Flying good and bad times!

The sky has definitely gotten crowded rather over crowded over the last 2-3 years. India's first no-frills airline, Air Deccan, commenced operations in August 2003 and opened Indian skies for the common man. Since then there has been no looking back with the introduction of Kingfisher Airlines, Spice Jet, and Go Air. Industry also witnessed some consolidation lately with Jet Airways acquiring Air Sahara. The state owned and operated airline got a facelift and became INDIAN from Indian Airlines. In summary, Indian skies witnessed a plethora of changes lately.

I graduated around the same time when the Indian skies started witnessing these changes, which provided me with an opportunity to travel via various airlines. I traveled by Jet Airways, Air Sahara, Air Deccan, Kingfisher Airlines, Go Air, Indian Airlines, and Spice Jet. The experience has been diverse on these airlines some of which I am sharing here.

First, let me rate these airlines based on timely departure, quality of service onboard, customer care, etc.

1. Jet Airways
2. Kingfisher Airlines
3. Air Sahara
4. Spice jet
5. Indian Airlines
6. Air Deccan
7. Go Air

Jet airway has always been all time favorites. Never compromised on quality, customer care even in such a competitive market. Kingfisher started on a very positive note. It has an excellent focus on customer care, quality of service and convenience. Air Sahara after being acquired by Jet Airways should improve its standards to the same as JA. Coming to low cost airlines, Spice Jet has over-all done a good job. Air Deccan still suffers due to lack of focus on customer care delayed and cancelled flights, etc. However, it has reached to very small towns and has made life easier for a lot of us (I can fly from Rajahmundry to Hyderabad!!!). Go Air has been my worse experience so far. It’s just an illusion that it’s CHEAP. The ticket cost me INR 900 less than jet airways from Jaipur to Mumbai and they charged me INR 700 for 10kgs excess baggage. Further, no food was served in the flight. The facilities in the flight were not up to the mark.

In summary, it has been a mixed experience. I look forward to more flights and newer experiences.

Arabian Nights :)

So it all started when I left for Egypt 0n 15-March to attend some trainings spanning over a period of almost 3 weeks. Since I was flying from Delhi, I arrived in Delhi almost a day early and spent the whole day completing some pending work. I met a family friend (Sarang) and had lunch with him and then went to his place and enjoyed some Holi celebrations. Later I joined two friends from college - Anuj and Sood. Went to a pub called RPM in Priya and finally took a taxi to the international airport. Met another colleague there (Gaurav) and took my flight to Alexandria via Dubai. So finally I arrived in Alex (Alexandria) and after a little hassle managed to get out of the airport.

We had a batch of 15 people from all over the world - Venezuela, Mexico (2), New Zealand, Brazil, France, Libya, Egypt, China, Ivory Coast, Russia (2) and India (2) and USA. Can't get more diverse than this :). We had 5 instructors during the course with the main instructor from India and others from Ireland, Scotland, Egypt, and Brazil.


During my stay in Alex - I saw the Light House (One of the seven wonders on the world), Library (Amazing architecture), Citadel, Mosque, etc. The walk along the seaside on a long curvy road reminded me of Marine Drive in Mumbai with a similar Necklace. We ate food at an Arabic restaurant called Mohammed Ahmed serving stuff like Falafal. We also had a group dinner at restaurant called Jungle – grand and amazing. Some of the common occurring during the stay was having Shesha, beer, movies and general hangout :).

We also went to Cairo on one of our day-off. Cairo is the Capital town of Egypt - quite a cosmopolitan place. We reached Cairo at around 11pm and went around the town on a long drive. Next day morning started at 9am with a visit to the "Museum of Egypt". It had an amazing collection depicting the history of Egypt including the Roman and Greek phase. It even had some human and animal mummies. I brought some souvenir including the famous Pyparus paper.

This was followed by a boat ride on the river Nile. We hired a boat, which dropped us on one of the boat restaurants. Having the lunch on the boat was a memorable experience.


“Pyramids” followed the boat ride on Nile. We hired some horses and camels to visit the Pyramids. I loved every moment of it, for the first time, I rode a horse at good speeds. There were three big and 6 small pyramids. We managed to get into one of the pyramids and all that we saw inside was two rooms - one for the king and another for the queen. The rooms were empty and the way to the room was a small tunnel with a height of about 4 feet. The structure obviously qualifies for being one of the Seven Wonders of the World with 3 million stones used to construct it. However, 3 million stones pilled on each other for creating two small rooms to preserve the body of the king and the queen sounds quite weird. The horse ride continued for over 3 hrs when we finally got back and also saw the Sphinx.


Now was time for some shopping so we decided to go to the souk. Saw a lot of mosques on my way - Cairo is called the city of 1000 mosques. The market was full of antiques and souvenirs. I brought four hand-made paintings on Pyparus. We hit the road back to Alex and got back by mid-night.

One the last day of my first training, I got to see the Solar Eclipse. It was almost 80% eclipse and was a good experience. The last night was partying whole night. This was followed by a day-off before the next course starts – so spent the day lazing around with some beer at the swimming pool.

This was followed by another 3-day course. This time it was a group of 13 people including 8 from the previous course. Nationality breakdown would be India (2), New Zealand, Venezuela, Russia (2), France, Libya, Egypt, China, Vietnam, US and Malaysia and with a Sri Lankan instructor. Diversity is in the air! The course will get over tomorrow and I hope to pass it.

There were two things, which were a little downside of Egypt. One was the greedy nature of people – everyone seems to be madly running for money. Just about everyone is looking for $$$. We use to joke about it by saying that Egypt got 4 kinds of taxes – service, sales, city and “Shafting”. Shafting tax increases exponentially as the color of your skin gets whiter and the location of your country gets farther. Second was the driving sense of people. I thought that India is unsafe for driving but Egypt is worse. They drive fast and they have limited to no driving sense. Crossing road in Egypt was a nightmare. I saw couple of fatal accidents during my stay, which was really scary.

Finally, I am leaving back on 4-April to get back to India, which will be followed by 2 weeks off at home. J

Talking about ethics!

A conversation today with a friend made me sit back and contemplate about ethics. So far in my life, I always become so restless when it comes to ethics and the thin line which one has to walk in order to stick to it. I personally think that ethics is like one of those things where you have a clear black and white domain, and when you have to walk the thin line between these domains, the fear of falling into the gray area is so evident. The question that immediately comes to my mind is that when it has clear black and white domain where is this gray area coming from? This is a self-created area, which has been devised for personal convenience.

I always wanted to stick to ethics, which are obviously my own but sometimes in life I have been forced to override them also and then I had to do self condolence by deciding not to do it again. Strange enough, every time they are over-ridden, I emerge stronger and my ability to resist the temptation to override them improves. However, I have still not reached a position where I can stick to them completely.

So what are those demonic reasons, which have caused the irreversible act? Sometimes it’s the urge to succeed, some times to “look good” and other times to “not look bad”, peer pressure, parental pressure and so on. But am I not being “reasonable” by citing these reasons? We all become so “reasonable” when it comes to defending our weaknesses and inabilities. Frankly speaking, I felt so cowardice whenever I have crossed the line, as I was not strong enough to resist myself.

What are these ethics that I am talking about? Dictionary says - a system of principles governing morality and acceptable conduct. Doing a comparison, feels like I am part of a political system where I am a corrupt politician.

Was reading a book called “Freakonomic” – it says very aptly “Incentives are the corner stone of modern life”. We all are moved, touched and inspired by incentives that is being offered in every walk of life and sometimes so much that we cross the so called “ethical line”.

All said and done, do we have the inner strength to avoid the trap laid by “incentives”? I don’t know the answer as I have fallen in the trap few times at least.

Co-ordinates Updated!

Here are my latest co-ordinates!

Are we racist?

The idea for this blog was sown in my mind by a colleague (Anish). During my stay at one of the rigs (Nordic), he visited us to provide some assistance.

One day we were discussing about racism and were talking about some of the Western countries (US, Germany, etc.) and their racist outlook. He mentioned that one of his friend (non-Indian) once accused India for being a racist country. I was in topsy-turvily state hearing that.

This friend's argument was based upon the popularity of fairness products such as "Fair and Lovery", "Fair and Handsome" (for man!!!"), etc. Why are these products so popular in India? Do we want to look fairer because we think that being fair is better or superior in anyways? Is this racism?

According to the dictionary racism is "The prejudice that members of one race are intrinsically superior to members of other races". This discrimination can be based upon color also. So does that qualify us as racist?

I am still wondering!

2 days @ Calcutta!

After spending 22 days at home, I was called by my manager for an urgent assignment. I got a call at 11am on 22-Nov and he asked me to take the next flight to Calcutta as I was supposed to board a chopper on 23-Nov Morning. I took the 6'o clock flight from Jaipur to Delhi, which dropped me at 7'o clock, but at the International terminal. My connecting flight was at 8'o clock from the domestic terminal. I had already spoken to the airlines to wait for me till the last moment and 7:30pm was the deadline. I luckily got an inter-terminal bus from the international to domestic airport, which dropped me at the domestic airport at 7:25pm. Rushed to the check-in counter and got a business class check-in (however traveled economy class) due to the last minute boarding. I was in Calcutta finally at 10pm.

Went straight to the hotel - Hotel Park on Park Street. Really nice hotel and very well located. A close friend, Anant who stays close to the hotel, joined me. We went to Barista to sip a cup of hot coffee. Later, went out in his car to his place. In the mean time, I got a message that the scheduled chopper has been cancelled and I am supposed to stay in Calcutta for one more day. So we made some plans for the next day and went to sleep.

I was dropped back to my hotel at 9am. I tried to sleep again but could not manage. So got ready and decided to go out for breakfast. Went to a place called Flurys on the same street as the hotel - had a chicken croissant and masala chai. It was very well prepared and I loved it. This was followed by a visit to Oxford Book Store, which was located in the same building as the hotel. I spent couple of hours there and brought two books, which would be very handy on the rig. But then suddenly, I got a call from my client. He wanted me to visit his office as soon as possible. I spent couple of hours at their office and then was dropped back by one of our company secretary who was there for some work. This was followed by an evening snack at the hotel restaurant called Atrium. Later, my cousin joined me in the evening. She is doing her graduation from a college in Calcutta. I went with her to Barista to sip another cup of coffee. My friend joined me after his office. Three of us decided to go out for dinner in his car. We went to a restaurant called Mirch Masala (I have been to Mirch Masala in Baroda, Ah'bad and Gurgaon already). As usual, the place had a nice Bollywood ambience and really nice food. This was followed by a visit to an ice cream parlor called Ma Ma Mia. So then came an end to my day. My client already told me in the afternoon that my stay has been further extended by a day.

I woke up at 10am next day morning. Called my cousin and asked her to join me, in case, she is free. She agreed to bunk her lectures and office and join me. I hired a car and we decided to go to a place called City Centre in Salt Lake. Had some coffee at CCD. Did some shopping and realized that we don't have any worthwhile movie to watch. So went to Niko Park - an amusement park. I did not like the looks of it so decided to go to a Bowling alley called NiKo Super Bowl. Later we decided to go to another mall called Forum. I called another cousin of mine to join us. We met at Forum and then went to CCD to sip another cup of coffee. Later, we took a taxi to Park Street. Since both my cousins never had any alcohol, I decided to treat them some. Went to a restaurant called One Step Up. Ordered Bloody Mary, Screw Driver and Pina Colada for us. One of my cousins did not like the taste and gave up after few sips. The other cousin was brave, she not only finished her but also sipped some from mine and the unfinished one. I came back to hotel and my cousins went back to their place. My friend joined me again at around 8. I also called couple of my friends from IIM Calcutta. Puneet Bihany (my batch mate, department mate and first-year wing mate at IITB) along with a senior Pramit Kamath. Four of us went to a restaurant called Tom Peters. A really nice restaurant, I forgot the name of dish that we had, however, it was really well done. Later we had another cup of coffee at Barista to end the day. I was dropped back to hotel.

Next day morning after two days of uncertainty, I got a call from my client that I have to board a chopper at 1pm. Had my breakfast at the hotel, checked-out and headed to the airport. So finally I boarded the chopper with just one another passenger. We were four of us - two pilots and two passengers. Had a small conversation with one of the pilot about some technical stuff like speed, altitude, etc. 45mins ride with very low visibility and I finally landed on the rig, which I left about 26 days back.

One thing to conclude, I had a very bad image about Calcutta, however, it appreared much better than what I thought. I would love to go back and spend some more time there.

My Present Co-ordinates

Thats where I am these days - Off Kolkata Shore!

Satish, Shaqib, Manesh (the creator) and Ravi

Thats my crew and Manesh (better not talk about him) at Nordic!

Aquaphobia and Acrophobia – Fear Factor!

Does this not sound ironical – I was afraid of water and heights and now I am working as a field engineer where I work in the middle of water (offshore) and also on rigs/platforms, which are quite high.

I still remember two incidents when I was on the verge of drowning but escaped narrowly. The first incident was in Kanyakumari (Southern most tip of India). I went there to enjoy vacations with my family when I was a kid. One evening, I was enjoying on a beach along with my family, when suddenly, one of the waves decided to take me along on its way back. Since I was a bit far from my family, they did not even realize this. However, one uncle (thanks!) saw me drowning and pulled me out of water.

The second incident was in Goa (not on any beach but in the swimming pool of the resort!). I went to Goa with a bunch of friends from college in my second year. One fine day, we decided to spend the day at the resort itself and use the swimming pool. I jumped in the pool unknowingly that it was 15feet deep. A little later, I realized that I was drowning. I shouted for help but my friends assumed that I was kidding and simply ignored me. They even laughed at me. I was just lucky that some how I managed to get to the side by throwing my arms and legs all around.

However, after working on my present job assignment, my fear-factor seems to have gone completely. I am not afraid of looking down even from the highest point on the rig. I still don’t know how to swim and completely trust the life jackets/life boats to rescue me in case of any incident – but I am much more comfortable and confident.

Makes me laugh sometimes!