I must confess that I am an ardent follower of reality TV shows in all major hindi TV channels. I religiously follow shows like Big boss, Indian Idol, Jhalak dikhlaa jaa, Nach baliye, Sa re ga ma pa etc etc. Though not often but atleast occasionally whenever someone in my family felt that a singer or a dancer is good but appeared to have low popularity, we used to send some votes by SMS.
Of late the contestants and hosts of these shows started behaving in a nauseating way. They started seeking votes targetting a section of audience only. These days it is not uncommon for hosts to say, "OK here comes punjab da puttar....everybody in Punjab vote for him and show the power of Punjab" or "This is your own Gujarati beti, vote her and make Gujarat proud". Contestants happily approve this and gleefully appeal to audiences of their home states in their mother tongues. In one recent Jhalak episode one contestant went to the extent that he thanked his particular caste/sect people for supporting him so far and requested them to keep supporting him till the end.
All this is a slap in the face for people who want to vote based on the talent/entertainment quotient of a person irrespective of where he/she came from and what language he/she speaks. The tone and tenor with which such scenes are enacted on TV appeared as if they were telling "Rest of India, I do not care of you vote or do not vote for me". We already have enough cracks in our Indian society based on caste, language, region, strata etc and this is the last thing we need from television to give space to these tendencies all in the name of entertainment.
Thursday, 27 December 2007
Sunday, 2 September 2007
'Air India' experiences - 1
case 1:
I was about to join a new job in UK. Mumbai - London Air India scheduled at 1:30 in the afternoon. After check-in we all were waiting in the gate for boarding to comence. Clock moves on from 1:15 to 1:30 to 2:00. Nobody informs us anything. People get desperate and clog infront of the air india customer desk but no information comes. At last at 3:00 PM, someone comes into the customer service desk and informs that there is a technical problem in the plane, hence the plane is rescheduled to 11:30 in the night. We who got this information at the counter went and dissipated this information amongst the other passengers waiting in the lounge.
See the style with which the whole thing went on. Firstly at the time of check-in itself nobody knows that there was a technical problem and there could be a delay in take-off. Then when people are waiting for boarding and when the boarding is getting delayed none of the officials come forward and explain the reason to passengers. When passengers repeatedly pound the customer service desk, only then somebody bothered to inform the passengers, that too not as a public announcement but just to those who are waiting infront of the desk.
Air India provided hotel accommodation for non-locals and taxi-fares for locals. Again we all locals were promptly back at airport by 11:00 PM.ofcourse this time I call Air India enquiry at airport to check whether the flight is on time, before leaving for the airport. Again at the airport we come to know that the flight is not yet ready and will now depart at 9:00 AM next day. The same was informed to all those who stayed back in hotels and hence none of them returned to the airport.
Again see the missing communication link. Air India enquiry does not know the latest status of a flight and hence informs us to come to the airport.No body else calls up on the telephone numbers provided by us.
We also were sent to the hotel. Come next day morning, we all board the plane and sharp at 9:00AM plane starts taxiing on the runway. After 10 minutes of taxi, plane stops and we hear an announcement that the auxiliary power unit of the plane is not working and hence technical team is working on it. 30 minutes plane stays on the runway and then takesoff. Iam not sure if this is the same problem on which the technical teams are working from the previous day. I do not know how serious others are but I heard many of them swearing that they are not going to travel by Air India again.
I was about to join a new job in UK. Mumbai - London Air India scheduled at 1:30 in the afternoon. After check-in we all were waiting in the gate for boarding to comence. Clock moves on from 1:15 to 1:30 to 2:00. Nobody informs us anything. People get desperate and clog infront of the air india customer desk but no information comes. At last at 3:00 PM, someone comes into the customer service desk and informs that there is a technical problem in the plane, hence the plane is rescheduled to 11:30 in the night. We who got this information at the counter went and dissipated this information amongst the other passengers waiting in the lounge.
See the style with which the whole thing went on. Firstly at the time of check-in itself nobody knows that there was a technical problem and there could be a delay in take-off. Then when people are waiting for boarding and when the boarding is getting delayed none of the officials come forward and explain the reason to passengers. When passengers repeatedly pound the customer service desk, only then somebody bothered to inform the passengers, that too not as a public announcement but just to those who are waiting infront of the desk.
Air India provided hotel accommodation for non-locals and taxi-fares for locals. Again we all locals were promptly back at airport by 11:00 PM.ofcourse this time I call Air India enquiry at airport to check whether the flight is on time, before leaving for the airport. Again at the airport we come to know that the flight is not yet ready and will now depart at 9:00 AM next day. The same was informed to all those who stayed back in hotels and hence none of them returned to the airport.
Again see the missing communication link. Air India enquiry does not know the latest status of a flight and hence informs us to come to the airport.No body else calls up on the telephone numbers provided by us.
We also were sent to the hotel. Come next day morning, we all board the plane and sharp at 9:00AM plane starts taxiing on the runway. After 10 minutes of taxi, plane stops and we hear an announcement that the auxiliary power unit of the plane is not working and hence technical team is working on it. 30 minutes plane stays on the runway and then takesoff. Iam not sure if this is the same problem on which the technical teams are working from the previous day. I do not know how serious others are but I heard many of them swearing that they are not going to travel by Air India again.
Thursday, 9 August 2007
Power of 'Noise'
Did you ever watch how toddlers get their whims accepted by their parents? They shout, they cry, they make unbearable noise with whatever they have in their hands and finally either out of embarassment or out of pity or out of frustration or out of appeasement mom and dad will bow to their kids wishes.
Did you ever know a kid who does not make much fuss about anything and still gets granted everything he asks for? I don't know any.
What is the moral of this story?, unless you make noise, your interests will go unnoticed.
Iam observing the same phenomenon worldwide on various occasions.Some samples
a)Everytime a hindu god is painted on a underwear or on sandals,I have heard instances of cases being filed in courts of US and Europe and judgements being favourable to the petitioners. But these instances keep repeating now and then.
However when Danish cartoon row erupted, worldwide muslims raised the hue, staged protests, conducted marches, some issued violent warnings and everyone took notice of this. People objected this kind of behavior but I bet, anytime in future if anybody plans anything of this nature against muslim symbols, he will think 100 times. Similar situation has developed in India wherein other minorities like christians and buddhists become unimportant when considering policy decisions for minorities.
b)In the fedral structure that prevails in India, by raising hue and cry about the partiality of the central government or by repeated requests/threats some states garner more funds than others. For exmaple Andhra Pradesh it seems garners most of the flood relief declared by central government from time to time. Likewise I read somewhere that Tamilnadu gets about 60% of the funds allocated for new highways. I have never heard a drought prone and cyclone prone state like Orissa either demanding for greater funds or getting allocated with greater funds.
c)In any Hindi movie 99.9% of the time, when you see a south Indian character, it will be a Tamilian.To many northerners in India, as well as to outsiders, a south Indian implies a Madrasi and south Indian language implies Tamil.
Inspite of the distaste that exists towards the linguistic fervour shown by Tamilians Some of my learned friends also pay tributes to Tamilians for being so vehement in upholding their culture and language.You can love them or hate them but cannot ignore them. Why is this? Go and search for material on anti-hindi protests, anti-english protests in Tamilnadu.
What if Kannadigas or Telugus are accommodative of other languages and cultures, they are ignored.
What will happen if everyone starts making noise for everything they want to achieve?
World will not be a nice place to live in. Hence please, please look around for nice people and consider their silent grievences and concerns.
Did you ever know a kid who does not make much fuss about anything and still gets granted everything he asks for? I don't know any.
What is the moral of this story?, unless you make noise, your interests will go unnoticed.
Iam observing the same phenomenon worldwide on various occasions.Some samples
a)Everytime a hindu god is painted on a underwear or on sandals,I have heard instances of cases being filed in courts of US and Europe and judgements being favourable to the petitioners. But these instances keep repeating now and then.
However when Danish cartoon row erupted, worldwide muslims raised the hue, staged protests, conducted marches, some issued violent warnings and everyone took notice of this. People objected this kind of behavior but I bet, anytime in future if anybody plans anything of this nature against muslim symbols, he will think 100 times. Similar situation has developed in India wherein other minorities like christians and buddhists become unimportant when considering policy decisions for minorities.
b)In the fedral structure that prevails in India, by raising hue and cry about the partiality of the central government or by repeated requests/threats some states garner more funds than others. For exmaple Andhra Pradesh it seems garners most of the flood relief declared by central government from time to time. Likewise I read somewhere that Tamilnadu gets about 60% of the funds allocated for new highways. I have never heard a drought prone and cyclone prone state like Orissa either demanding for greater funds or getting allocated with greater funds.
c)In any Hindi movie 99.9% of the time, when you see a south Indian character, it will be a Tamilian.To many northerners in India, as well as to outsiders, a south Indian implies a Madrasi and south Indian language implies Tamil.
Inspite of the distaste that exists towards the linguistic fervour shown by Tamilians Some of my learned friends also pay tributes to Tamilians for being so vehement in upholding their culture and language.You can love them or hate them but cannot ignore them. Why is this? Go and search for material on anti-hindi protests, anti-english protests in Tamilnadu.
What if Kannadigas or Telugus are accommodative of other languages and cultures, they are ignored.
What will happen if everyone starts making noise for everything they want to achieve?
World will not be a nice place to live in. Hence please, please look around for nice people and consider their silent grievences and concerns.
Monday, 6 August 2007
Mother tongue sins
Being a Telugu speaker and a true lover of the language I had the fortune to read and hear some of the beautiful nuggets of the language. Iam sure, everyone else who has a taste for his/her mother tongue would have enjoyed the linguistic beauty of their mother tongues. All of us would surely relish speaking our mother tongues.
I have also had the misfortune to witness some not so beautiful aspects about speaking mother tongue. Iam not sure if the following ills are totally exclusive to Telugu speakers alone or present in other language speakers also, it is for you all to add.
I have seen two categories of people who do disservice to their native language. One category who speak it when it is not supposed to be spoken, another categeory who do not speak it when it is supposed to be spoken. Iam sure atleast on occasions, I also would have behaved in either way, but no harm in recording my experiences.
There is an old joke which says that when two punjabis meet, they speak in Pujabi, when two tamilians meet they speak in Tamil but when two telugus meet they speak in English. I have been a witness to this recently. I went to watch a telugu movie of the most famous telugu hero of the day. All the punches of the film are in hard-core telugu slang, only a genuine telugu would follow them. I have watched two groups of people enjoying the film in the first half. Each group amongst themselves is conversing in hard-core telugu. In the intermission, one fellow in the first group recognized an old friend in the second group and they chatted infront of me for sometime, in which language??? of course English. Again in the same theatre I saw this telugu family who came with a 5/6 year old boy. The elders themselves are speaking in chaste telugu, but with the kid they are conversing only in English. The kids talk tells me that his English is at a good level, but his Telugu language skills are a big Zero. Come on, if you want your child to develop competency in English, there are numerous other ways and other times to do it, not by converting a telugu boy into an English dude. or is it just showing off....
I also have seen it as a matter of prestige to speak in English, to show that one is posh or more civilized, even though the other fellows native tongue is same as yours.
Is this exclusive to NRIs? Not sure....
That much about the first category of people I have mentioned. Now to the second category. When you are conversing in a multi-lingual group,one suddenly starts speaking to you in your (and obviously his)native language. Others are simply dumbstruck trying to make something out of it. Likewise in a multi-lingual group, I have seen people start conversing in Telugu, just because he/she and his/her friends speak Telugu, but what about other people in the group. If one is going to speak a language just because majority of his friends speak it, how the hell will others can interact in such groups?
This is another form of disservice to the language. This is my take. Over to you..
I have also had the misfortune to witness some not so beautiful aspects about speaking mother tongue. Iam not sure if the following ills are totally exclusive to Telugu speakers alone or present in other language speakers also, it is for you all to add.
I have seen two categories of people who do disservice to their native language. One category who speak it when it is not supposed to be spoken, another categeory who do not speak it when it is supposed to be spoken. Iam sure atleast on occasions, I also would have behaved in either way, but no harm in recording my experiences.
There is an old joke which says that when two punjabis meet, they speak in Pujabi, when two tamilians meet they speak in Tamil but when two telugus meet they speak in English. I have been a witness to this recently. I went to watch a telugu movie of the most famous telugu hero of the day. All the punches of the film are in hard-core telugu slang, only a genuine telugu would follow them. I have watched two groups of people enjoying the film in the first half. Each group amongst themselves is conversing in hard-core telugu. In the intermission, one fellow in the first group recognized an old friend in the second group and they chatted infront of me for sometime, in which language??? of course English. Again in the same theatre I saw this telugu family who came with a 5/6 year old boy. The elders themselves are speaking in chaste telugu, but with the kid they are conversing only in English. The kids talk tells me that his English is at a good level, but his Telugu language skills are a big Zero. Come on, if you want your child to develop competency in English, there are numerous other ways and other times to do it, not by converting a telugu boy into an English dude. or is it just showing off....
I also have seen it as a matter of prestige to speak in English, to show that one is posh or more civilized, even though the other fellows native tongue is same as yours.
Is this exclusive to NRIs? Not sure....
That much about the first category of people I have mentioned. Now to the second category. When you are conversing in a multi-lingual group,one suddenly starts speaking to you in your (and obviously his)native language. Others are simply dumbstruck trying to make something out of it. Likewise in a multi-lingual group, I have seen people start conversing in Telugu, just because he/she and his/her friends speak Telugu, but what about other people in the group. If one is going to speak a language just because majority of his friends speak it, how the hell will others can interact in such groups?
This is another form of disservice to the language. This is my take. Over to you..
Wednesday, 25 July 2007
Costs of "Global village"
Wherever you hear about 'India Shining' campaign these days, every columnist or speaker mentions the sprawling malls in metros, youth attending hip parties, pubs, buying branded clothes and accessories. Along with the note of increased confidence in today's youth, they also do not forget to mention their fat pay packages, how their first salary is often greater than their dad's last salary, how they are using this money to party, buy luxury items etc etc. Change is lifestyle and increase in consumption are being touted as signs of development. Studies are also showing that people in general, especially youth are flocking cities and changing their lifestyles. And that People are crisscrossing countries and wherever there is an opportunity, our generation is ready to lap it up.
All well and good. It is great to see the influence of India increase om the comity of world nations. It is great to know that the current generation is enjoying their lives to the fullest and is helpful in reducing so many ills that pervade in our country. Its good to know that people are earning more and average purchasing power of Indian is increasing, however seeing all the signs of development praised in the media one question comes to mind "Is westernization same as modernization?, Is development nothing but westernization?"
why no body ever mentions what all it costs us at personal level and to some extent at social level.
For example all those who grow up in cities and craving for a holiday abroad, or those who migrated to greener pastures abroad,may enjoy the sights of european country sides, will they ever come to know of the beautiful countrysides of India, which they never saw. Won't they miss coconut groves of Kerala, Nilgiris of TN, lush paddy fields of Konaseema AP, rocky wonders of deccan plateau, ghats of Khandala, sand dunes of Rajasthan, thick mangroves of central India, majesty of himalayas etc.
There are countless villages, hamlets,hills, lakes, valleys, streams which are yet to find the beholder of their beauties. Meanwhile their much publicized western counterparts get all the credit for their beauty and siphon off all the money in the name of tourism.
Those who lick their tongues at the mention of italian, mexican or chinese cuisines, will they ever get to explore the gamut of cuisines offered by the states of India often varying from region to region, district to district? For instance I know atleast 6 distinct styles of cooking in my home state alone. But will these cuisines ever get so much of popularity when queues are heading to the western cuisines? Are these western cuisines popular because of their taste alone or because of the media image built up so that anyone who eats them immediately becomes a part of NewGen?
It is hard to find so called NewGen people these days, who celebrate a Ugadi or a GudiPadua or a Sankranthi with as much pomp and fervour as they celebrate a New years day or a valentine's day. Thanks to the popular cinema with loads of EQ(emotional quotient)in it, somethings like Holi, Rakhi are still popular. Celebrating anything else is so OUT of fashion, that we may loose tons of heritage and culture in the process.
Likewise speaking one's mother tongue is OUT, speaking a language mixed with English as main ingredient, decent sprinkle of french/spanish and an Indian language for garnish is so IN
Hearing folk or light classical is OUT, rock or rap is IN
Shopping at the bylane grocery store or a village fair is OUT,shopping malls are IN
There are many more to list but at the end of it Iam not saying that everything that is IN is bad and everything that is OUT is good, all Iam worried is the GenNext is going to miss all the positives of the things that are being pushed OUT, thus it will be their loss at personal level. The loss of centuries old culture, traditions, heritage etc is the loss of the society.
Again I get this question in mind,
"Is westernization same as modernization?, Is development nothing but westernization?"
All well and good. It is great to see the influence of India increase om the comity of world nations. It is great to know that the current generation is enjoying their lives to the fullest and is helpful in reducing so many ills that pervade in our country. Its good to know that people are earning more and average purchasing power of Indian is increasing, however seeing all the signs of development praised in the media one question comes to mind "Is westernization same as modernization?, Is development nothing but westernization?"
why no body ever mentions what all it costs us at personal level and to some extent at social level.
For example all those who grow up in cities and craving for a holiday abroad, or those who migrated to greener pastures abroad,may enjoy the sights of european country sides, will they ever come to know of the beautiful countrysides of India, which they never saw. Won't they miss coconut groves of Kerala, Nilgiris of TN, lush paddy fields of Konaseema AP, rocky wonders of deccan plateau, ghats of Khandala, sand dunes of Rajasthan, thick mangroves of central India, majesty of himalayas etc.
There are countless villages, hamlets,hills, lakes, valleys, streams which are yet to find the beholder of their beauties. Meanwhile their much publicized western counterparts get all the credit for their beauty and siphon off all the money in the name of tourism.
Those who lick their tongues at the mention of italian, mexican or chinese cuisines, will they ever get to explore the gamut of cuisines offered by the states of India often varying from region to region, district to district? For instance I know atleast 6 distinct styles of cooking in my home state alone. But will these cuisines ever get so much of popularity when queues are heading to the western cuisines? Are these western cuisines popular because of their taste alone or because of the media image built up so that anyone who eats them immediately becomes a part of NewGen?
It is hard to find so called NewGen people these days, who celebrate a Ugadi or a GudiPadua or a Sankranthi with as much pomp and fervour as they celebrate a New years day or a valentine's day. Thanks to the popular cinema with loads of EQ(emotional quotient)in it, somethings like Holi, Rakhi are still popular. Celebrating anything else is so OUT of fashion, that we may loose tons of heritage and culture in the process.
Likewise speaking one's mother tongue is OUT, speaking a language mixed with English as main ingredient, decent sprinkle of french/spanish and an Indian language for garnish is so IN
Hearing folk or light classical is OUT, rock or rap is IN
Shopping at the bylane grocery store or a village fair is OUT,shopping malls are IN
There are many more to list but at the end of it Iam not saying that everything that is IN is bad and everything that is OUT is good, all Iam worried is the GenNext is going to miss all the positives of the things that are being pushed OUT, thus it will be their loss at personal level. The loss of centuries old culture, traditions, heritage etc is the loss of the society.
Again I get this question in mind,
"Is westernization same as modernization?, Is development nothing but westernization?"
Friday, 20 July 2007
Sample Swiss itinerary and some tips
Here is the itinerary we followed, when we visited Switzerland from UK. Its perfect for a break of 5/6 days. Its against the logic of a conventional budget tourist who takes up cheap flights between Luton/Stanstead and Geneva. But point to be noted is the low cost airlines saves money only if you fly early in the morning eitherway.
For this you have to reach Luton the previous night and secondly you have to start touring as soon as you reach Switzerland which is again tiresome. This is the disadvantages of your TO Journey. In your return journey a morning flight means that you have to take an extra day off from work. so keeping in view all this we have planned it such that we fly at convenient timings and we have a night's sleep before starting the actual tour and an extra day off from work is not required. Thus our plan originates from Zurich. Likewise conventional tourists went for random hotels and B&Bs at different places, I went for Ibis which is budget class, but a global chain with very good uniform standards all over. Many of my friends found the following itinerary very helpful. You can alter it as per your requirements.
Day 0:
Departure at 7:45PM
London City Airport to Zurich, Airfrance by CityJet
Arrival in Zurich 10:30 PM local time
Out in 15mins Checkin to Zurich hotel and go to bed
We stayed in Ibis hotel, Zurich city west
Day 1:
Zurich local sightseeing, Lake Zurich, Rhine falls etc
A Zurich day pass would do
Evening return to hotel
Day 2:
Buy a 4 day swiss travel pass.
Checkout Hotel and leave for Luzern (50min Journey)
Checkin Luzern hotel by Noon
Mount Pilatus( which involves the so called Golden round trip) (half-day would do if based in Luzern)
We stayed in Hotel Ibis, Kriens
Day 3:
Luzern to Engelberg (1 hour picturesque journey)
Mount Titlis (lots of snowy slopes here for snow sliding, playing , ice flier etc)
Return to Luzern
Day 4:
Luzern to Interlaken (2 hour very picturesque journey)
Interlaken to Jungfraujoch via Lauterbrunnen (2 hour very picturesque journey, involves mountain rail, stops for view points etc)
1-2 hours time to spend on Jungfrau, glacier, snow capped peaks, Indian food etc.
Return all the way back to Luzern this time via Grindelwald - again picturesque journey
Day 5:
Luzern local sight seeing. Old bridge, lion monument, Lake luzern etc
Evening Go to Zurich, Zurich to London city flight at 7PM, arrival in London by 8PM local time.
Some useful tips:
1) Zurich airport to Hotel Ibis city west (if this is the one you have booked) should not cost more than 50 to 60 Swiss Francs (CHF). Have printed copies of all your hotel reservations.
2) Zurich Hardbruckee is the station nearest to the Hotel Ibis. Take a printout of the map from google. Eventhough it is near, if you start walking in the opposite direction you may loose track.
3) Swiss rail passes and day travel passes will not be available in Zurich Hardbruckee. so you may have to buy a ticket in ticket machine just for 2or 3 CHF to go to Zurich main station, called Zurich HB (next stop itself)
4) By the time you check-in to the hotel on Day 0, it might be 11PM +. At this time you may not get anything else other than a sandwich. so if you wish, you can carry something for dinner.
5) Swiss rail passes will be available in Zurich HB (Zurich haupt bahnof). They require your passport to issue rail pass. so don't forget it.
6) Be familiar with some common terminology like bahnof - station, HB - Main station, gleis - platform, apotheke - Pharmacy
7) In Luzern if Ibis, Kriens is your hotel, then note that from Luzern you have to take trains going to Giswil and get down at first stop Kriens Matenhof (3 to 5 mins) from Luzern. Note that even though trains destined to Engelberg or Interlaken pass through the same station, they won't stop at Kriens. However some late night fast services do stop at Kriens.
8) Take a printout of the route from Kriens station to Hotel Ibis. Again its easy to be confused and walk almost in opposite direction. It should not take more than 10mins by walk.
9) There is a MacD near the Ibis, Kriens. Hence you will get something to eat till late
10) Migros and Co-op are the supermarket stores which you will find all across Luzern, Zurich etc. One is right below the Luzern station. Will be useful if you have to buy any necessities, baby foods etc.
11) All mountains Pilatus, Titlis etc have multiple levels and rope cars stop at each level. so don't get too engaged at intermediate levels, as the highest level is what one is looking for.
12) For all mountain trips you have to buy tickets separately even though you have a Swiss rail pass. The pass will entitle you a discount of 50%.
13) Interlaken station has a enquiry centre on PF1. They will give you a nice train schedule to go up to Jungfrau and return.
14) There is an ice flyer at Titlis, don't miss it. But with babies one must be very careful, because other than a metal rod there is no other restraint while the flyer goes over the glacier.
15) Apart from your cards, have some cash in swiss francs with you. Will be useful for miscellaneous expenses.
16) Regarding food, non-vegetarians anyway have no problems. For vegetarians, eventhough not listed most pizza corners will prepare a vegetarian pizza for you if you ask for it. Other options are a falafelle(salad wrap) or a veg burger (in MacD).
For this you have to reach Luton the previous night and secondly you have to start touring as soon as you reach Switzerland which is again tiresome. This is the disadvantages of your TO Journey. In your return journey a morning flight means that you have to take an extra day off from work. so keeping in view all this we have planned it such that we fly at convenient timings and we have a night's sleep before starting the actual tour and an extra day off from work is not required. Thus our plan originates from Zurich. Likewise conventional tourists went for random hotels and B&Bs at different places, I went for Ibis which is budget class, but a global chain with very good uniform standards all over. Many of my friends found the following itinerary very helpful. You can alter it as per your requirements.
Day 0:
Departure at 7:45PM
London City Airport to Zurich, Airfrance by CityJet
Arrival in Zurich 10:30 PM local time
Out in 15mins Checkin to Zurich hotel and go to bed
We stayed in Ibis hotel, Zurich city west
Day 1:
Zurich local sightseeing, Lake Zurich, Rhine falls etc
A Zurich day pass would do
Evening return to hotel
Day 2:
Buy a 4 day swiss travel pass.
Checkout Hotel and leave for Luzern (50min Journey)
Checkin Luzern hotel by Noon
Mount Pilatus( which involves the so called Golden round trip) (half-day would do if based in Luzern)
We stayed in Hotel Ibis, Kriens
Day 3:
Luzern to Engelberg (1 hour picturesque journey)
Mount Titlis (lots of snowy slopes here for snow sliding, playing , ice flier etc)
Return to Luzern
Day 4:
Luzern to Interlaken (2 hour very picturesque journey)
Interlaken to Jungfraujoch via Lauterbrunnen (2 hour very picturesque journey, involves mountain rail, stops for view points etc)
1-2 hours time to spend on Jungfrau, glacier, snow capped peaks, Indian food etc.
Return all the way back to Luzern this time via Grindelwald - again picturesque journey
Day 5:
Luzern local sight seeing. Old bridge, lion monument, Lake luzern etc
Evening Go to Zurich, Zurich to London city flight at 7PM, arrival in London by 8PM local time.
Some useful tips:
1) Zurich airport to Hotel Ibis city west (if this is the one you have booked) should not cost more than 50 to 60 Swiss Francs (CHF). Have printed copies of all your hotel reservations.
2) Zurich Hardbruckee is the station nearest to the Hotel Ibis. Take a printout of the map from google. Eventhough it is near, if you start walking in the opposite direction you may loose track.
3) Swiss rail passes and day travel passes will not be available in Zurich Hardbruckee. so you may have to buy a ticket in ticket machine just for 2or 3 CHF to go to Zurich main station, called Zurich HB (next stop itself)
4) By the time you check-in to the hotel on Day 0, it might be 11PM +. At this time you may not get anything else other than a sandwich. so if you wish, you can carry something for dinner.
5) Swiss rail passes will be available in Zurich HB (Zurich haupt bahnof). They require your passport to issue rail pass. so don't forget it.
6) Be familiar with some common terminology like bahnof - station, HB - Main station, gleis - platform, apotheke - Pharmacy
7) In Luzern if Ibis, Kriens is your hotel, then note that from Luzern you have to take trains going to Giswil and get down at first stop Kriens Matenhof (3 to 5 mins) from Luzern. Note that even though trains destined to Engelberg or Interlaken pass through the same station, they won't stop at Kriens. However some late night fast services do stop at Kriens.
8) Take a printout of the route from Kriens station to Hotel Ibis. Again its easy to be confused and walk almost in opposite direction. It should not take more than 10mins by walk.
9) There is a MacD near the Ibis, Kriens. Hence you will get something to eat till late
10) Migros and Co-op are the supermarket stores which you will find all across Luzern, Zurich etc. One is right below the Luzern station. Will be useful if you have to buy any necessities, baby foods etc.
11) All mountains Pilatus, Titlis etc have multiple levels and rope cars stop at each level. so don't get too engaged at intermediate levels, as the highest level is what one is looking for.
12) For all mountain trips you have to buy tickets separately even though you have a Swiss rail pass. The pass will entitle you a discount of 50%.
13) Interlaken station has a enquiry centre on PF1. They will give you a nice train schedule to go up to Jungfrau and return.
14) There is an ice flyer at Titlis, don't miss it. But with babies one must be very careful, because other than a metal rod there is no other restraint while the flyer goes over the glacier.
15) Apart from your cards, have some cash in swiss francs with you. Will be useful for miscellaneous expenses.
16) Regarding food, non-vegetarians anyway have no problems. For vegetarians, eventhough not listed most pizza corners will prepare a vegetarian pizza for you if you ask for it. Other options are a falafelle(salad wrap) or a veg burger (in MacD).
Thursday, 19 July 2007
Presidential Polls in India
Witnessing the current presidential polls in India, lots of things come to mind both about the system of election as well as the kind of candidates it brings in.
Firstly How will a person elected as president on the mercy of a political party act independently when he has to make important future constitutional decisions involving the fate of such party? Doesn't this seem to be the biggest flaw in electing our sovereign in India by indirect election rather than a direct election?
Here president is drawing power from one or more political parties. Will s/he show gratitude and accountability to them or to the people of India? Agreed that the MPs and MLAs themselves are elected by people so indirectly their choice represents the choice of people. But this to some extent is OK if parliament,assembly and presidential elections are synchronized. But as it is happening now, a president is chosen by MPs and MLAs elected some 2/3/4 years ago, by now some or all of them would have become so unpopular that an immediate election now makes them all to lose elections. But still they get to choose the president anulling the pretext that presidential election reflects people's choice.
Secondly what kind of candidates crop up in the current system of presidential polls? Candidates whose names are unknown to most people of the country !!!, assuming they are well known all over the country what is thier position/opinion on the issues that matter? Do they have enough insight to steer presidential duties etc, how will a common man come to know the calibure , ideological standings, intellectual capabilities etc of a person who is going to be their sovereign?
If a person who is about to retire or had already retired is made the incharge of a nation, what active interest and "attached" responsibility will s/he take in discharding presidential duties. Wouldn't he or she be detached and aloof if they have no future career? Assuming they have a future career, given the method of election wouldn't they be indebted to people who will possibly rehabilitate him/her after the tenure?
At the end, all of you can say, who cares, president is anyways a rubber stamp in India, its an altogether different matter but according to Rajinder Puri's article in Outlook a week or two weeks ago, even constitutionally also president need not be a rubber stamp if he s/he chooses not to be.
Firstly How will a person elected as president on the mercy of a political party act independently when he has to make important future constitutional decisions involving the fate of such party? Doesn't this seem to be the biggest flaw in electing our sovereign in India by indirect election rather than a direct election?
Here president is drawing power from one or more political parties. Will s/he show gratitude and accountability to them or to the people of India? Agreed that the MPs and MLAs themselves are elected by people so indirectly their choice represents the choice of people. But this to some extent is OK if parliament,assembly and presidential elections are synchronized. But as it is happening now, a president is chosen by MPs and MLAs elected some 2/3/4 years ago, by now some or all of them would have become so unpopular that an immediate election now makes them all to lose elections. But still they get to choose the president anulling the pretext that presidential election reflects people's choice.
Secondly what kind of candidates crop up in the current system of presidential polls? Candidates whose names are unknown to most people of the country !!!, assuming they are well known all over the country what is thier position/opinion on the issues that matter? Do they have enough insight to steer presidential duties etc, how will a common man come to know the calibure , ideological standings, intellectual capabilities etc of a person who is going to be their sovereign?
If a person who is about to retire or had already retired is made the incharge of a nation, what active interest and "attached" responsibility will s/he take in discharding presidential duties. Wouldn't he or she be detached and aloof if they have no future career? Assuming they have a future career, given the method of election wouldn't they be indebted to people who will possibly rehabilitate him/her after the tenure?
At the end, all of you can say, who cares, president is anyways a rubber stamp in India, its an altogether different matter but according to Rajinder Puri's article in Outlook a week or two weeks ago, even constitutionally also president need not be a rubber stamp if he s/he chooses not to be.
Wednesday, 18 July 2007
Witness
It is said that the best way to curse a person is to wish him "May you live in interesting times". I do not know how far we are cursed or blessed but we are living in very interesting times indeed.
Thousands of 'interesting' things, both pleasant and unpleasant, are happening all around at any given point of time. Whatever the happening might be, be it Social, political, geographical, economical, personal, physical, emotional, spiritual or mundane incident, however lasting its impression on our minds might be, it is certain that the moment we come to know of it certain ripples of thought are created in the otherwise peaceful ocean of mind.
Usually in serene times one will have all the time in the world to capture and reflect on the throughts before the ripple dies down. But this is the age where in, the only comparison to state of mind is, a pond where a thousand kids are having stone pelting competition. So best place to capture the ripple is immediately after a stone is pelted.
Here I go, putting in my two cents of worth for some of the stones pelted into my sea of thought.
Thousands of 'interesting' things, both pleasant and unpleasant, are happening all around at any given point of time. Whatever the happening might be, be it Social, political, geographical, economical, personal, physical, emotional, spiritual or mundane incident, however lasting its impression on our minds might be, it is certain that the moment we come to know of it certain ripples of thought are created in the otherwise peaceful ocean of mind.
Usually in serene times one will have all the time in the world to capture and reflect on the throughts before the ripple dies down. But this is the age where in, the only comparison to state of mind is, a pond where a thousand kids are having stone pelting competition. So best place to capture the ripple is immediately after a stone is pelted.
Here I go, putting in my two cents of worth for some of the stones pelted into my sea of thought.
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