Air India - The worst flying experience of my life

By the grace of God and good wishes of my dear friends and family, I had completed my journey to London and back safely, despite otherwise intentions of our national carrier Air India.

It all started, on a bright and sunny day of 31st September. It was my first International flight and I have been in many domestic routes on Frills and No-Frills services (except Air Deccan).

First shock, an old lady at the check-in counter.
Second shock, flight delayed by an hour.
Third shock, pathetic in flight service.

However, the story doesn't end there. While returning, as wished by our dear office traveldesk, I was again booked on Air India. The flight was scheduled to depart at 2055. So being cautious, I reached the Zone F, terminal 3 of Heathrow by 1800. Now this means I was there well three hours before the departure.

Fourth Shock, A long serpentine Queue to get in to the Check In Queue.
Fifth Shock, The Queue for Queue took nearly two hours for me to clear up.
Sixth Shock, The Queue took nearly forty minutes for me to clear up.
Seventh Shock, There was a huge crowd waiting at the lounge to get into the plane. gosh.. it wasn't looking like an international airport, It was like a train station,
Eigth shock, no blame to Air India, the weather was turbulent so for sleep all I could had was two short naps.

My Dear Traveldesk, please never book me again on Air India..

Friends - Across the world

In my recent trip to London, I have realized one thing; You can't enjoy a new place alone. It is always great to have few good friends along with you. And I am blessed that Bhavin, Divyanka and Sagar too were there... All this translates into that my weekends were never boring..

If I relate it to few previous instances, when I can recollect my trips to Mumbai and Bangalore and would like to use this opportunity to thank them all for being what they are to me.

Reservation, Caste System, Mob Mentality

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/000200706011501.htm

Times of India Editorial (Requires Indiatimes ID)

Gujjars have OBC. They want ST. Meenas are ST. They feel it will affect them negatively if Gujjars are also given ST. The state government made some high promises during election and not able to live up to them now. I don't understand the logic behind this whole reservation system. And let me be very clear, I am anti-reservation and feel that there should be meritocracy and no one should be preferred because he/she is from a specified caste but equally powerful as non-specified caste.

All modes transports to Jaipur are blocked. There were incidents of violence in Faridabad, Noida, Gurgaon. Even Delhi-Dehradun highway was blocked. Shoot at Sight ordered in Bharatpur and Dausa.

I don't where it is heading, and I think Vasundhara Raje is as clueless as I am.

May God bless all with enlightenment

Image copyright: Times of India/R K Lakshman

What is Fun

Fun is:

• Dancing for more than 2 hours on the occasion of your friend's engagement.
• Exploiting(Efficiently utilising) the memory capacity of a digicam.
• Returning to your home from the venue as far as 50 km, by hitching a ride.
• Walking for 2 kms, as there are no rickshaws available, in your formal shoes, after dancing for more than 2 hours. And on top of that, it happened at 01:30 AM in the deadly night in The Crime Capital of India, Noida.
• Answering the natures call and giving some recycled water to thirsty plantation in Noida Sector 28. ;)

The Pursuit of HappyNess

Thomas Jefferson , the principal author of Declaration of Independence, was a great president of America. We know that. But why I am discussing it here at my blog. There is a reason. And the reason is HappyNess.

According to the declaration, we only have right to pursue happiness but not direct right to happiness. So the declaration gives us right to seek ways to find happiness around but it doesn't guarantee any happiness.

But why we don't have any rights to happiness? Because it is a subjective thing. What construes as happiness may be a torture for you. And if someone is as greedy (ambitious) as me, happiness becomes a mirage which we keep chasing but never achieve.

Idea Courtesy: The Pursuit of Happyness

And the Protagonist : Chris Gardner

P.S. I wonder, why am I using so many Wikipedia hyperlinks?

Pray for me brother

I saw this video by AR Rahman and couldn't resist singing it out loud.
Here it is for my future reference.

Lyrics:
Pray for me brother
Pray for me brother
Pray for me sister
Are you searchin’….
Pray for me brother
Lookin’ for the answers To all the questions In my life
Will I be alone Will you be there By my side
Is it something he said Is it something he did
I wonder why He is searchin’ For the answers
To stay alive
Could you ever listen Could you ever care
To speak your mind
Only for a minute For only one moment
In time
The joy is around us But show me the love
That we must find
Are you searchin’ For a reason to be kind, to be kind…
He said… Pray for me brother
Pray for me brother Pray for me sister
Pray for me brother Say
what you wanna say now
But keep your hearts open
Be what you wanna be now
Let’s heal the confusion
Pray for me brother

Don’t let me take When you don’t wanna give
Don’t be afraid Just let me live
Don’t let me take When you don’t wanna give
Don’t be afraid Say what you wanna say now
But keep your hearts open

Be what you wanna be now Let’s heal the confusion
Pray for me brother Pray for me brother
I’m ashamed ah, brother be dying of poverty
when he down on his knees its only then he prays
And it’s a shame ah, brother be dying of ignorance
cos the world is a trip and everybody’s a hypocrite
Need to stop ah , taking a look at the other
I’m not ashamed of poverty
need to be making his life better
So think about it, think about it once more
cos life is a blessing and it’s not justa show, ah
Round and round the world is spinning around

We need to be singing a prayer, we need to be singing it now
Round and round the world is turning around
We need to be singing a prayer, we need to be singing it now
Need to be feeling the power, need to be feeling the faith
We need to coming together just to win this race

Need to be feeling the power, need to be feeling the faith
We need to coming together just to win this race (twice)
Are you searching for a reason to be kind ?

Video Link

Most of us are like rudderless boats rocking to the waves in the ocean of life..

I read this line on Shekhar's blog and you know, I couldn't agree more. Most of the times I think and I feel, what is our purpose? Why we are doing things which we are doing? What makes me to wake up every morning and makes me have a sound sleep every night?

And then I think, we are just one flower in 'The Garden'. Each one of us is a different kind of flower, each having a certain characteristics which set us apart. It won't affect much to The Garden if one of us fails to deliver up to the expectation. But if we succeed, it will bring more beauty to The Garden.

Express Yourself

Why? Why it is difficult for someone to express his/her most precious feelings called love. Why someone loves one from the bottom of the heart yet so afraid to tell about it. Why, when we love someone so much, are afraid of losing them if we express our feelings? Why don't we have the conviction which is fundamental for any emotion especially love?

And I don't know the reason.


P.S. Some relationships stay as friendship while they have potential for much more

Rudeness personified

I went into introspection mode last day and there were two reasons for it. First one is that I have all the world's time at my disposal and the second one, more important, is a lot of people, some of them are very close to me, are complaining that I am being very rude to them on some occasions.

I must agree, after those 5 hours of thinking and wasting two of my friends' one hour each, occasionaly I do behave *rude*, so to say. But my sole intention is to add some pun to a very heavygoing/boring discussion.

People take it offensive, and this includes my best friends who know me for more than one and a half year!! I don't know what to do. Should I adapt myself. After the feedback I got from the counselling of two friends, I think I need to.

So, my resolution for the day is,

"No more offensive pun, No witty one liners, No sarcasm, only Direct Dil Se"