Tag Archive for 'India'

Banaras, The city of life, death and life again

The thing about Banaras that you have to remember is that this city is over 5000 years old and to add to that this was ransacked by 10 times by Muslim invaders, all the temples were broken by Aurangzeb and made into Mosques and what not.

The point I am trying to make is that do not expect Banaras to be a planned city, expect nothing from it, Cleanliness, Hygiene….if anything else, expect the opposite, death, small streets a car a truck and a cow fighting for space to walk.

Not exactly on what I was getting at

This is city of temples and gullies, there is a temple in every gully…. there is a cow, a dog sleeping a few human beings trekking a path between them….Ah its fun.Its an Experience. You remember my Ladakh trip…..this one is exactly opposite to it

If you are like me and have zero expectations from the town then get ready to have some fun…

How you say? This town is one of the cheapest towns that I have seen in a while. People live here by paying a measerly amount of $50 a month. You read me right. If you are living near the ghats you will not be paying more the $50 a month. You will see a lot of foreign tourists lazying around here … That is for a reason…Where else on the planet can you live for $50 a month and with cheap Ganja? I am not too sure about the rates but I hear its cheap.

Things to do
Temples….In Banaras there is a temple in every gully, take some time and visit them. Also visit the Kashi Vishwanath temple, the main attraction.

A broken and possible a abandoned temple

Ghats… Do them…all of them… adjoining every ghat is a gully, go through them, drink some tea, have a pan, walk around the place.

Dhobi ghat........

Boating……hire a man powered boat to show you around the place… the mighty ganges and how it flows

Paddle power boats

Buddhism…I am not too much into buddhism but Sarnath is near by and there you will see something of grave importance to buddhism. I am not too sure as to what but it is.

Japnese buddha

Death…..its banaras…of course some one is either dead or dying. “Mama always said death is a part of dying” – Forrest Chump….I’d be damned if it wasn’t. It is believed that if some one dies or is cremated in Banaras he will directly go to heaven. So you will find score of people being cremated here. Think of the river ganga as the River Stix from the greek mythology.

On the bright side if you die doing drugs here……… then woo hoo!! You are going from one heaven to another.

Banaras is truely a global village, the people here speak all the languages spoken in the world.
Chinese, Japnese, Thai, French, Russian,Korean, Spanish and Portuguese, as if that was not enough…..they speak Hindi, Telugu, Oriya, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil and Gujju.

Working globally, living in a gully.

The best time to visit is in winters when the flow is people is a the lowest and the so is the water of ganga.

If you are thinking of living here that that is cheap too.. as i mentioned the rent a while ago …..the prices of vegetables here is cheap. Its seems that inflation forgot to hit this town. The reason is that the vegetables are grown locally and sold locally at local prices. That did not make much sense? Did it?

Veggy man

I only spent two days in banaras… I wish I could have spared some more time there but …some other time I think.

Before I conclude….Please remember that do not go into the city expecting any modern facilities.

Think of it as a place which survived thousands of years of systematic destruction but still keeping its head tall.

I will leave you with this picture that I clicked in one of the gullies. Looks like Jesus Christ was in banaras to see “whats up ?”

What's Up banaras.....?

“Go into the city expecting death and you will find life”

Ending the conversation with Jet airways

This is the last time I will be travelling with Jet Airways and hence forth I decided to cut off all relations with them

and so the email

I quote.

Mr Tejaswy, Jet Airways is a customer centric airline and we are committed to deliver high service quality, across value chain that not only meets but exceed our guest expectations. Our efforts to plug gaps in the operational environment and improve on our systems and processes shall continue without complacency.

Unquote.

I have the following questions, please see the BOLDS in your response:

1. Every service/ goods provider, including a tea stall near a flithy railway station commits to deliver high service quality- a term which is purely subjective. What do you do, apart form sending an unnecessary-interminable-

apology email, when your commitment fails, which you had agreed in your below email?

2. How do you redress the customer grievance (like mine) whose expectation were not even met, forget having it exceeded.

3. What efforts you intend to take to plug the gaps, apart from your usual stuff for response- training of crew members and maintaiing the logistics? I need to see something visible to me.

4. What improvements you intend to bring, again, apart from your usual stuffs for response. Consdiering, even if you do get some improvement, how it is going to address the agony which I had suffered?

Please answer very carefully, something which is meaningful. I know you are only copy pasting the response given to you by your seniors, rather than using your incompetent little brains. Discuss this with your seniors and respond.

Jet Airways the worst Indian International airlines

Our Ref No: BOM/CCI/ND/250211/4626373

09 March 2011

Dear Mr Tejaswy,

I refer to your emails dated February 25^th, 2011 and March 6^th, 2011.

It is with regret we note your unpleasant inflight experience when you traveled on flight 9W 18 of February 23^rd, 2011 from Delhi to Singapore.

For our Delhi-Singapore flight, we have two meal services , the first is Hot Breakfast service and then the ‘Bar Prior to Landing’ service. Having enquired with the crew members we understand that the breakfast service commenced and completed as per the required time. The crew members commenced the beverage//bar service earlier than due to the demand for beverages on board. As per the procedure only 01 round of bar is done but the drinks are dispensed as per request of the guests.

Mr Tejaswy, we regret if the overall meal and beverage service was not to your expectations.It is indeed disappointing to receive your feedback, more so because we place extensive emphasis with Cabin Crew during training and regular preflight briefings on the correct method in attending Guests requests and serving of food and beverages, as integral service aspects.

I have shared your views with the Head of our Cabin Crew Department for an immediate remedial correction with the crew members and a close monitoring of their work performance. These will be done. On behalf of the airline, I apologise to you for this less than satisfactory service experiences that you have come across.

Of much greater concern is your perception and assure you that our staff are dedicated professionals who put in their best efforts in their service areas. We are a professional organization and our services are beyond the boundaries of nationality. We do not believe in discriminating among our guests and offer them services only with pure intention of making their travel most comfortable and pleasant one.

With regard to flight 9W 17 of December 25^th, 2011 from Singapore to Delhi, we understand that the flight was diverted to Kolkata due to adverse weather conditions at Delhi (poor visibility). The flight landed at Kolkata at 0155 hrs and the flight was initially re scheduled to depart at 0800 hrs in the event the visibility would improve.

While we make all efforts to operate our flights on schedule, at times, situations beyond our control such as unfavourable weather conditions hamper our efforts to operate flights on time. This reason for the diversion was totally beyond the control of the airline and the airline is not liable for any flight disruptions or the consequential effects as a result.

Since the estimated departure was initially 0800 hrs and to minimize the inconvenience caused to guests, we understand that all guests were facilitated with the transit lounge access at the airport and were offered meals. We have nevertheless shared your concerns with our Kolkata Team for better handling of such exigencies in the future.

Mr Tejaswy, Jet Airways is a customer centric airline and we are committed to deliver high service quality, across value chain that not only meets but exceed our guest expectations. Our efforts to plug gaps in the operational environment and improve on our systems and processes shall continue without complacency.

I thank you once again for communicating with us and allowing me to address your concerns. Your support is important to us and we look forward to your continued travel on board Jet Airways.

Yours Sincerely,

Nalini D’Penha
Officer-Guest Relations
Jet Airways (India) Limited / JetLite (India) Ltd.

Jet Airways complain

I recently flew from Delhi to singapore in Jet Airlines I wrote them an email to complain about their pathetic service

Hello Jet Airways, (CC Directorate General of Commercial Aviation)

I am Tejaswy Appalla and I am writing this email to complain about the poor quality of services in my recent trip in your airlines.
Here are the flight ticket details

SERVICE        FROM                TO                     DEPART ARRIVE
————– ——————- ——————— ——– ——-
JET AIRWAYS – 9W 18
WED 23FEB      DELHI IN            SINGAPORE SG           0855     1715
INDIRA GANDHI INTL CHANGI
NON STOP       TERMINAL 3          TERMINAL 3             DURATION 5:50
NON SMOKING
RESERVATION CONFIRMED- Q ECONOMY
ON BOARD: BREAKFAST
EQUIPMENT:BOEING 737-800 (WINGLETS)

To make it easy for you to understand let me write this email in a bulleted form

1. I do not understand as to why I was treated like a freeloader in the economy class of the flight? Yes I am travelling in economy class but I have paid good money for the flight. Is too much to ask for a coke or Juice ? Do you not pack enough Juice and coke for the trip. Is it like the first come and first serve policy of A.Raja the ex Telecom minister , who is currently in Tihar jail, on the 2 G spectrum.? How is that that you run out of juice 3 hours into the flight.? I want to know.

2. Are all the cabin crew that you have hired bonded labour? I mean to say that I always thought that “Air host” was a career choice and not forced. Why was I being treated like an I am responsible for their hardship? Please refer to point 1

3. Why is the bar for the economy class closed earlier than the Business class? As a matter of fact why is the bar never closed for first class and closed for economy as soon as it opens? Arent there some guidelines that DGCA has set for you ? Or do you just find it easier to not follow them?

4.Is it a norm to serve the breakfast at 1200 hrs on a 900hrs startup flight and that too cold?

5.Why is it that I get a feel of racial discrimination by your flight crew who ironically, are also Indians ?

I was on my way to Adelaide, on the trip from Singapore to Adelaide I had the most pleasant flight trip (Quantas Airlines JET AIRWAYS – 9W 4082). Ironically I spent the same amount of money on both tickets (economy) and look at the service difference. I wonder what the DGCA has to say about this.? Or is it just the way “We Indians” roll ?

I feel that my bus trip on the Uttarakhand roadways from Delhi to Dehradun was way better than your trip in your flight. Atleast I could buy stuff that I wanted to eat before hand or during the bus stoppage.

I am sorry to say that it was a pathetic flight and the entire economy class was treated like some beggars sitting in the steps of a temple hoping that the devotees would throw them a piece of coconut on their way out. I may the only one taking the time out to write an email.

The sad thing about this is that I know that things will not improve even after you and DGCA have read this email. But hey,like Diya Mirza says in that ad, ”I am doing my bit”

I will launch a formal complaint with the DGCA on you and follow it up with a RTI.

–
Regards

Tejaswy Appalla

Effect I got a reply from the jet guys in an hour

From: Guest Relations <guestrelations@jetairways.com>
Date: Fri, Feb 25, 2011 at 4:01 PM
Subject: JET AIRWAYS (INDIA) LTD
To: Tejaswy

Cc: DGCA

Dear Mr Appalla,

Thank you for your email of date.

I have already initiated an investigation into the issue and will be writing to you again shortly.

The reference number which will we use for future communication on your feedback is BOM/CCI/250211/4626373.

Thank you for your patience and understanding in the interim.

Sincerely

Nalini D’Penha
Officer – Guest Relations
Jet Airways (India) Limited / Jet Lite (India) Limited
Working Hours: Mon-Fri 0900-1730hrs

“Right On Time Everytime”

Now I thought things will improve for the better after this….but no, they gave me a very generic apology letter

read here

Personal wealth Games 2010

O my God….I cannot take this anymore.It is just too embarrassing, and its only getting worse. A bridge collapsed near Nehru stadium a few days back. A 30 ton bridge collapsed.. How ..why…When .What was it made up of? A pack of cards???

“Common wealth bridge is falling down, Common wealth bridge is falling down, my fair lady

Built it up with iron and steel Built it up with iron and steel,my fair lady

Iron and steel will bend and bow, Iron and steel will bend and bow,my fair lady”

How corrupt can you get.. I mean really. This is a national showcase, people will be walking over this bridge for at least the next one month, can’t you at least make it last till then ??? Is it really that hard for you to do.??? We will be okay if it falls of after the games are over…but not on the eve of the games.

People shot in Jama masjid.

I am not all too concerned about the security issue. Delhi was always unsafe from its inception . All I know is it just adds up to be just safe and almost safe at times of need. You just need to avoid bad places that is it. And you definitely do not go to jama masjid. I have never been to the jama masjid in my 15 years of inhabitant in Delhi and neither do i plan to go there anytime soon. It will be a safe event and I believe there will be no stone left unturned for its safety.

I am following the preparations leading up to the commonwealth games closely. They are this close to become a national shame and well,I want them to. This will give a wake up call to the people to have a change in the govt. Down with Congress at the state and the Center.

Its is not that we did not have enough money or time to do it. We had plenty of both. I was in Delhi from 2003 to 2009, the whole 6 years, nothing happened. I remember this particular stadium/range that was to be built, it was an a barren desert type lake, And it remained the same for 6 years, You could see a board which said that there need to be a stadium here, but no…Not a care in the world. At times we wondered if it was a bad joke.

I believe that we deserve the shame and embarrassment. Corruption is not my thing of concern. But what worries me is that the scale and magnitude they have corrupted the entire CWG, with the entire world watching it. They have become so fearless they are corrupting with out a care in the world. That is not even my problem, At least when you make buildings make sure that you make them in a manner that they do not fall apart every time some one pees on them or it rains.

I think the guys who made the wooden shayamana in my sisters wedding could have done a better job in making the bridge out of wood.

The guy who made this pandal could have done a better job in making in the commonwealth bridge out of wood

I think Congress has set its track record of being a corrupt govt unable to handle the simplest of the tasks and causing a national shame straight again.

Woo hoo Congress govt. Woo Hoo

I personally think that the congress govt should resign both in the state and center, CBI enquirey, Or what ever is left of it, should be ordered and put Kalamandi should be put behind bars for a long long time.

On the other hand you have China who is preparing for the Asian games and have already made the entire sporting complex ready and have handed it over to the organizing committee

Tag Archive for 'India'