Customer is the king, but only in marketing textbooks…

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

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

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

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

WHEN? 10th February 2008

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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)

I

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.

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HOW? A hired SUV – Tavera

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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

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

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.