King of good times: can you help us?

flying the bad times!

I remember the first time I flew Kingfisher on a Bangalore - Delhi flight. The appearance, attitude, service, they were a notch above most airlines I had flown so far. Then they launched the BOM-LHR, which was so fantastic. We said, yeah, look India has arrived in the flying business!

Where there was a chance, I flew only Kingfisher, recommended it to friends. Almost all of them thanked me for recommending them. I did the same thing to my partner as well. When she asked which flight to book, I suggested Kingfisher to Delhi en-route London. Who would have thought that decision would make our live so difficult?!

It's been 43 days since we lost our baggage, the customer service couldn't go down such levels that we had to reach out to the Chairman's office. Yes, we did get several calls, but other than repeating the same thing again and again that they don't know where the bag is and they will report back in 24 hours, we haven't heard anything.

On 27 May 2010, we booked a Berlin-London-Delhi return ticket for 17 July 2010 on Make My Trip. The Berlin-London leg was operated by British Midlands(BD846). My partner checked-in her luggage all the way to Delhi airport. She flew Kingfisher (IT021) from London to Delhi and on arrival realised that her baggage had gone missing. So we filed a Property Irregularity Report (PIP - DEL1810706 / Luggage tag LH106562) at the airport itself and the Kingfisher executives said that they will send the bag across to our next destination which was in Spiti Valley !! Knowing that is not going to happen considering the difficulty even for us to reach the remote part of India, we told them to handover the luggage to our friends in New Delhi.

The PIP report was acknowledged by an executive called Amit Soni / code - 6089 / mobile number +91.9650883131. He suggested that we also call up BMI, which we did. BMI said, the ground handling in Berlin is done by Lufthansa, so requested us to call them. We did that too and Lufthansa employees were quick enough to check if there were any un-claimed luggage in Berlin TXL. None! So they suggested that we should claim compensation from Kingfisher for the delay / lost and Kingfisher can in turn claim the same from Lufthansa.

Except for once, there wasn't a single call / email from Kingfisher to update us about the lost luggage. During our working holidays, we were most of the time calling them for details and irrespective of the reference number, every time we had to repeat the same story again and again much to our anguish.

Since nothing much was happening other than all the time we spend on phone talking to Kingfisher executives, we decided to write a senior officer in their Mumbai office who asked us to report everything as it happened in an email to him. He acknowledged the email over phone, and said he has ordered an enquiry for the lost baggage. He also added that the moment he has an update on the baggage, his office will call us back. Now on this 43rd day, we still haven't heard from anyone.

On 7th August, 2010, I happen to be on another domestic flight of Kingfisher where I wrote about the above incident in the feedback form they distributed. Surprisingly, that worked and I got a call from their customer care office asking me if I have received the baggage or not! Interesting. This was followed by an email from Krunal Suryawanshi - Guest Commitment King Fisher. So I spent next two days talking to these guys (have to admit that they were prompt in calling back, but with no news on the bag, but reminded that the responsibility stays with British Midland and we should call them!). They suggested to write to chairman@flykingfisher.com with the scanned copy of PIP report. We also kept a cc to guestcare@flykingfisher.com and the senior officer referred earlier in Mumbai office.

The attachment wouldn't go through and all emails bounced back. Later we sent emails with all the information on a separate email, for which we still haven't received any response. Last week, I complained on twitter @flykingfisher and today I got a direct message "Regret yr exp.If not yet resolved pl write with dtls incl PNR/Flt/dt of travel to guestcare@flykingfisher.com to enable addressal of concern"

How many more emails do they want me to write to the same email id that doesn't even care to respond? So I tweeted on the following handles.

@flykingfisher baggage lost 43 days ago. Still no news, no compensation. shame on you Kingfisher. Till I get my bag u will see my post here

@TheVijayMallya for last 43 days I have been trying to get a response from ur staff 4 the lost luggage. It's a shame we hv 2 reach u 4 help!

I don't know if this is going to help. But I have decided to write every single day to these two twitter-handles @flykingfisher and @TheVijayMallya.

Till we have news about the lost baggage and we get rightly compensated we will tweet. Let us see if that will wake them up! Any ideas to push this further? Thanks!

Marriage proposal at 4200 MSL

'Make no mistake' leader of the group seems to be convincing our driver

We were on our way after a volley ball game with young lamas of the monastery in the picturesque village of Komic, when we came across some women who came and blocked our way. Women in Spiti Valley are quite social and confident. Since we have heard several stories about their empowerment we were more than curious to know why they would block our way.


These women refused to let our driver go. They even sat on the bonnet for a while!

We were driving from Kaza to Komic and back en-route to Langza. The Komic at an altitude above 4000 MSL is amongst one of the high altitude villages in the Himalayas.

Initially we couldn't figure out what was happening. All we could notice was that the women, especially the older ones were quite happy about blocking the road and talking to our young driver. There was also a young girl who was shying away when we looked at her, but 'making strong' statements to the driver.


volley ball with lamas in one of the highest villages in the world.

Even after ten minutes, when we realised that they had no intention to let us pass by, we got curious and asked our driver if every thing was okay! He blushed! Once again we weren't sure if we read the expression on his face correctly. By this time two women were already sitting on the bonnet while other engaged in conversation with the boy. It looked more like a cajoling towards the end, but we were totally lost on what exactly was going around.

After half an hour, our driver tried to move the vehicle slightly which was vehemently opposed by the group. They refused to let us go! Later in the afternoon when we managed to pass them, our driver told us that the women were trying to convince him to get married to a girl in their village! No wonder he was blushing. Apparently a proposal had come to him couple of months ago and he was not ready to get married at 23, and the women refuse to accept that. So every time his vehicle passes through the village with travellers, he is under siege! Poor thing.

Propeller Island City Lodge

one of the rooms we visited. This is the reading space, bed is above!
Sample this : "A room with a slanted floor which makes grandma's bed seem to fly. The wardrobe comes out of the wall, but table and chair have got to stay straight! In the rustic bathroom of natural stone you will find eggplant-coloured slate."

Sample another one:

"Definitely one of City Lodge's highlights. The diamand-shaped room is completely(!) laid out with mirrors and gives you the impression of living in a kaleidoscope. Caution: Very sexy!"

funky washroom!
The above are descriptions of rooms available in the Propeller Island City Lodge. If you think the above is crazy, then check this out : "In both coffins you can even slumber beneath closed lids! Exclusively connoisseur room for all those "Nosferatus" who cannot wait for that which awaits us all. Whosoever has second thoughts can creep to the bedplace below, safe within the labyrinth. Not only a unique experience for Gothic die-hards...an exquisite location on top of that!".

mood creator in every room. press the button and you are in the company of frogs and rains!

B had some of her friends staying in these lodges and the pictures are from the tour we did of the place. Bizzare is not the word. I could hear friends shouting, 'This is unbelievable!'. Yes it certainly was. Inspired by a book written by Jules Verne at the end of the nineteenth century which describes an artificial island that travels with its inhabitants around the world, German designer Lars Stroschen converted his humble guest rooms into a 'art installation hotel'.

Why waste so much money in the regular hotel rooms of Berlin, when you can sleep in such a place for 60 to 100 euros? Am not sure though, if I would want to sleep in a coffin. For the faint-hearted, there is a chicken curry (India!) inspired room. Check it out here:

Berlin © GP 2008

Evening in the airport

Continued from Unsuspecting travellers of...

The airport looked empty. Almost all the flights for that evening had left or was just about to leave. Even though I knew there was no way I can afford to purchase a ticket to Paris, (or any place for that matter!) I went to the Air Berlin counter. The cheapest fare they had was of 320 Euros almost as high as what the Air France or Austrian was charging as the last minute fares.

Now I had to crack how I was going to get out of this place. My only option to stay put in a place in Vienna that night was Maya. May be I could also borrow some money to purchase the flight ticket to Paris. It was the first time we met in five years or so and I wasn't comfortable at all at this idea. In any case, I decided to give her a call and let her know my status.

Once I went to the phone booth, I realised to my horror that the paper on which I had scribbled her number was in her living room and that my mobile phone was out of battery to retrieve any numbers to call my friends in Europe!! So I dialled (the only number I could remember by-heart,)Nick's number in Brighton only to hear "Hi this is Nick, Sorry I can't take your call, please leave your message, Cheers!" The meter was ticking away and I left my message as brief as I can and even gave him Maya's MSN id to drop in a message.

Just before the post office was closed, I managed to reach Nick on his mobile and I heard from the other side, "Shit". I had few more coins remaining and the miracle had to happen before I ran out of those. He had managed to leave a message on Maya's msn to which we had no idea when she would respond. She was supposed to be going out that evening and I had to be extremely lucky for her to change that plan!

My other concern was to let FP know somehow that I haven't boarded the flight and am not going to land in Paris that evening. Knowing her, I am sure she might be fuming waiting for me in the airport since evening!!

I walked around the empty airport thinking of various plans. When you don't have any money in your pocket, all your have is your guts.

With the remaining coins in my pocket (which I have to save for probably one or two last calls!),I had a chance of accessing internet in a cafe for probably 15 minutes. This was a time when most of my friends are online and I could probably take that 'suicidal risk' of spending whatever was remaining and wait for the divine intervention!

It was then the idea came!

Bangalore © GP 2007

Irresponsible Travellers

Bangalore

I have seen all sorts of websites where travellers write about their experiences (good and bad) of holidays. Personally, I consider this as a wonderful way to share experiences. Since the holiday business is based on references, this is something that we have been encouraging a lot in terms of generating business through discerning travellers. Though our website has not been great in terms of uploading all the feedback from our guests, this is an area we would like to develop slowly.

While all this sound quite wonderful, sometimes we come across TOTALLY IRRESPONSIBLE TRAVELLERS who maintain hardly any sort of decency when they engage us in business. Over the period of three years, we had some of these experiences, and had to accommodate these people considering the small size of the organisation and desperate need to ensure that we have regular flow of guests!

Who would believe that a traveller coming from a “good background “and many years of travelling experience would try to cheat the travel operator by not paying money even after the trip is over? Who would think about a traveller abusing our interpreters and guides? The latest being the day before.

A woman called from Trivandrum on a Sunday (I was in office working!) asking for details about our houseboats in Alleppey. It seems she had seen our websites and was thoroughly impressed about the content and want to experience the Blue Yonder holidays (Already flattered). Even if I don’t handle enquiries directly anymore (something I miss so much), I managed to quote the prices and connected her to Vinod who now handles all our enquiries. She agreed for the prices and we took the risk of not taking the advance.

We haven’t taken any walk-in guests so far except in one or two rare cases, and most of our trips are finalized several weeks and in most cases even several months in advance. So we normally receive all payments before the trip starts. In the above mentioned cases, there is hardly any way to have collected this. So we told her to pay to our representative in Alleppey and start the trip. We arranged a cab to pick her up from the railway station and then on arrival she refused to pay the money upfront. Since the boat has been blocked for the day the local guys went ahead with the trip. When it came to payment, she says, “Sorry, I have only 6000 with me, can’t pay the rest!”

What a %^^$!!

Do you guys have any idea of any websites where we can post details of these kind of irresponsible travellers?

I have heard about some companies publishing “black lists”. But haven’t seen it at all!
To some extend we need to ensure that none of our partners in the industry needs to go through this experience at all! There are some mechanisms that I have seen working efficiently between some operators in Karnataka and North Kerala. Since they fall in tourist circuits, they keep track of the guests and let the accommodation providers in advance about the nasty behaviour (consuming everything in the mini bar and not paying up for e.g) earlier so that the host can be well prepared.

Still, since the whole objective is to make the guests happy, they bent down their spine to the lowest level that is humanly possible and keep up their smile on their face. Even if you get thousand appreciations for your work, you just need one B^^^&&$ like the above to screw up all that by some bad mouthing!

Another moment of OTS ! :)

© GP 2007

The adventure begins

Fort Cochin

By the time we got permission papers from the forest department and assistance of the VSS (Vana Samrakshana Samiti - Forest Protection Committee), it was already late to start the descend from Meenmutty. With packed food for six of us and enough water and our small backpacks, we were literally running down the narrow trek paths. Except for AB and Ravi, all of us were comfortable with the terrain as we had trekked that route until the second level of the falls, several times.

Except for the 'snack stop' and lunch break we hardly stopped anywhere. The idea was to cover the distance in 'one-go' and check out the details later on a revisit. If we had to follow the previous days experience, we were sure that we would never complete the distance on time. It was quite difficult not to stop and record some of the breathtaking images in the rain forest.

With the ambiguity in which people responded to the distance and route, we should have expected enough trouble. Instead we trekked along trusting on Thomas's knowledge of the terrain (at the least half the distance we covered was familiar to Thomas as he had gone many times to Nilambur).

The previous day, when we started asking forest dwellers as well as some of the tribals who worked with the forest department on clearing fire lines about the route and distance to be covered between Meenmutty and Soochipara, they mentioned about "4-6-8-10 hours and some even said, "Ayyo, Saarey, there is no way you can reach there!"

Only when we crossed paths covered by elephant dung (as fresh as it can be!) and heard bamboos being crushed within few meters away, did we think that we might not actually "reach there" :)

We did reach the distance half-way by around 130pm; some of us took bath in the cold stream and had the sumptuous lunch of rice flakes, kappa and coconut chutney(obviously Thomas's wife was very resourceful!). Then we met the tribal chief "Velutha" from the "Kattunaikar" community and his children who were fishing in the "kalakkpuzha".(That was the first time I was seeing some one fishing using darts and bamboo blowpipes!).

Respecting their privacy, we didn't take any pictures at all but did click away like mad at the scenery and Ravi especially had some 300 jpegs within 4 hours of trek!

© GP 2007

Meenmutty waterfalls

Fort Cochin

It was while trekking down Meenmutty waterfalls that we met Thomas "Chettan". Similar to some of our earlier "findings", Thomas was one of those experiences that made our work interesting day by day.

Living on the fringes of the forest, there wasn't a path that Thomas didn't know. From running to stop the forest fires set by miscreants or to help the excise department to chase the illicit liquor brewers, or to help those who got lost looking for the waterfalls, Thomas was all over the place.

During one of our regular treks, he mentioned about the forest track leading from Wayanad to Nilambur. We weren't sure about the geography of the area, but still was surprised to hear that one could actually walk through the forests to Nilambur from Wayanad within less than 6 hours! Considering the fact that it takes around 4 hours by road through the mountain roads in a four wheeler, I was longing to trek this route.

I kept on going back to Meenmutty on my own as well as with some of my friends and guests from Bangalore. The adventure actually starts from the approach road from Ooty road itself. The one km drive through the plantation in a jeep itself is an experience. Later, the short walk through the tea estate ends up on the cliff with a breath-taking view of the rain forests below.

In the sultry Cochin, I wish I were there in Meenmutty overlooking the rain forests! Still can feel the cool breeze on my face.

Even the refreshing spring that quenched our thirst many times!

© GP 2007

Welcoming another year

Fort Cochin
By the beginning of the New Year in Fort Cochin, we had :

- Four hotels attacked by a mob in Fort Cochin
- Seven cars broken (those I counted on the Calvathy road)
- Foreign tourists abused (as I heard one drunk shouting to a tourist, "Go back Go back , Bloody bastard George Bush!") (What did the poor Dutch tourist and his daughter had to do with Saddam or George Bush for that matter!)
- Musicians scared away ( they were on their way to a fusion music concert)
- Business loss for many ( tourists left many restaurants fearing another attack!)
- Business gain for some (those tourists who ran ended up in the shacks on the beach!)

When asked "Who do you think these people were?", various answers came from the property owners


- Rioters! (Drunk and having fun!)
- Muslims (Emotional response to Saddams' hanging on the Eid. (Though most of the faces I saw were regulars in leftist rallies, and some of them were coming out of the reading room of a local political party office! It is quite sad to see these sort of branding)
- Business rivals ("You buy we Cook eateries" who were trying to take business away from established hotels on Calvathy road!)
- Dissidents from the Cochin carnival organising committee!

Basically when the bell struck at 12, I was wandering looking for a taxi to go home!
(What a wonderful way to celebrate the new year!)

When I found some vehicles drivers were not willing to take an "unknown" male passenger unless I have a reference of an "attached hotel" they work with! Am sure I didn't look like a "tough guy!". It's really unfortunate to be reminded of the insecurity in which this society lives!

One can't blame these drivers considering the number of murders and criminal activities that are increasing in Kerala these days.


© GP 2007

Madhava Vadya Vidyalayam

Bangalore

It was when we heard about the caste barriers that many of the lower caste musicians face in terms of performing with other upper caste musicians (in front of respectable audience and famous temple courtyards) that we decided to incorporate "Music trail" as a one day program during our Nila experience. Since we were working closely with the Pulluvans by then, we were already looking at the social angle of the work we were involved with.

The Pulluvans were facing economic and social problems as they were struggling to make a living with the traditional knowledge they couldn't practice much any more (which was their sole source of income for many generations).

Similiarly, the musicians of Madhava Vidyalayam in Mulayankavu were from a community called "Mannan". (different from the Scheduled tribe of mannan who are found in Idukki and Madurai districts of Kerala and Tamilnadu). The "mannathi" basically does (used to) the laundry for the neighbouring villages and the men of the family were taking on the roles of "Velichappaadu" (Oracle) or priests in community temples (kaavu) or even as traditional healers (medicinal). The men also used to play musical instruments like "Thudi" and "Para", but not Classical instruments like "Chenda" which were mostly related to temple rituals. (and hence no entry for lower castes to perform inside the courtyard)

It was Aravindakhan's father (standing on the left in the group photo) who instilled the interest for music amongst his sons and they went on to practice music for many years and most of them ended up playing almost all the percussion's known in Kerala including classical Chenda. Unfortunately the rigid caste system that is followed in Kerala (Yes, we are also known as the most progressive, educated and literate society in India!!) keeps them away from many places where they would ideally like to perform!

If they can't be taken to places and courtyards of traditional performances, we thought of bringing music loving audience to them and that was the beginning of "Music Trail", which is one of the strongest element of our holidays on the banks of River Nila.

© GP 2006

Music Trail

Mulayamkavu

Every river has a rhythm. River Nila has the uniqueness of having influenced the percussion based music culture of Kerala. The now popular percussions like Chenda, Thimila, Idakka, Madhalam, Kombu, Kuzhal, Illathaalam, have gained its existing playing style from various schools set on the banks of the river.

Today we had taken a group of American friends to get a feel of the music of the place. The idea was to introduce them to the river culture, its influence on our music and how the above instruments form various symphonies like ‘Pancha Vaadyam, Thaayambaka, Panchaari Melam, Paandimelam'.

This was a rare opportunity for them to see all the musical instruments from Kerala in one place. Hari Govindan explained how they practice throughout the day and how they master the skills. By the end of the day they were treated to a symphony of all these musical instruments played together.

From wind, string to percussion the notes varied.

And as one of our previous guests wrote, "the experience indelible..."

Hope it was the same for Allison and her family.

© GP 2006

The real story

Tirur

Quoting the Business Line report on the International Centre.

"India to get responsible tourism centre "

To commence activities with workshop on Dec 16 ICRT-India will be funded through grants, consultancy and teaching, fees.

Thiruvananthapuram , Dec. 14 India is set to become the first Asian nation to have an International Centre for Responsible Tourism (ICRT).

The non-profit ICRT-India will formally commence its activities in the country with a workshop on responsible tourism to be held in Bangalore on December 16. ICRT-India is affiliated to the international centres for responsible tourism in South Africa and The Gambia and also to the ICRT-UK, a post-graduate training and research centre at the University of Greenwich.

Dr Harold Goodwin, Director, ICRT-UK and Chief Advisor, ICRT-India told Business Line that India is ready for responsible tourism. "People increasingly want more meaningful experiences on holiday, more activities and contact, and they want their trip to be guilt-free. These are business opportunities as well as contributing to sustainable development," he said.

ICRT-India is keen to encourage the tourism industry and the Governments — both at the Centre and State-level — to do more to make tourism responsible, he said. Towards this objective, the organisation will develop its own programme of work in areas such as continuing professional development, training, research, consultancy and advocacy, he said.

ICRT-India, which will be based in Bangalore, will also work with its sister organisations in South Africa and The Gambia, Dr Goodwin added.

Academic programmes

For its academic programmes, the organisation is also looking at establishing partnerships or links with Indian educational and research institutions. Such partnerships are being considered for its planned masters and continuing professional development programmes, he said. ICRT-India is not yet talking with anyone in particular about partnerships and is open to discussions with institutions in the country, he added.

According to Dr Goodwin, ICRT-India will be funded through grants, consultancy and teaching fees. The organisation is also looking for a sponsor, he added.

Global interest

Commenting on the increasing global interest in responsible tourism, he pointed out that it is in tourism destinations that most of the work can be done to ensure sustainability and maximise local economic development. More international centres of responsible tourism are planned, he added. "

By Sankar Radhakrishnan

© GP 2006

Monsoon clouds

Two years and a half back, we were in the backwaters of Alleppey in Kerala. Three of my friends and I were scouting for locations in Central Kerala and experiences that we could share with travellers across the world.

I was so tired running around, meeting far too many people and my energy was just running out. I was so happy to get on board one of our friend's houseboat and just sleep after a sumptuous traditional lunch they served on the houseboat.

The summer day was hot and humid and we were out there waiting for the monsoon to arrive. With all the windows opened and still not a bit of air blowing from any side, I don't know how I slept. What appeared to be ages, I was woken up by heavy movement of the boat and could hear the shouting of our oarsmen. We were in the middle of the vast lake and our boat was just turning round and round in the wind!

I couldn't believe what I saw then. In few seconds, the whole lake was getting enveloped in darkness at around 330pm. The atmosphere was so charged and that was definitely a once in a life time experience. While still lying down in the bed looking out through the window, what I saw was breathtaking.

There was a huge rain cloud moving towards us from the horizon so fast.

The first monsoon cloud in that area!

It was rich, dark, mad and seductive!

© GP 2006

München again!

Bangalore

Both of us gave some intense looks at each other.
Finally he budged!

He lazily went through all the pages of my passport, talked something to the woman police officer in the next counter and said,"It's okay, everything fine, you can go"

Gosh! What a character!

I was shivering so much, sweating so much and well, fuming like never before. I really felt humiliated. Anger wasn't just dying out at all. So I called up B who was in Bangalore at that time and told her about what happened.

Well, for someone who have spent so many years fighting for Turkish immigrant community in Germany, this was too much and she was on fire from the other side. She asked me to call up her friends (Human rights group, Press etc etc) in Munich an report it.

I felt good about the fact that I didn't get upset or collapse a bit, which would have been a fodder for this guy to get on me again. Actually, I felt quite proud about the way I handled the situation.

I moved on. Passed my luggage and accessories through the X-ray machine with a really tensed face (as one of my co-passengers suggested later during the flight!) and went on to the first floor for check in.

While standing there, I had the same nasty feeling once again in my mind and my eyes locked with another armed police man who was standing on the ground floor next to the x-ray machine! I wasn't sure whether he was looking at me or was just observing all around. Well, he was looking at me!

He was actually gesturing at me with his left hand while, the right hand was positioned on his AK-47 (or whatever AK it was!). I put my fingers on my chest and asked him if he was actually calling me or someone else?

He nodded and waved at me to come down!

There was hardly any time left for me to check in and I was totally clueless about why he wanted me this time for!? May be the detention that the other guy was talking about?!

Anyways, I went down. He pointed his gun towards something in the plastic tray on the officer's table next to the x-ray machine and asked me, "Is this yours?"

Yes of course.

It was my wallet!

© GP 2006

München

Bangalore

Seems to be in a "flying" mood these days. Or at least memories go back to flights or airports!

Even 10 metres away from the counter, I could feel the negative energy radiated from the moustached Border Police man. I just couldn't make out what was wrong, but there was this strong feeling of something really nasty.

The trip to Munich was quite good. Made some business contacts, even met couple of old friends . So it had to be about something that was to happen.

I reached the counter with my electronic ticket number scribbled on a paper and my blue passport. The policeman didn't even return my "Guten Morgen", instead very grumpily asked me for "all your travel documents now!".

I smiled and showed him the small paper where my electronic ticket number was written and then my passport with visa stamped on it.

Rally of questions starting with:

** "Why are you in Germany?" (yeah, yeah, I have heard this before! even once in France! Next question please)
** "Why do you have a visa from the French Counsulate even when your first leg of the trip is to Germany?" (That was the first time I was hearing something like that!)
**"Why are you not carrying all your travel tickets from India until here?" (I have been travelling from one point to another in the last two weeks)

Initially I thought he was joking.

He wasn't.

Either he had a nasty fight with his wife before he left home or he just didn't like my face!

He was firing on full throttle. I haven't seen any one so rude in any of the airports I flew through.

Still, I remained cool and believed that he was trying to pull my leg.

Though the first question sounded a bit racist, I just explained him that I was on a business trip and showed him my "visa d'affaires" from the French Counsulate in Mumbai.

For the second question I told him, "I hope you know that with the Schengen agreement, I can apply for my visa to any countries that are signatories, including France and Germany. Why do you have to be so arrogant like this?"

Even while he was pushing me further into an argument, I was quite calm. (though it was another moment of those OTS (one-tight-slap!))

Anyways, he wasn't the one ready to listen.

Instead he told me, " NO ARGUMENTS HERE! IF YOU ARGUE MORE, I WILL HAVE TO DETAIN YOU!"

Oh what the F*&^ !!

I wasn't ready for none of that!

It was just few hours before SK was telling me about some of her Indian friends who had tough time with the police as well as from the Neo Nazis soon after they took the green card for Software engineers. I ridiculed her and told her that she was biased.

Several thoughts went through my mind in a splash. I was confident about handling the situation. I knew I would come out of the situation well, but was just thinking about some poor guy who might be travelling out of a developing country and that too with a dark skin and totally lost about the immigration or airport rules!?

I stood my ground.

When he told me that I could miss my plane and that I would have to wait until his boss comes back etc etc, that was the limit for me.

I told him. "Hey Mr. There is no reason for you to behave the way you are behaving. You are most welcome to detain me if you wish and I would like to see on what grounds?!" (Other than booking me for "arguing" for my rights!" I guess!).

I was the last person who was concerned about missing a flight from Munich out to London! I demanded that I see his boss even it means that I miss my flight! I think I was pretty clear when I told him that I knew my rights quite well in this part of the world.

Even while I was fuming and shivering, I asked him to talk to me with respect!

Bastard!

My voice could be heard in the whole hall. I started getting stares from all over and no one intervened except for those passengers complaining about their chances of missing flights because of my arguments!

© GP 2006

What's in a name?

Bangalore

Everything!

I can't remember the time or the day when I decided to set up a company with the concept of promoting Bharatapuzha (river nila) as a destination and maintaining the same as a financial engine to support the nila foundation. It was rather, a process.

When we started, there were 'n' number of travel companies promoting various destinations in Kerala. Most of them were doing regular stuff and it was into this space that we had to position ourselves. Kerala tourism was going through a growth phase, it was a Super brand. "With a dynamic tourism-trade community and sustained Government support", Kerala was one of the most well known destinations in India by then.

We needed a name that would :

-capture the imagination
-that would have a recall value and
-represent what we intend to provide our guests

"Experience!"

AV and I had couple of meetings in Bangalore, exchanged emails while she was away in Chicago, and one day there came the email! She had suggested a list of names including "Blue and Green", "Green and Blue", "Floatels" (relating to the famous houseboats of Kerala) and then; there was the gem!

The Blue Yonder!

J wasn't convinced.
For me, there was nothing much more to think about.
I fell in love with the name. This was it!


©GP 2006

The thread

E-36 Bangalore

I can't remember when I came up with the name "Nila Foundation" to coordinate the work that we wanted to do for the river. The idea was to have the common platform for those people with diverse interests to come together in the name of the river. We started imagining the foundation doing research about rivers, we "saw" us supporting various research projects financially, we wanted the world to know about our "Pulluvan", "Poothan" and "Thira" and understand the uniqueness of this wonderful river valley civilisation.

The foundation was in a nascent stage, it wasn't even registered as a non profit organisation. But there was something else that was taking shape in parallel lines though. Our sole focus was to bring in attention to the river, and for this, the main audience that I had in my mind was the travelling community. Obviously they travel a lot, and if they like an experience, I am sure they will talk about it. This I saw as the most wonderful way of sharing the river with people who haven't experienced the river.

For us, the river was not just water flowing meaninglessly. A river is often the thread that weaves lives and traditions in an ageless manner. A river sustains a civilisation.

But, the question was all about:

"How on the earth are we going to bring the attention of a traveller (anyone for that matter!) to a dying river?"

© GP 2006