Very rarely do I express my feelings in such a manner but it feels happy/elated to be in the company of my nephew Aditya whose on a 3 week visit to India from Hong Kong after almost a year. He’s here to stay with his Nani (a mom’s mother is known as Nani in India) and me for the longish weekend that we’re having for the Christmas. He’s all of 5 years but more mature then most in his age group and he’s learned to do things on his own which includes taking fine pictures with his dad’s digital camera. I got to see the demo yesterday :-)
travel
The Big Bang(alore)
Amazingly I have started enjoying my travels to the various parts of the country now. Last week it was Delhi and today I came back from a quick tour of Bangalore – The IT City in the south. The only choice that we didn’t have was in staying overnight at this place.
With the travelling too much one has become critical about airline services. Since Kingfisher Airlines is set as a benchmark for services, all of them are compared ruthlessly with it. Unfortunately then, I would say, we had a booking with Indian Airlines (IA). Least to say the hostesses were far from presentable baring just one in the early morning flight schedule. Just one of them looked keen in serving the passengers, the rest looked like they were doing a routine job. The food wasn’t too good and there was no inflight entertainment provided like Kingfisher and I must say that the private airlines are taking away all the laurels from this 50 year old airline. OK I know I am asking far more from IA but it has to survive in this stiff competition.
Delhi Calling
I had always wanted to see New Delhi, the power centre of Indian politics not that I haven’t been to this place before. But eversince the Metro has begun changing the lives of the delhites, I wanted to get a preview of how the city looks and feels now. A business trip to Delhi was the right moment to visit the city. I am sure that Delhi will become a world class city in the coming days. It’s exciting because of the way the political will has driven the development and left behind the bad memories of a city which had no future at all.
India, down and out?
Preceding the floods that drowned Mumbai, the favorite topic of discussion for me is the inane urban planning of this city. The politicians and the people have robbed this wonderful city of dreams of its beauty. Since I have been to Hong Kong (and Avinash happens to stay there) I can vouch for the fact that I haven’t seen a city as beautiful. The most towering influence as soon as you land in Hong Kong (HK) is the Chap Lap Kok International Airport and the superb Airport Express trains. It’s like getting off one plane and moving into another. Then comes the 3 private companies who run the excellent bus services and the 2 rail transport companies (KCR and MTR) running the overground as well as the underground rail services. The waterfront is also used for transportation from one island to the main land and so on. Every person carries a smart card which acts like a ticket on any transportation that you take. Simply said, Mumbai needs such services desperately and I am afraid that it’s already too late to even start thinking about it. We have the money and the expertise and the men who can do this job efficiently. All we need are some politicians with foresight and willpower.