Traveling back from Parel today (Visa on arrival) flickering through Twitter, saw a couple of RT (retweet) on what is now being termed The Kiruba incident by ClearTrip itself; The ClearTrip episode: my experience Part I by Kiruba Shankar and as ClearTrip resolution of a neo-influencer complaint is a case-study by Rajesh Lalwani of Blogworks; besides other comments being tweeted so on & forth.

At the outset let me clarify the following:

• I do not know Kiruba Shankar personally, except having exchanged some tweets & mail some time ago
• I do not know Rajesh Lalwani in any capacity - never having met him, hired him or been hired by him.
• I do not know ClearTrip as an Organization, except Matthew Spacie - One of their founders with whom I worked in the distant past.
• I have not bothered to read/book anything on ClearTrip except Domestic Hotels long ago but found my personal direct rates were superior. Read the rest of this entry »
  

I had been meaning to write this post a while back, but got sidetracked with my daughter’s results, experiment with Twitter so got delayed a bit.

A lot has already been written about how much money all the Franchise, BCCI et all have made; but the common refrain being India did not benefit much. Read the rest of this entry »

Having rested (actually partied) in Baroda for a couple of days, left for Ambaji. Last year, the roads had been good & we expected no real problems in reaching on time.

The Roads in fact were better, practically 6 lane for all across except for 75kms after Himmatnager to Ambaji. Over all a lovely drive.

The old small places, where we used to have lunch, snacks year ago have now become large restaurants catering to different walks of people.

Reaching Ambaji, we went to Ambaji International where we had stayed here. But there was a difference in service levels. The warmth, eagerness to please was sorely lacking. The attitude had changed:( more like, you do not have a choice but to stay here.

It is a sad fact of such places, they change in a couple of years, going downhill then. Anyway, stayed there at nearly double price of last year.

The food was pretty good - thali of course, though they had decided to continue with the same spelling as earlier, easier to pronounce I guess.

We had a great evening darshan, morning darshan with an argument the next day before we left back for baroda.

After a year, during which friends kept talking about the problems in road, traffic on the NH8 near Surat, decided to take the risk and visit Baroda, then to Ambaji and back.

Left on the 17th April @ 8.30 am. The road was clean, clear, air crisp making the drive a pleasure right up till we stopped for breakfast at Kamat. However there was a complete re branding done with Vittal Kamat smiling down at you.

Thankfully the food was the same, good, hot with fast service.

After a quick break, we were on our way again. With a couple of stops to use the facilities & cold drinks, we whizzed past surat, bharuch and were in Baroda by 4 pm.

With all the stops our actual driving time was 61/2 hours. AND within the next two months, the flyovers and other work shall be completed, giving a lovely 6 lane drive from Bombay to Baroda within 5 hours!

The return trip was extremely eventful to say the least.

Carrying a WL (wait list) ticket, reached the station early! Having been ordered to carry a lot a of stuff back…..had two large bags along. Negotiating with the coolie was smooth (probably because I agreed to his demands).

Went to the center to check on the ticket confirmation, since the lists were not visible anywhere. Pushing through the crowd, managed to ask, nay shout my query in gujarati, promptly came the reply in English (think this is the NRI hangover), handed over the printout & was informed C1- 64.

With coolie, bags in tow walked to the end of the station. The train pulled in right on time….and our man rushed in with the two bags. A thought at the back of my mind resurged, so looked for the list on the door, but of course there was none! The pantry attendants cheerfully told me that the lists were on the other side, since at Ahmadabad the platform was on the other side….No matter that at Baroda & all subsequent stations it was a different side. Read the rest of this entry »

With time hanging on & the wife wanting some time without interference for Divali cleaning, shopping pushed me into visiting Baroda (Nay I refuse to call it Vadodara & there is no MNS there).Since I was travelling alone, decided to travel by train after a long time (7 years). Booking thru the irctc site was easy & with a confirmed ticket was all set!Reached Borivali station on a Saturday afternoon, the crowd waiting for local as well as upcountry was spilling all over.The train came in just 10 minutes late & got in. Even before I could put my bag in the rack & identify the seat, a NRI said, please sit on the other side so that I & my wife can sit together. Mind you this was not a request tone, but wearing a shorts, university T shirt & keds, with pouch hanging screaming (NRI/NRE whatever) gave him the right. Having booked my ticket, specifying a window seat, since the aisle always ensures you get banged into every couple of minutes, I respectfully declined. Immediately the NRI started speaking to his wife in Marathi (whilst I am not a complete marathi manoos, can definitely understand & make myself understood:)) “India will never change”; we should have flown; there are no manners, so on & forth. Finally in disgust, a gentleman commented that you should have flown & if you have a litany of complaints, why have you come back to India!!! Bravo….. Quiet went the couple…. Read the rest of this entry »

Decided on spur of the moment to visit Ambaji close on the gujarat & rajasthan border, a place that we normally visit twice a year, but had not visited since last september.

With vacations coming to an end so tickets being a problem & having travelled by road once earlier from mumbai, decided to drive down the 800 kms one way with a break at Baroda to meet up with old friends. Read the rest of this entry »

My first trip to Chicago, a city I fell in love with for the pizzas, blues, wide open spaces, lovely restaurants et all

Alas, have never managed to go there again, but shall soon!

Reading about web 2.0 and how it has pushed online travel with funding available so on and so forth, it makes one start wondering on some points such as:

There is a phenomenal growth potential & people have embraced online bookings that have grown by more than 100% etc. Read the rest of this entry »