket, a pillow and a sheet - I found it similar to the low cost airlines where you need to pay even for water. The ticket for 3rd AC was around INR 900 as compared to around INR 1500 in case of a of a superfast train.

One thing which a lot of people would agree to is that the name of these trains is a misnomer - As said by Amit during the journey - "Jinke naam pe ye trains chali hain, wo to zindagi me kabhi ksafar nahi karenge is se."

The number of berths in the train was also more. In 3rd AC there were 75 berths in Garib rath as compared to 64 in a normal train.

All in all it was a comfortable journey at a nominal price. The train is not yet popular and seats were vacant. As time would pass, people would become aware and the train would have higher occupancy rate.

The areas of concerns are the odd timings - departure from Nizamuddin at 4 PM in the evening. And also the frequency of the train - it needs to ply more number of days in a week and that too on "sensible" days like Saturdays than on Mondays.

I agreed with Amit when he said that the concept was good but the name needs some change.

Tour to Hyderabad And Srisailam - Phase III

2007-07-27T00:32:00.000+05:30

DAY V

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The day was reserved for Ramoji Film City (RFC) - something exclusively in Hyderabad - not to be missed. RFC is about 30-35 kms from the city. That is to say, it is away from the main town. The best way to go there is to book tickets with a Travel Agent. the ticket for entry is rs. 300 and the tour operator would charge you Rs. 150. So it would be an expense of INR 450 per head. But the cost is worth it. you would see things which you won't see anywhere in India (as far as my limited knowledge goes).

There were "buildings" (only the front nothing behinf it) which could be shown to be 'London' or 'Los Angeles' in movies, Hospital shown in Munnabhai MBBS, Airport, Railway Station, a Market, Central Jail, a Highway etc. which were used for various movies.

Besides the sets there were other things as well. Like the flight simulator where you were enclosed along with other people in an air conditioned chamber and you would feel as if you were in a spacecraft.

Also, there was the Wild West show which was a fight and bombing show - another thing which I found unique and interesting.

There was also a 'world tour' where we were made to sit in a "monorail" (as in bhoot bangla in appu ghat in Delhi but this one could accommodate 8 or more people). It was also wonderful.

Other shows included 'The spirit of Ramoji' which was more of a circus. We didn't like it too much because you could see that stuff in any circus - It was not something to be shown in Ramoji.

We were also shown how movies were made - how editing, mixing etc. took place in the film industry - This too was very unique and interesting.

All in all we had fun at the Ramoji Film City. It needs one full day and is worth the visit.

RFC truly justifies its tagline - It is "An experience of a lifetime".

While coming back from RFC, we asked the bus driver to drop us at Abids which is a market in Hyderabad. There are a few malls here and also the "Brand Factory" store is situated here. After spending some time in Abids and havind our 'dinner' at McDonalds we went back to our hotel.

DAY VI

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We got delayed on this day due to some personal reasons. We started for Paradise at around 1 PM and had our Lunch there - aaloo biryani.

From there we went to Jagdamba Pearls to buy some pearls and after quite sometime headed to the Citi Center mall. As I was not feeling well, I asked my parents to visit the mall and the @home store opposite to that whereas I returned to the hotel.

We had our train in the night. And afetr coming we had to pack and get ready for the journey back to home.

All in all I would say that Hyderabad is one of the places I wouldn't mind getting a job in. It is a wonderful place. Yes, it has certain issues, but tell me which big city does not have?

Hoping to see Hyderabad again but with many new places, malls and fly-overs.

Tour to Hyderabad And Srisailam - Phase II

2007-07-25T12:34:00.000+05:30

DAY III - SRISAILAM
================

We set out for Srisalam in the morning at around 7 AM. We had hired a Qualis for the purpose. By car it took around 4.5 to 5 hours to reach Srisailam from Hyderabad. I had seen a blog earlier about staying at Srisailam. Searching for an good as well as an economical accommodation was not an easy taks. The AP Tourism hotel was charging about INR 1000 per night in Srisailam. In the blog, I had read about Ganga Sadan & Gowri Sadan - that they were neat and clean, as well as economical. AC room was for about INR 700-800 and non-AC for INR 500. The info on the blog was really helpful.

WHAT TO SEE IN SRISAILAM

Srisailam is mainly famous for one of the 12 Jyotirlingams of Hindus that is situated there. There is also a cave temple which we did not visit as people with me were not very enthusiastic about going there.

You have a DAM there on the River Krishna which is also called as Pathal Ganga. Fortunately for us, 5 of the gates of the dam were open on the day we reached Srisailam. The gates had been opened only 1/2 days back. The next day when we were returning to Hyderabad only 3 of the gates were open. The view of the water falling and then rising due to the curve made at the base of the dam was splendid. The gates would generally open in the rainy season as the river would be flooded with water.

For wild life enthusiasts, there is a Tiger Reserve in Srisailam. In fact, the whole belt from Nagarjunasagar to Srisailam - that area is a tiger reserve - under the Forest Department. Since none of us were interested in wildlife, we skipped it. Although we fed a lot of monkeys on the way to Srisailam and back.

There is a ropeway to go down to the river. There you can enjoy boating.

You can see beautiful sceneries form the ropeway area.

ACCOMMODATION

If you do not have a contraint on the budget, you may go for Hotel being maintained by AP tourism which can be booked in advance. You may also go for Ganga sadan and Gowri Sadan Hotels but these cannot be booked earlier. So if it an off season, you may take a chance but if you are visiting on a weekend or special religious occasion, you may book AP Tourism hotels in advance.

WHAT WE DID

Actually it was my plan that we go to Srisailam for 2 days as people I had talked to had said that it was a nice place. So after we reached the town, we booked rooms in Ganga Sadan and had lunch in the restaurant there. Thereafter we set out for the ropeway. There was nothing much to do there. Once you got down to the river, the only source of "entertainment" was boating - which we did in a steamer for about 15 minutes. And then after coming back to the top, we went back to the hotel.

I felt that I was the only person who was enjoying the scenic beauty of the place. I captured the beauty of the place in our camera.

In the evening, we went to the temple. There was a long queue for the darshan despite the fact that it was a week-day. We took tickets for special darshan and thus saved some time. Probably the long queue made us realize that the temple was quite famous. Otherwise we were taking it for granted.

The temple precinct was quite large.We must have spent 30-45 minutes in the temple after coming out of which we went back to the hotel, had dinner and slept soundly to get rid of the tiredness (We had traveled 5 hours in the morning!!!).

You may also go to Srisailam by AP Tourism tour bus. I think that would be more economical as well as convenient for those who just want to have darshan and additionally ropeway/boating.

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DAY IV
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Since we did not find Srisailam very interesting, we set out for Hyderabad the next mornning. After coming to Hyderabad, we visited the CHARMINAR and the bazar near it which is famous for bangles etc.

We also visited the HITEC CITY area (where offices of many IT and other companies are located), saw the "Cyber Tower" building, visited "SHILPARAMAM" - the handicrafts 'village' (in hitec city area!).

From there, we went to LUMBINI MALL in Banjara Hills mainly for "Brand Factory" - 120 brands - discount - 365 days etc. (For more details search the net ;-)).

Thus ended Day 4 in Hyderabad...

Tour to Hyderabad And Srisailam - Phase I

2007-07-22T01:17:00.000+05:30

I was in Hyderabad for the past two months doing my training in an Info tech company as a part of the MBA program. My family was to come to Hyderabad for visiting the place and also Srisailam which is one of the 12 Jyotirlingams (Temples of Lord Shiva). I met them at the hotel - Hotel Ashoka.

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Hotel Ashoka was economical. The double bed room(AC) was for around 1100INR and suite for around 1300INR. The tariff was reasonable in a city like Hyderabad. The hospitality of the staff was also commendable. What was lacking was the service - too slow and sometimes even nil.

But the location of the hotel was a definite advantage. Being at Lakdi-ka-pul, most of the sites were aprox. at a distance of 5 kms. or so. except Golkonda fort which was about 10-12 kms.

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For those who are planning to visit hyderabad, I would recommend them to book a hotel in the "Lakdi-ka-pul" area OR "Tank Bund" area.

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THE TOUR

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DAY I

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On the first day, we had hired a Toyota Qualis for city sight seeing. But I would recommend people to visit places in autos as they would prove to be a lot cheaper than the Qualis.(The Qualis took 1600INR for 8 hours and 80 kms) The only thing you would need to take care of would be that you visit all nearby places at one go. Also if there is a alrge group of say 10 people, they would have to travel separately. In my view, that should not be an issue as travel time would be too less.

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The first place we went to was the SALARJUNG MUSEUM. You would do well to leave your camera outside the museum either in your car or deposit it at the counter in the museum compound. The entry ticket was nominal around 10 or 15 INR per person. The museum is very large and would comfortably require 2 hours (may be more) if you are interested in those sort of things. The main attraction there is the CLOCK. It is better to go at 11 A.M. or 12 noon as the clock will strike 11/12 times. Otherwise say at 1 O clock, you would just observe the main attraction for a while as the clock will strike only once. The museum is a good place for those who are really interested in history and other forms of arts. But for most visitors, it is just an addition to the list of sights. At the museum, you would find snack stalls. There are watercoolers and toilets inside the Museum which are well maintained.

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After the museum, we headed to the NIZAM JUBILEE PAVILION. Unlike the Salarjung Museum which is maintained by the govt., this museum, popularly known as PURANI HAVELI, is under private management(as told to us by the person there). This "private" thing explains the high entry ticket rates. INR 70 per person.

But I would say that entry to this museum is worth the money. I found it better than Salarjung. It has all gifts that the Nizam received from others on completion of 25 years of rule. Most items are either in Gold or Silver. Precious stones and Pearl items can also be found. Here you would also see a hand-driven lift which was made for the Nizam.

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Next in line was the CHOWMOHOLLA PALACE(INR 25 was the entry fee per person as far as I remember). Here you would see items like dress of begums and other items that were used by the Nizams. (These places were not covered by the AP Tourism sight seeing tour which I had taken earlier). Also you would see the court(darbar) of the Nizams and other exhibits.

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HUSSAIN SAGAR LAKE was the next thing we went to. We went for boating in the plan which alighted us at the Buddha statue. We stayed at the Buddha ststue for abou half an hour and then came back to LUMBINI PARK

(Entry INR 5 per person). Just adjacent to the Lumbini Park is the Laser Show. The Laser show is a must watch. it is something not to be seen commonly. the entry ticket to the Laser show was INR 30 - VALUE FOR MONEY - is the least I can say.

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After the Laser show, we headed towards the Hotel. We had dinner at "Sukha Sagara" (Pure Veg. Restaurant) which we would have called "Sukh Sagar" in the north. We got good (if not very good) north indian food there.

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Everybody (except me) was too tired as they had traveled the previous day in train. So had a good night's sleep.

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DAY II

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We started day by visiting the BIRLA TEMPLE. It was near to the Hotel and we reached there by walking. Cameras and mobile phone with cameras are not allowed inside the temple and need to be deposited at the counter before you start climbing stairs for the darshan of the main deity - the same as at Tirupati. From the temple you would get a magnificent view of the city of Hyderabad. But since you dont have the cameras, you cant capture that.

A stone's throw away are the BIRLA SCIENCE MUSEUM AND PLANETARIUM. I did not visit it with my family due to lack of time. But I had been there earlier. I would suggest people to go there only if they have extra time or if they are science fanatics. Otherwise one may easily skip these 2 destinations.

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From the Birla Temple we hired autos for Golconda Fort. Each auto charged us Rs. 200 for a 2 hour stay at Golconda and going and coming back to Birla Temple. I think it was a good deal. Golconda fort would easily take around 2 hours to visit fully. When I had gone with the AP Tourism package, I had not even seen half of the fort. So although it was a second trip for me, I saw many new things there - even a temple in the fort.

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Climbing and returning the fort would drain all the energy. Although there are water taps at some places, I would recommend people to carry some drinks with them while ascending the fort. After we came back to the base point, the guide which we had hired told us that we had climbed about 320 steps and unclimed the same number. This in addition to the distance we walked between the steps. I would say, I found this place most interesting in Hyderabad. You would get good locations for photographs. In my case, it was a dilemma.

Either I had to listen to what the guide was saying or pose for photographs. I chose the latter as they would last much longer than the memory of what the guide was telling. I also had to plead to one of the family members to stop listening to the guide for a moment and take a snapshot of mine. I would say I succeeded to some extent.

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After a two hour trek on the fort, we came back to our autos and asked them to take us back to near Birla Temple where we had our Lunch at around 4 P.M.

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Then we hired autos for NTR GARDENS. It is a nice place to spend time in the evening - to eat drink and be merry. We also had the water slide there which was nice. NTR GARDENS, IMAX MALL and EAT STREET are near to each other. From NTR we went to IMAX by walking and from there to Eat Street by autos. The autos took INR 20.

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Eat Street is a place by the side of the Hussain Sagar Lake with a lot of eat joints. On wekends, it seems as if the whole of Hyderabad is there. I would suggest that people visit this place at night/in evening as the view is very nice with lights getting reflected in the lake. Also you can have your dinner here - all sorts of dishes are available - Chola Bhatura, Bhel Puri, Kulfi Faluda, Chinese, Pizzas, Burgers and a lot more - Something for Everybody.

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From Eat Street we went straight to the hotel and started packing for our journey to Srisailam the next morning.