This is going to be my pad in Delhi for sometime to come.The property belongs to the Railways and the room rates are relatively ridiculous. This is a paisa vasool hotel, extremely well connected ( walking distance from New Delhi Rly stn and metro network.)
There is a Comesum restaurant on the premises, pricey but decent spread. Their Chicken Biryani is yummy without being too spicy. The rotis here are consistently good.
Early birds can book a standard room for Rs 999 and later on you tend to get ripped for similar room which gets classified as "twin" for Rs1200. It is still a bargain considering okay type hotels in Karol bagh are now pushing Rs 2500 plus per day.
4 bottles of 1/2 litre Bisleri and 4 packets for tea/coffee are a convenience on the house worth mentioning. The hot pot works! They even have a ironing board and iron on every floor. The house keeping is good.
Internet is available in the lobby @ Rs 111 for a single session of 1 hr!
Check in is a little inconvenient at 1300 hrs, although they try their best to put you up by 1215.
All in all a habit forming experience.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
2909 Garib Rath
On 23.3 took this train from Borivali to Nizamuddin Delhi. The dep time 1736 is convenient for catching up some work in the western suburbs. This is a damn fast paisa vasool train, rivals Rajdhani in speed. Makes it to Surat by 8pm and Baroda by 9:45pm.
The grub from the pantry is so so. The best bet is food from the platform stalls at Baroda where it has a longish halt.
I made this journey by chair car which is not as bad as the other Garib Raths running on Konkan Railway. The one disturbing thing is that the bright lights are kept on throughout the night.
It chugs into Nizamuddin around 10am and one can catch up quite a bit of work same day in Delhi.
The grub from the pantry is so so. The best bet is food from the platform stalls at Baroda where it has a longish halt.
I made this journey by chair car which is not as bad as the other Garib Raths running on Konkan Railway. The one disturbing thing is that the bright lights are kept on throughout the night.
It chugs into Nizamuddin around 10am and one can catch up quite a bit of work same day in Delhi.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Amul Voice Of India
15.3.10
I have been following this program in its various variants over the years. It has thrown up some very good talent like Abhaas and Anwesha. This program also has a history of sobriety and balance compared to the histrionics in other similar shows.
The episode aired on Sun 14.3, however was jarring. I hold no brief for Shaan and I am definitely not a fan rooting for him. Personally, I feel that Shankar is a more accomplished musician albeit with a team that is not as talented as Shaan's. Honestly, the best combination was Shreya's super stars. Ironically, they were the first to get eliminated last week.
Coming back to yesterday's episode, Javed saab's judging was atrocious. Right from the word go, he was carrying his prejudice against Shaan on his sleeve. The 6 points doled for Shadaab's performance ( Shadaab was in tears ) and the 5 point difference in medley from Javed Akhtar's marks clearly shows that he was taking out some old khunnas. Such egotists who totally distort the judgement of the panel with their immature display of power should be debarred from judging reality shows in future. For starters, the format should be immediately changed to eliminate extreme swings in voting. This is a well established statistical procedure.
I have been following this program in its various variants over the years. It has thrown up some very good talent like Abhaas and Anwesha. This program also has a history of sobriety and balance compared to the histrionics in other similar shows.
The episode aired on Sun 14.3, however was jarring. I hold no brief for Shaan and I am definitely not a fan rooting for him. Personally, I feel that Shankar is a more accomplished musician albeit with a team that is not as talented as Shaan's. Honestly, the best combination was Shreya's super stars. Ironically, they were the first to get eliminated last week.
Coming back to yesterday's episode, Javed saab's judging was atrocious. Right from the word go, he was carrying his prejudice against Shaan on his sleeve. The 6 points doled for Shadaab's performance ( Shadaab was in tears ) and the 5 point difference in medley from Javed Akhtar's marks clearly shows that he was taking out some old khunnas. Such egotists who totally distort the judgement of the panel with their immature display of power should be debarred from judging reality shows in future. For starters, the format should be immediately changed to eliminate extreme swings in voting. This is a well established statistical procedure.
Friday, March 12, 2010
How safe are our Highways?
13.3.10
Major highways in India are now 4/6 laned and incidence of head on collisions has come down. But major mishaps continue. Saw a truck's cabin totally ripped while going down hill in Khandala ghat, ( the exit point towards Khopoli is a death trap ) , another truck overturned and a bus rammed from behind by a truck near Kini ( Kolhapur ). All in the course of a week.
Mumbai is reputed for its traffic discipline. But Eastern Express highway seems to be an exception. There is scant respect for signals, might is right seems to be the order of the day and everyone ( including auto rickshaws ) seems to be driving at breakneck speed.
Major highways in India are now 4/6 laned and incidence of head on collisions has come down. But major mishaps continue. Saw a truck's cabin totally ripped while going down hill in Khandala ghat, ( the exit point towards Khopoli is a death trap ) , another truck overturned and a bus rammed from behind by a truck near Kini ( Kolhapur ). All in the course of a week.
Mumbai is reputed for its traffic discipline. But Eastern Express highway seems to be an exception. There is scant respect for signals, might is right seems to be the order of the day and everyone ( including auto rickshaws ) seems to be driving at breakneck speed.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
1013 Coimbatore Express
Many are the options if you are travelling to Bangalore from Mumbai.
Most flexible and cost effective is to take a bus, if not direct, just keeping moving in your direction . But your bones should be able to take it. A few blessings have come our way of late: better roads, divided ones at that, which make travel much safer, and high end Volvo/Mrecedes buses with air suspension that slash 4-5 hours off the transit time, Can set you back by approx Rs 1200.
If your time is precious, you can take a cheap flight from Rs2200 onwards, provided you can plan at least 15 days in advance. Urgent travel can rip you off.
Cheapest and comfortable mode is to take a train. AC travel again needs advance planning, 3 tier being the most popular. If the weather is okay, you can also take a non AC sleeper. Choices include Udyan Express, which gets filled up earliest, Chalukya Express ( goes via interesting towns like Belgaum, Hubli and Davangere ) or the least preferred Coimbatore express.
This train chugs out of LTT around 2230 hrs.You can catch goodish sleep on this train upto Solapur till early morning. Later on, the journey and terrain gets drab. It passes through dry Karnataka cities like Gulbarga, Raichur ( thermal plant with impressive cooling towers ), Yadgir ( very rugged fort on a rocky hill ) and crosses over to Andhra Pradesh. Guntakal, Mantralayam Rd, Anantpur ( neat city ) are some interesting AP towns on the way. The journey can get very boring due to innumerable stoppages for "crossing". This is a single track, you see!
The real irritating thing with this train is the delay as it approaches Bangalore. You could be in Yelahanka at roughly 8pm. From here, heart of Bangalore is approx. 45 mins by bus. But this train takes upto 2 1/2 hrs to make this journey. We got stranded at Chikkasandra for 75 mins.
By the time you get off at Bangalore around 2230, you are absolutely ready to grab a quick bite and plonk into bed. Pity the guys wanting to continue further overnight to Coimbatore!
Most flexible and cost effective is to take a bus, if not direct, just keeping moving in your direction . But your bones should be able to take it. A few blessings have come our way of late: better roads, divided ones at that, which make travel much safer, and high end Volvo/Mrecedes buses with air suspension that slash 4-5 hours off the transit time, Can set you back by approx Rs 1200.
If your time is precious, you can take a cheap flight from Rs2200 onwards, provided you can plan at least 15 days in advance. Urgent travel can rip you off.
Cheapest and comfortable mode is to take a train. AC travel again needs advance planning, 3 tier being the most popular. If the weather is okay, you can also take a non AC sleeper. Choices include Udyan Express, which gets filled up earliest, Chalukya Express ( goes via interesting towns like Belgaum, Hubli and Davangere ) or the least preferred Coimbatore express.
This train chugs out of LTT around 2230 hrs.You can catch goodish sleep on this train upto Solapur till early morning. Later on, the journey and terrain gets drab. It passes through dry Karnataka cities like Gulbarga, Raichur ( thermal plant with impressive cooling towers ), Yadgir ( very rugged fort on a rocky hill ) and crosses over to Andhra Pradesh. Guntakal, Mantralayam Rd, Anantpur ( neat city ) are some interesting AP towns on the way. The journey can get very boring due to innumerable stoppages for "crossing". This is a single track, you see!
The real irritating thing with this train is the delay as it approaches Bangalore. You could be in Yelahanka at roughly 8pm. From here, heart of Bangalore is approx. 45 mins by bus. But this train takes upto 2 1/2 hrs to make this journey. We got stranded at Chikkasandra for 75 mins.
By the time you get off at Bangalore around 2230, you are absolutely ready to grab a quick bite and plonk into bed. Pity the guys wanting to continue further overnight to Coimbatore!
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Kurla LTT Mumbai
9.3.10
For the first time, I took a train out of Lokmanya Tilak Terminus ( Kurla, Mumbai ) on 5.3. After finishing my work at Godrej, Vikhroli by 5pm, I had helluva time to spend till 2240 for my train leaving for Bangalore. LTT has a main concourse that is quite spacious but looks like a unoccupied municipal fish market. Spent close to an hour in this ambience. Suddenly it dawned on me that there is a waiting room. Pleasant surprise! This blessed thing is air conditioned and tucked away so discretely that common junta wont even know about it.
There is a train around 2030 that goes to Kolkota. Till such time the loud Bongs dominate this room. Interesting lot these Eastern Indians are! Their loud talk on the mobiles is the equivalent of drying underwear in public.
Once this train chugs out the Southies take over. the next happening thing is the train leaving for Coimbatore via Bangalore.Half the chaps will be whining how they are on this train as a last resort. First preference for Bangalore is Udyan, followed by Chalukya. Only if you dont get either of these then you condescendingly take this Coimbatore train. More on the journey by this train in my next blog.
For the first time, I took a train out of Lokmanya Tilak Terminus ( Kurla, Mumbai ) on 5.3. After finishing my work at Godrej, Vikhroli by 5pm, I had helluva time to spend till 2240 for my train leaving for Bangalore. LTT has a main concourse that is quite spacious but looks like a unoccupied municipal fish market. Spent close to an hour in this ambience. Suddenly it dawned on me that there is a waiting room. Pleasant surprise! This blessed thing is air conditioned and tucked away so discretely that common junta wont even know about it.
There is a train around 2030 that goes to Kolkota. Till such time the loud Bongs dominate this room. Interesting lot these Eastern Indians are! Their loud talk on the mobiles is the equivalent of drying underwear in public.
Once this train chugs out the Southies take over. the next happening thing is the train leaving for Coimbatore via Bangalore.Half the chaps will be whining how they are on this train as a last resort. First preference for Bangalore is Udyan, followed by Chalukya. Only if you dont get either of these then you condescendingly take this Coimbatore train. More on the journey by this train in my next blog.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Catching Up
4.3.10
Suddenly realised that I havent been on this medium for close to 3 years. I am now pretty well settled as an independent marketing service provider for tool holding solutions. I am on the learning curve for similar status in spindles. My workplace is Western India, suppliers are in South and North India. Keep doing my bit of travelling in places that matter. East India anyway has been a dud case for quite sometime now.
Celebrated Silver anniv on 28.2. One thing I must admit I have been maha lucky in life is on the marriage front!
Will be visiting India Wood exhibition in Bangalore over the weekend. Ciao!
Suddenly realised that I havent been on this medium for close to 3 years. I am now pretty well settled as an independent marketing service provider for tool holding solutions. I am on the learning curve for similar status in spindles. My workplace is Western India, suppliers are in South and North India. Keep doing my bit of travelling in places that matter. East India anyway has been a dud case for quite sometime now.
Celebrated Silver anniv on 28.2. One thing I must admit I have been maha lucky in life is on the marriage front!
Will be visiting India Wood exhibition in Bangalore over the weekend. Ciao!
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