Vote for Taj

For the last couple of weeks we have recieved number of mails on Vote for Taj...Infact the campaign is seen anywhere you lay your eyes , be it Print , Television, internet ,posters ... you can always see "Vote for Taj" ...

All I want to put across through this blog is "Do we need a certification to tell World about Taj ?" Will Taj's stature , significance be dimished , just because it is not voted as one of the wonders? I think the answer is NO. The ethereal beauty of the Taj does not require a "7 Wonder Certification" to prove it's place as one of the finest example of architecture today.

Last I had gone to Taj was around 5 years back. Inspite of the heat , it was peak summer day , and the crowd , one can not help being mesimerized by the architecture. The tomb , raised on a terrace , is approached via a set of stairs.While climbing each step, I watch slowly, the rising structure , absorbing like a sponge, the Taj, as the structure unfolds. I have done this everytime I had seen and believe me every time the experience is different . And it is not only the architecture ,which attracts so may people to Taj ,the fact that it was built by an Emperor in loving memory of his wife , also makes it a special place.

With so many lists of wonders coming in "Seven Ancient Wonders","New Seven Wonders","Underwater Wonders", how doe sit help if Taj is part of the list or not . Another point is that the process of defining the new list is also questionable . World body UNESCO dissociated itself from the voting saying it was not a 'world' view as the entire world was not voting. And even if Taj does not make to the list , it will always a special place in the hearts of millions of people who have seen Taj, atleast once.

Go Karting

Last weekend we went as a part of our team outing for Go Karting. I had heard about Go Karting in the past few times, but had never been to one.
Let me put some facts first . I have a terrible ( I wish I could replace this word with "terrific"!) sense of traffic , I am one of those who can not cross roads without asking Godfor divine intervention. Pa and my bro tried to help me learn ride cycle and then scooter but I just could not .On one of the scooter learning lessons , with Pa ,my tutor, on the pillion seat , I accelerated the bike to the maximum , next I remember the scooter stood on its back wheel , like a war horse , ready to take the fight !!! that was the end of scooter learning for me . Next came the four wheeler , I did try to manevoure car drive once , with my friend on the side seat , assuming that this must be comparatively simple, though this was not a disaster , but since my friend didn't offer me the driver's seat again, I think he realised the hopelessness of the effort and gave up .
Well coming back to the topic,the moment i came to this has something to do with Car race , one thought that flashed my mind ... Great , I will finally get a broken hand bone. Since childhood , I wanted a hand bone fracture (I realized that leg would be too complicated ) , I had seen my friends in school flaunting there hand plasters , getting prefrential treatment with teachers , friends and always wanted one hand fracture with a nice plaster and signatures from all my friends !!
Trying to get more infomation on this sport I searched internet ... and what I learnt was , to say the least ,was intimidating ... "Go-karting or Karting as it is popularly known was first started in 1956, when an American, Art Ingells built the first Go-kart for his son. It was built around a lawnmover engine, using a rope steering wheel. Since then karting has come a long way. Most formula1 race drivers started their careers with karting. Mika Hakkinen, Michael Shumacher and our own Narain Karthikeyan have all been karting champions. Karting is the first step to motorcar racing"
Great , So I might be in the same league as Formula 1 race drivers ... hmmm now this is something ... So what was the preparation required for this , well some of the instructions I got were
"• Long flowing clothes like Salwar Kameez and sarees are not allowed.
• Long hair is also disallowed, as the engines are right behind the head of the driver."
Ok So what am I supposed to do with my long hairs ???? Should I cut them short or get shaved completely ? "No" , pat came the reply , "Just tie them up nicely and this should solve the problem", OK so finally I was ready for "Go karting" ....
When my friends asked should we get a ticket for you , I told them bravely "O Yes I want one" , one of my colleaques suggested tactfuly " There are some two seaters also , so if you want to sit with somebody we can take one for you " .... Hmmmm .... " No I think i can manage"
All my mental conditioning fell apart , the moment I saw one GoKarting race , what with screeching sounds and the dangerous turns , I was pretty sure this is not for me , let me just accept the fact that this game is not for me . They had made artificial walls with tyres and when I saw a car crashing on the tyre wall I almost decided to give up , afterall it is better to face humiliation then to face death !! But then the ticket was already bought and I had my pride to save ... So I bravely moved in to the arena ...
I wore the helmet given and almost choked from suffocation ( I am not admitting it was fear ) ... managed to somehow sit on the seat .... mind you it was no minor accomplishment , with my astronomical weight ( I am not disclosing this either) and almost groud level seats, by the time I sat , my shoe were entagled in between brake and something... "Not a good sign " I thought.
Finally I did manage to start the kart , yes and all I thought was If I can complete one lap I would be happy ... but what happened in next 30 seconds is hard to explain..I sailed through smoothly ... I was in full control of the car and my thoughts... and I started enjoying the ride. I knew there was not a tini mini chance of mine competing with others... but then I was happy ... just to see the car in my control...I was happy that I could control my fear !!! By the time second lap was over I got feel of the race route and actually knew that there was no need to use brakes ... just use accelerator effectively ... and one can manouver the route easily...
I know it might not be a major accomplishment ... but it did teach me a thing or two... our fears are always greater then what is out there, we always underestimate our learning capabilties and want to be in our comfort zone . How many times we have missed a chance to do something challenging, missed an opportunity just because of the fear of the unknown ? After all it is all about managing the Fear ....

Eternal Search for Best Deal

Sometimes, we get this sudden urge to do something .... the source of the urge is inexplicable, ... but the urge is so strong .... that the person tends to make life difficult for everybody around oneself.... something similar happened to me a few weeks back.....
I had this sudden desire to play carrom , not that I haven't played this game earlier..... but I just wanted to get a game board and start striking !!!!Hmmm So what was the problem....the problem happened when I discussed this with my family...... now.... my parents know that I usually get these not so infrequent lightning wishes.... and the best way to deal with them is to .....yes you are right ...fulfilll them :) but my father (from henceforth I would call him Pa ) , an eternal planner ...built a plan on how to get a carrom, ..... so my dear Pa surveyed the nearby shops and came to conclusion(not surprisingly) that Carrom Boards are unreasonably priced.... what was the next step.... lo plan B came into the picture .... let us go to the wholesale market and buy it from there...OK ... So off we went to the Bangalore Majestic....searched around 5-10 shops and finally got the "best deal" .... and finally the Carrom (with mind you free Striker and a pack of pebbels!!! ) is in our house..
When will our eternal search for the best deal end.... Is there an end to it.... Wednesdays ... get best deal in Big Bazar.... "a/b/c" travel website get best deals on plane tickets...Search on the yellow pages for seond hand furnitures/exercise equipments.... want the best deal.....
I literally recoil when a salesman tells me we are giving the best deal!!!! In the end I feel this best deal always makes me feel that have been looted .... probably I could have got a better deal ...
The weeked starts with my mother demanding 3 hours of my time ... reaosn: She wants to go "So and so" departmental store to buy groceries ....which is 4 kms from our house ...Why ? THEY OFFER THE BEST DEAL" what happened to our friendly baniya ki dookan next door ? O he cheats.... poor guy on whom we had faith for morethan two decades suddenly becomes a cheat.... only because he does not offer the best deal ?
Now buying anything is not a simple task.... it is a three step process
1) Decide What you want to buy
2) Decide the place from where you can get BEST DEAL
3) After buyig decide did you actually get the best deal.... or there was another salesman giving you a better deal?

This has taken all the fun out of shopping....the addiction of shopping is replaced with Shopping with the Best deal:)...
I got a to and fro ticets for Delhi for 5000RSand was very proud of the fact ..... till my friend told me he managed to get for 4850/- I was robbed of 150 Rs !!!!! I asked him how he managed the feat.... he said he was probably the first one to logon to the site .... but he did this at midnite the moment the ticket window opened online.
All I want to ask is is there any end to this...? When can we stop bothering about the best deal and instead enjoy shopping ?

Apathy of Tour operators

For the blog readers: I tried reaching en email i of Tour operator but these guys prefer to cut down the phone then take a call request so here is the mail in the blog

HI ,

First, I would like to congratulate you , for operating such a big travel business, I have been told that this business has come to this shape in last 5 years and this is no major accomplishment , Sir I bow down to this achievement of yours . I would however like to point out that there is a diffrence between a big business and a great business , and I am afraid I don't think that with the current standards that I obsereved , I can say that your business will ever grow to great heights.

I was an unfortunate passenger of one of the package tours organized by Rajesh travels last thursday , and I will unfold all the troubles we had during the tour in chronological order now .
The bus was supposed to come at 10:30 and we to report at 10:00 pm at Old Madras Road (opp Bus Stop) , we came on time , but there was nobody to report to !!!!
Next we waited there for half an hour and then called up to be told that the bus will be late by half an hour late ....SIr I would like to point out.... that if our contact numbers were taken while booking , there is some responsibility on your side to inform us when the bus is late ...
Bus was finally late by 3 hours and we were standing in shelterless bus stop while it rained, in the meanwhile , lucky passengers from another Travels (Varsha travels) were taken in a nice car to a descent restng place as their bus was also late.
So our problems startted from there .
As the bus was late, which is not customer's fault, we got darshana tickets in general queue, and we were just put in a dirty hotel so that Bus can be freed ... Sir my father and csome other fellow passengers found a much descent hotel in the same budget just 50 meters from where we were told to stay .
Next comes the lunch...We literally had to beg for food they said only one chapathi per person, sir we paid for the lunch , we were not beggers , when we shouted , suddenly some papads tray came from under the table, so they had the stuff but were not offering to us ....Sir I ask you can you eat in such case ?

We had our darshana at 1 .00 am , but could not come back to bangalore as the rajesh travels bus was not available, we were told to check out of the hotes by 7:00 am next morning (which again was not required as check out time normally should be 24 hours.... shows your employees had some setting with the hotel guys again :)
Next we sat in bus at 7:30 am and all wanted to come to bangaore , but because there were some vacant seats in the bus, as some irritated passangers had left the bus previous night and prefeered non AC goverment state buses to Rajesh Travels package bus !!!!!, the conductors and bus driver wanted to earn some extra earnings and were trying to get some travellers , they took two rounds near the bus stop , shouting "Bangalore Bangalore..."!!!
Sir I would like to remind you and your esteemed employees that that bus was under a package bus and not a passenger bus ... and we would not mind some extra passengers , but we do mind waiting for more than one hour for them ...!!!!!!
When the passangers finally shouted and forced the driver to start for the return journey .... they were obviously irritated . My father had only asked for driver's licence, he is a law abiding citizen and wanted to only complain to the authorities as that is his right , he was wrongly and shamelessly accussed of hitting bydriver !!! So much for your courtesy !!!! This conductor then tells my father that Bangalore has very strong and powerful lobby of real Estate and travel agent guys so better Shut Up !!!!!!
Sir I would like to remind you and your employees that you are in hospitatility industry ....

He refused to switch on the TV only because we did not allow him to fish extra money !!!! He still went ahead and took some passengers from the villages on the way ....

Sir you can easily ignore this mail ...You have to decide what you want to do .... but in case you can not change anything in your business pls change the name of your company ... I am sure you would have named this company as Rajesh travels after someone whom you love probbably your name or your parents or some loved one name.....Sir You would surely not want people to curse this name !!!

I would wish you all the best for your business.