Ahmedabad airport drama

An interesting experience
This is how auto people try to rope in unsuspecting travellers

. Last week, I had gone to Ahmedabad airport to drop off Jiggi Patel my friend, going to Australia. As I came out of the airport, I wanted to take an auto to the bus stand nearby.

2 Autowallah  people approached me, thinking I was a traveler and had just landed down at the airport. The conversation between us....

Kaha jaana hai sahab.
Me: Gandhinagar jaana hai. Drop me to the nearby bus stand
250 Rs Lagenge. beth jao.. 1/2 ghante me pocha denge.
Me: Are you mad? Sorry, I dont want to come
Are sir, give 200 Bucks.. 50 Rs discount
Me: Man, My budget is only 50 Rs... uptil Gandhinagar. Take me or drop it.

What sir, you are at the airport, coming down from a plane and now haggling for a small amount. This is the standard rate of auto wallah people. You wont get less than this anywhere. Ok , lets make it to 150 Bucks and I will drop you off to nearest bus stand.

Me: Who said , I just landed down? I cam here to drop off my friend. I dont even work here. I can at the most give 30 bucks.
And then I started walking out of the airport.

Finally an auto wallah realised that I was only a local guy and offered me my choice of fare. He dropped me off to the nearest bus stand to Gandhinagar.

But this left me thinking, this is how all transport people operate at the airport. You need to be firm with them and be ready to walk off from the deal to get the best deal.

Closing this, I must thank my boss at my office-LetsNurture to allow me to go to airport to see off my friend at such a short notice.

Is there any reason to be wary of drenching in Rain

Date: 27th July

All the year round, people wait anxiously and tirelessly for the rains to come. When the rains do come actually, they get part in getting drenched in rain. But for how long? Hardly twice or thrice. 

I have seen while coming from my office in Ahmadabad, that when it rains, people actually curse the rain after a time. What an irony! First they wait and pray for the rain, then they get drenched in the rain for a day or two and then  the same people curse the rain. 

Due to pressures from my uncle's home in gandhinagar, I take my raincoat with me to office every time, but I remember that in these 2 months of rain, I may have rarely used my raincoat. It is indeed a good thing to get drenched in rain, unless you are going for a job interview, to someone's place or have a delicate tendency to catch cold. 

How wonderful it is to get wet in the rain. You feel your stress, worry and all the troubles in the world get washed away. You don't need to go and freshen up at your home. And the best of all things is that you get to experience the wonders of nature flowing by with green trees and the wonderful scenery passing by.  

I would request everyone to enjoy the rain when they get caught up with it and spend the best days of their life enjoying. After all, they are not going to enjoy the rain once they get old, are they?

Kulls

Travel Diary No 3

Date: 12-07-2013

It is not every time, that you get unknown people in a bus singing together

But that is what happened on Saturday. I was coming to Baroda from Ahmadabad on a state transport GSRTC bus at 10 pm. There were about 30 passengers in the bus including me. As is the new facility, the bus had a TV installed where old filmi songs were playing..

It was also raining heavily outside. Suddenly, an old Dev Anand song came " Yeh dil naa hota aavaraa...'
such good was the tune of that song, that people from backside started to sing slowly first.. then the tone started to increase as others joined in, and people-total strangers to each other, started singing the song, as if they were going in a picnic. The conductor also joined in.

The atmosphere became so pleasurable, that the passing by bus passengers wondered, on what was happening in the bus, before they realized what was happening.
As soon as the song stopped, everybody went back to sleeping

It is not everytime that you see unknown people singing in the bus.. but India is a land of uncertainties and unpredictability.

Kulls 

My travel Diary No 2

There have been enough articles, education and reminders about mobile etiquette.  Still some people feel that it is okay, to shout or speak at the top of their voice on mobile, while travelling. This can be said especially in case of villagers who have acquired mobile phones but not any mobile education. Why only villagers, but there are also educated people in cities, who do not know the manner to talk. Recently, I was travelling to Ahmadabad in a bus and there was a woman sitting on my opposite seat, who was giving cooking lessons on her phone to her daughter at home.  So loud was she, that all of the bus passengers came to know what was cooking at her home , what ingredients were going to be added to the dish, and how many street dogs they had near their home.

Add to that, if the voice of the woman would have been sweet, it would have been nice to hear, but her voice was like a frog croaking at the top of his voice.

I have also came across a well dressed man  talking on phone on a heated discussion with his son, on how his daughter in law behaved with him, and what he should do to teach a lesson to his wife.  

Thankfully I have also came across people who talk so softly, that one can’t even hear their whispering while sitting next to them. 

See ya

Kulls

My Travel diary No 1

Date:   08.03.2013

While returning to from Baroda to Ahmadabad on an intercity bus at 8 30 pm, a cute girl child seated beside me, asked her mother as soon as the bus reached express highway, “ Mummy, kya bus me sab sone ke liye hee aate hain?”. ("Mom, do people come to just sleep on the bus?”)  The child was just about 8 years or 7 years old, but she had  good sense of curiosity and concentration, and seemed to enjoy studying people. And how true she was!  People mostly pass time in bus or train by sleeping. There are less people who look outside to see the passing cities or nature or study other people. 

Most of the people are engrossed in their own troubles and world. This little girl was oblivious of tensions of adults. God keep her that way always. 

Kuldip