Indigo experience

I had to travel on Indigo recently. Did not have a great experience. Thought of writing feedback. The below is what I wrote and their reply follows.

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Feebback type : Complaints

Subject : In-flight

Feedback : appreciate on-time. truly, its great. However, is that the only charm with which Indigo mgmt thinks it can go forward?

It's a basic courtesy to provide water once people are on board. Also, what is the point buying meals online? when we are not served first?

it is infact a shame to serve food at Refrigerator temperatures. Its very basic to serve food hot and soft drinks cold.

Also, the main air hostess was so damn confused, she uttered Mumbai instead of Delhi several times. Many mistakes in flight announcements.

With respect to food and its choices, it was a very disappointing flight. Also, to add there was a page in your book which read ".. then there came Indigo and our life became better". This was about your food. Its not valid. Open up your eyes and ears to your competetion and you would realize.

Thanks.

--------------------------Response from Indigo-------------------------

Dear Mr. Digumarthi,

Thank you for your mail and the invaluable feedback provided by you.

At IndiGo, we strive to exceed customer expectations at all customer contact points, by imparting training to all our staff so that the services are rendered with warmth and courtesy.

We are therefore concerned to note your comments that our Inflight services were not up to the mark. Your feedback has been shared with our Vice President – Inflight Services for further review of the services provided.  The concerned staff has been counseled to be more proactive and polite in assisting customers to their satisfaction. We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused to you in this regard.

Further, we confirm that water is available complimentary onboard on request and also available for sale in bottles.

Once again, we thank you for sharing your views with us, as it plays a critical role in enhancing customer service deliveries. Feedback from our passengers, such as your self, certainly assists us in identifying areas that need to be looked into to enable us achieve excellence

Mr. Digumarthi, despite your experience of Inflight services not up to the mark, we do hope we shall be given another opportunity to serve you. We look forward to welcoming you on board.

Security screening at BIAL

Today morning when I was placing my laptop in the tray at the security check at BIAL, to my surprise all the trays were marked with numbers and same numbered tokens were being given to passengers. Once you pass security check you need to show the token and you are allowed to access the tray which matches. 

 

This is a very good method implemented so that people may not lose their machines to someone either in confusion or the other way. Kudos to the idea and the person who got this idea.

Not again!!!!!!!!

I was at the BIAL, rushing to checkin. I remember I need to take some cash. However I directly went into security check assuming I can pick up cash from the SBI ATM at the gates. And if you are a good guesser I need not tell you what happened. Wait a minute, its SBI ... should you still be guessing? :-)

Same result: This ATM is currently not working. Sorry for the inconvinience.

Will these guys develop some shame anytime??? These people may be strong in Banking, but are hopeless in service. Its time the Finance minister takes some action on these guys to improve their service quality.

If this is Earth, how would Heaven look like?

 Autumn in Germany

Beauty of Tibet

Blue Sea

Breithorn Peak ( Switzerland )

Cherry Blossoms Japan

Deep Autumn

Disney Castle

Edge of Glacier

 

 Golden Maple Leaf

 

Lavender Farm

 

MirrorLake

 

 Neuschwannstein, King Ludwig's Castle in Bavaria, Germany

 

 Saltzburg Austria - the most beautiful city we have ever seen

 

The beauty of Antarctica

 

 The Night Scene of Eiffel Tower

 

The Moon and Star on Earth

 

 

PapiKondalu - Boat Trip

Type: Boat Trip on the river Godavari
How to book: AP Tourism counters at the Godavari basin

Now my trip details.

I and my wife left from Bangalore for Vizayawada from where we along with our inlaws moved to Tadepalligudem for a night stay at our relatives. We booked a mini bus from here to a place called Pattiseema. This is one of the banks on the river Godavari.

The advantage we had was all the arrangements were made before and all we had to do was just go sit and enjoy. Well for information, the trip options can be like this.

Option 1: Rajamundry (or nearby banks) to Bhadrachalam and Back

This type of trip takes two days. On day one the boat starts early in the morning and reaches the destination by evening. The place where the boats halts is almost an hour away from the actual temple town of Bhadrachalam. So after completing a night stay and then having darshanam in the morning, the boat returns back to the source be Day two evening. A little long trip :-)

The boat trip covers, halts at all the important banks on the river, where you get to see many temples associated with the epic of SriRamayana and also quite a many scenic locations.

Option 2: Rajamundry (or nearby banks) to PaapiKondalu

This trip option only focuses on the destination PappiKondalu. So the boat starts from one of the banks near to Rajamundry. The boat goes on showing you all the important places and reaches PaapiKondalu. Once this place is crossed, the boat halts for a while at a bank and returns back.

We opted for option 2 as we did not have much time. We started at 9 am at pattiseema and were back by 9pm. The boat ride is really good. We booked a boat for only our family members. It costed us Rs.16000 including Breakfast, Lunch, Evening snacks and coffee tea supplied all time. The food was amazing. We were 22 people on the boat and thus it was really entertaining.

You also get an option to buy a ticket for Rs.500/person and get onto the normal commerical boats. Those boats are too crowded. Ofcourse you also get an option to book an AC bedroom with the view for Rs.2500 :-)

Few pictures:

At one of the starting points

The Paapi Kondalu

We asked the boat guy to stop at this place for us to play in the water for a while. Nice shores.

Now the bad part: Indians never change. Wherever we step in we pollute

So my only request to people is not to do such things. 

Bangalore - Tirupati - Sripuram - Bangalore Road Trip

I have already mentioned good information regarding the road trip from Tirupati to Bangalore in one of my previous posts. I recently visited Tirupati again. Also visited the golden temple at Sripuram, Vellore, Tamil Nadu. I have learnt some lessons and wanted to publish those tips. Also the route map. First the route map ...

Now the Tips:

1. Avoid driving in winter from Bangalore early in the morning. Why??? see below

 

2. Year end, you are going to face huge crowds.

3. Srivari Darshanam is very very tough.

4. Book hotels in advance.

5. Very very important: At all the shrines, i.e. AliveluMangapuram (Lordess Mahalakshmi temple), Sripuram men are not allowed to wear shorts and enter the temple. Of course girls can wear skirts which show either their thighs or anything above too.

6.  Security check at the Alipiri is shutdown from 1AM to 3AM. If you are planning for Darshanam,at early hours, keep this in mind.

7. Petrol on the Sacred Hill, Tirumala is almost unavailable. However the benevolent fuel station people can refuel up to Rs. 200; No cards accepted.

8. Mentally challenged men are deputed as Tirumala Traffic Police. So parking locations change just like chameleons. Traffic directions are never in the same direction. One ways suddenly sprung up. Kindly keep track, so that you can keep your car as near as possible to the temple.

9. If you buy the costliest of darshans, then please don't be in a dogma that you are highly privileged and very few people are going to accompany you. The authorities sell darshans at a 1:1 price. The second one is for the service of providing ticket for you.

10. Most of the fuel stations do not accept card at Tirupati. 

11. Also almost all the stations have their air filling machines not working. Plan well.

12. Lungis, Shorts, skirts etc kind of clothing is not allowed at Sripuram.

13. Do NOT miss a visit to the Golden Temple at Sripuram. 

14. Don't go back to chittor and take NH 4 from Sripuram. You can take NH 46 which is a wonderful road back to Bangalore.

All the best and have a safe trip and a wonderful Darshan at all the holy places

Wish you a Wonderful New Year

Trip: Mysore-Nisarghadham-Coorg(Abbey Falls)-IrupuFall

 

Welcome to the district of Coorg.

North from Mysore, towards the borders of Kerala is the scenic district of Coorg. Coorg is rapidly developing as a tourist destination. Good roads have been laid. Excellent driving conditions. A few things to keep in mind would be, keep your fuel tank full and keep enough cash till you reach Madikere, the main town in the district. 

Approximately 50 kilometers from Mysore, in the village of Bylakuppe, there is Golden Temple. It is a buddhist monastery, maintained by Tibetians. Its an amazing temple which is not very famous.

The deities you see above (from left to right) are King Budha, Lord Budha, and his Guru. The idols are 52 feet tall and are stuffed with holy books inside. All the outer covering is pure gold. Aesthetic paintings adorn all the walls. A place worth a visit. Nice shopping place too ... you may buy some cyrstal chains etc and aesthetic items. 

Now going forward ...

Moving a little forward after few kilometers you get to Nisargadhama. This place has resorts which can be prebooked and its kind of a forest stay. You get to trek, sit next to a stream ... its very cool. Check these pictures.

Aren't these pictures excellent? Lovely place. Lets go ahead.

Moving ahead we went to Madikere, the main township in Coorg district. Just before reaching this place are the most famous Abbey Falls. Its a long walk down to the waterfall and finally the security didn't allow us to get into the water; lovely place though. 

After the disappointment that we couldn't get in to the water stream, we moved to the town to have a late lunch. This is the place you better refuel your vehicle and yourself too. We have booked a home stay in South Coorg.

Silver Oaks

Central B Estate

Manchally Village & Post, Vai Kutta, 

South Coorg

08274 - 244206/244971

9448325906/9945635188

Home stays are a wonderful concept found in Kerala and its border towns in Karnataka. A room with bed and an attached bath costs you Rs.1200 per day. Twice in a day Tea or coffee is free. Lunch and dinner is provided on order at Rs.100. The owners take you around in the estate and help you buy liquor etc. Camp fire is provided upon request. At night its very creepy, darkness all around, not even a single source of light can been seen for very far. Roads are illuminated only by the beams of your car. Trees all around and believe me its really creepy, however its fun. 

However the other side of the coin is ...

Lovely coffee estates surround every house there. Every house is surrounded by very large coffee estate. We were told that during rainy days, wild animals like bears etc come near homes and take shelter. A bit scary. Excellent surroundings make it a pleasant stay. 

Just few kilometers from the home stay was Irupu falls. Excellent falls. Water falls from 52 feet high and is freezing cold in winters. We drove till the parking point and after which we had to walk up for a kilometer to reach the falls. 

Trek all these stairs to reach this amazing view ...

Water was freezing cold, however I managed to get a dip :-) Lovely it was. Post this we left the home stay and started our journey back to Bangalore via the Rajiv Gandhi wild life sanctuary. Beware of the road, for at least 60 kms is worse than one can imagine. Full tank fuel is important. Drive slow and carefully so that you don't attract the wild.

The Royal Fort of Mysore - During Dushera

BIAL: The myths and the facts

Bengaluru International Airport

The Myths:

1. The route to the airport is not good.
2. It takes hours to reach the airport
3. It is not at all complying with international standards

These are some of the few. The realities are little different.

1. The road to airport is good, no doubt about it.
2. Taking a cab is a little bit costly however it takes a maximum of one hour thirty minutes by cab.
3. Buses are in plenty and are inexpensive however take a little longer to reach
4. No Doubt the airport looks excellent from outside.
   
5. The roads, gardens and the parking facilities make it look really great
6. The drop off and pick up zones are also very good, except that our fellow Indians still don't maintain the discipline.
   
7. The one thing that is highly pathetic is, you will hardly find any direction boards and no help at all.
8. Once you get down from the bus or taxi, you cannot quickly pick up a trolley. Thats really bad.
9. You have four departure entrances and its tough to figure out which one to take. Actually you may take any of the four.
10. Now you enter a beautiful chaotic world.
    
11. You have self checkin computers like the US.
12. There is not even a single taker for it. I am one of the very few.
13. Now the fun, it takes all the information from you except baggage.
14. So you now have to again stand in the same line and get your baggage checked in. However in other countries, once you e-checkin and get your boarding pass, you would have to go to a different counter where just your luggage is picked up. I mean there are two counters, one for checking and baggage and the other only for baggage.
15. Ok after this hassle you go to the first floor for security check and boarding.
    
16. Security check is a chaos. Not because of the security personnel, but because of the Undisciplined Indians.
17. Now comes the part where I have to highlight. How many synonyms you may find for the words robbery and atrocity, you may use when you get hungry.
    
18. A plate IDLI (2 pieces) costs Rs. 90
19. A plate VADA (2 pieces) costs Rs. 90
20. A plate of Pongal costs Rs. 90
21. Half litre water costs Rs.20
22. Exorbitant prices - No Doubt
23. The restrooms are a little bit better compared to the old airport.
24. The smallest of the passenger aircraft carries at least 48 passengers.
25. The number of seats infront of every gate are hardly 18. check the picture below.
    

So things still need to change, however there is certainly a significant amount of internationalization that has been brought in because of the BIAL and this fact should be appreciated.