Yesterday the results were out for the elections in 3 states - Maharashtra, Arunachal Pradesh and Haryana. And in all 3 states the verdict was unanimous - CONGRESS.
This is the same congress party who ruled in the central and in Maharashtra during the Mumbai terrror attack. This was the same congress party which 2 years back implemented the Reservation system to IITs and IIMs which started the stir in the whole country and even after that reservation got implemented. And again we did it by choosing the same Congress party to rule not only in several states but also in central.
But its not a fault or carelessness of Indian citizen, they are pathetically bound by the stupid election system of India. They don't have much choice in front of them to elect a good governing body. I mean take for example in Maharashtra elections none of the party was able to pin point the correct agenda for the elections. MNS have its stupid marathi manus issue and busy in throwing out North Indians (Biharis) from Maharashtra.
Surprisingly, none of the party has in its agenda the issue of Mumbai attack which shook the whole nation and which was shame for India in front of International bodies.
Al l the parties were busy in pulling each other legs and sometimes their own legs to win the election and no body cared less about the real issues... the actual issues ..the life of Indian citizens.
Its a shame to have such a tragic and faulty system in place to elect the biggest democracy in the world. The voting percentage in Maharashtra was close to 25% which is a ridiculous figure considering only 25% people of state will choose the govt. to rule on 100% of the population which will be run from the financial capital of India a money making machine in its own term.
For the other two states there is not much to say as there were no real opponent for Congress and BJP is already having its worst time ever with no good leader to come in front and support it. The stupidity is that they are fighting with their own party people and blaming each other for their election loss rather than pointing out the real reasons for the loss. It shows that no body gives a shit to the country but knows how to manipulate the system to get the maximum benefit.
There is no hope left in this country anymore. I can only says - "God bless India".
(Wanted to write more but its hopeless......... )
Friday, October 23, 2009
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Spain Trip in 100 euros :)
This blog is about my experience in Spain where I have been recently.
I have been there for 3 days and visited Madrid and Barcelona. The trip was full of interesting and surprising events that never happened to any of us in Europe. Though it sounds really frustrating but in the end it was full of fun and some money earnings as well ;)
This time on the Ascension day weekend we (group of 10) visited Spain. It was a long weekend with Thursday and Friday holiday (21st to 24 May). We booked our tickets 2 months before so we got a very good deal with the Iberia (Spainish airlines).
On Thursday evening we reached airport by 17:30 PM and checked-in our luggage. The flight was suppose to fly at 19:15 but it was delayed by 45 mins (Routine case with low cost airlines). Later, we have to catch our connecting flight from Madrid to Barcelona at 22:45PM. Our flight took off at around 20:00 . It was a 2 hrs 20 mins long flight which reached Madrid at 22:15.
and we were having only 30 mins to catch the next flight. The problem was that we have to take our baggage and then again have to check-in to the next flight. We were waiting for our luggage
near the belt and hoping to get it asap but how this could be possible with a low cost airline.
It was a long wait for the luggage and out of 10 we 6 stayed back and 4 took the flight as they don't have any check-in baggage.
We waited there for 1 hour and there was no sign of luggage and all the passangers were getting frustrated. Some of them contacted the helpdesk of the airline but the height of stupidty crosses when we got the reply that they don't know about the luggage. It was a long wait for us and finally after 2 hrs we got the news that our luggage will be at belt no. 6 which is on the other side of the exit corner.
After claiming our baggage we headed towards the customer desk and told them the story that we missed our flight coz of late arrival of luggage. We were very angry and in a fighting mood but the reply we got back from the helpdesk was "How many double rooms do you need?"
After giving all the surprising expression we said 3 rooms. The person at the helpdesk booked
3 rooms in a 4 star hotel with dinner and break-fast and a flight to Barcelona in the morning with transportation from Hotel to Airport.
It was a good surprise for us and our anger and frustration went away and we were all smiling.
We reached hotel at 1'o clock in the night and check-in to our rooms after having some wonderful dinner from the hotel's 24 hr Cafeteria :)
We have to catch our flight at early morning 7 so we got up at 4.30 in the morning and got ready by 5 am to have Break-fast :). After having coffee and BF we reached airport by 6 and boarded our flight to Barcelona.
Weather in Barcelona was nice and warm, it was a little cloudy as well. We checked-in to our hotel and after sometime we headed towards the Beach. It's a wonderful beach with amazing crowd (You know what I mean). After spending 3 hrs in the beach we had our lunch and headed for sightseeing by foot, bus and metro. After visiting most of the places and taking lots of snaps we were all very tired so we decided to go back to hotel as we have our flight back to Madrid next day morning.
Next day morning we reached airport by 8 AM and after waiting at the check-in counter for 15-20 min we got our turn....but the surprise is waiting for us. Since we missed our flight from Madrid to Barcelona and due to same ticket for the return flight as well our whole ticket has been cancelled. All of us were thinking that since previously we got a free stay in a nice hotel and flight now is the turn to payback :) But fortunately the lady at the counter was kind and she checked if there is availability in any other flight and luckily we got a flight even 15 min earlier than the original one. So ,we all got our boarding passes and board the flight.
It was an hour long flight and we reached safely to Madrid. But I think we started our journey in some bad "muhurat" there were more surprises waiting for us.
Normally weather in Madrid is mostly sunny and hot especially during May it goes up to 35 degrees, but that day it was raining heavily and cold and windy. The temprature was 12 degrees and the good thing was that I did'nt have Jacket or sweater with me.
Anyways we headed towards the baggage claim after getting down the flight but the bad luck just don't want to leave us any moment. We all got our luggage in 5 min except "Sudhir" whose luggage din't come after waiting for more than an hour. Nobody still knows what was the reason.
We contacted helpdesk for the lost luggage and gave our address to sent the luggage to the hotel provided "if found".
Then we reached hotel in Madrid in the rain and waited there for the rain to stop. It stopped after sometime but it was cold. We decided to take a tour bus so that we can cover most of the places as we have already lost lot of time at the airport. So, we took a Hop-On Hop-Off bus tour for 17 euros and reached to "Real-Madrid" football club. We took a tour to the stadium it was for 15 euros and total worth offcourse. We spend around 1.30 hrs there and then we again boarded the tour bus and finished all the other remaining sights. We reached back to hotel at 23:30 in the night.
Next day we had our flight back to Brussels at 13:30 PM so we reached airport by 12PM.
We went to the check-in counter hoping that atleast this flight will be normal but there is already one more surprise waiting for us. The cute lady at the counter told us that the flight is overbooked and since most the passengers had online checked-in she cannot give us seat no. and we have to go to the boarding area to see if there is a possibility to get the flight otherwise we have to board later flight.
So, after showing all our frustration and anger we dragged ourselves to the boarding gate K73 where we have to wait in the queue (just like in India) to know that we cannot board the flight.
Phew...now is the limit so we went to the helpdesk and told them about the experience we had with Iberia. The guy took our boarding passes and issued us the new boarding passes for the next flight which was 3 hrs later along with the lunch coupons. I was very disappointed as I wanted to watch the IPL finale on sunday and we were stranded at the same stupid Madrid airport where we were for the 4th time in the whole trip.
But then the helpdesk guy told us that we can claim for compensation as the flight was more that 3 hrs delayed and for that we have to go to ticket sales counter. We had no idea how much we gonna claim so we moved towards the counter and there was a long queue waiting and most of them were for the compensation only. After waiting there for half an hour we got our chance to talk to the person and told him the whole story. He asked very politely all of ours passports and tickets. After some formalities we got our compensation and an apology from him saying "Sorry for the inconvinience caused".
Then we straight went to use our Lunch coupons. It was a buffet where we can have one main-course dish, 1 salad, 1 dessert and any one drink (wine, beer, soft drink).
The FOOD :)
After having lunch we boarded our flight and hoping to have everything normal after that and luckily this time no more surprises waiting for us.
BTW.... The amount we got from compensation was a whopping sum of 250 euros per person :)
Trip Calculations :
Total flight ticket: 155 euros
Hotel Charges: 100 euros
Other expenses: 100 euros (approx.)
Refund amount claimed: 250 euros.
355 - 250 = 105 =~ 100 euros :))))) Ant bhala to sab bhala
End Conclusion : Hum to Iberia ke Jamai ban ke Spain ghumne gaye the. Khaya peeya, 4 star hotel me stay kiya aur wapasi me shagun ka envelope bhi mil gaya.
I have been there for 3 days and visited Madrid and Barcelona. The trip was full of interesting and surprising events that never happened to any of us in Europe. Though it sounds really frustrating but in the end it was full of fun and some money earnings as well ;)
This time on the Ascension day weekend we (group of 10) visited Spain. It was a long weekend with Thursday and Friday holiday (21st to 24 May). We booked our tickets 2 months before so we got a very good deal with the Iberia (Spainish airlines).
On Thursday evening we reached airport by 17:30 PM and checked-in our luggage. The flight was suppose to fly at 19:15 but it was delayed by 45 mins (Routine case with low cost airlines). Later, we have to catch our connecting flight from Madrid to Barcelona at 22:45PM. Our flight took off at around 20:00 . It was a 2 hrs 20 mins long flight which reached Madrid at 22:15.
and we were having only 30 mins to catch the next flight. The problem was that we have to take our baggage and then again have to check-in to the next flight. We were waiting for our luggage
near the belt and hoping to get it asap but how this could be possible with a low cost airline.
It was a long wait for the luggage and out of 10 we 6 stayed back and 4 took the flight as they don't have any check-in baggage.
We waited there for 1 hour and there was no sign of luggage and all the passangers were getting frustrated. Some of them contacted the helpdesk of the airline but the height of stupidty crosses when we got the reply that they don't know about the luggage. It was a long wait for us and finally after 2 hrs we got the news that our luggage will be at belt no. 6 which is on the other side of the exit corner.
After claiming our baggage we headed towards the customer desk and told them the story that we missed our flight coz of late arrival of luggage. We were very angry and in a fighting mood but the reply we got back from the helpdesk was "How many double rooms do you need?"
After giving all the surprising expression we said 3 rooms. The person at the helpdesk booked
3 rooms in a 4 star hotel with dinner and break-fast and a flight to Barcelona in the morning with transportation from Hotel to Airport.
It was a good surprise for us and our anger and frustration went away and we were all smiling.
We reached hotel at 1'o clock in the night and check-in to our rooms after having some wonderful dinner from the hotel's 24 hr Cafeteria :)
We have to catch our flight at early morning 7 so we got up at 4.30 in the morning and got ready by 5 am to have Break-fast :). After having coffee and BF we reached airport by 6 and boarded our flight to Barcelona.
Weather in Barcelona was nice and warm, it was a little cloudy as well. We checked-in to our hotel and after sometime we headed towards the Beach. It's a wonderful beach with amazing crowd (You know what I mean). After spending 3 hrs in the beach we had our lunch and headed for sightseeing by foot, bus and metro. After visiting most of the places and taking lots of snaps we were all very tired so we decided to go back to hotel as we have our flight back to Madrid next day morning.
Next day morning we reached airport by 8 AM and after waiting at the check-in counter for 15-20 min we got our turn....but the surprise is waiting for us. Since we missed our flight from Madrid to Barcelona and due to same ticket for the return flight as well our whole ticket has been cancelled. All of us were thinking that since previously we got a free stay in a nice hotel and flight now is the turn to payback :) But fortunately the lady at the counter was kind and she checked if there is availability in any other flight and luckily we got a flight even 15 min earlier than the original one. So ,we all got our boarding passes and board the flight.
It was an hour long flight and we reached safely to Madrid. But I think we started our journey in some bad "muhurat" there were more surprises waiting for us.
Normally weather in Madrid is mostly sunny and hot especially during May it goes up to 35 degrees, but that day it was raining heavily and cold and windy. The temprature was 12 degrees and the good thing was that I did'nt have Jacket or sweater with me.
Anyways we headed towards the baggage claim after getting down the flight but the bad luck just don't want to leave us any moment. We all got our luggage in 5 min except "Sudhir" whose luggage din't come after waiting for more than an hour. Nobody still knows what was the reason.
We contacted helpdesk for the lost luggage and gave our address to sent the luggage to the hotel provided "if found".
Then we reached hotel in Madrid in the rain and waited there for the rain to stop. It stopped after sometime but it was cold. We decided to take a tour bus so that we can cover most of the places as we have already lost lot of time at the airport. So, we took a Hop-On Hop-Off bus tour for 17 euros and reached to "Real-Madrid" football club. We took a tour to the stadium it was for 15 euros and total worth offcourse. We spend around 1.30 hrs there and then we again boarded the tour bus and finished all the other remaining sights. We reached back to hotel at 23:30 in the night.
Next day we had our flight back to Brussels at 13:30 PM so we reached airport by 12PM.
We went to the check-in counter hoping that atleast this flight will be normal but there is already one more surprise waiting for us. The cute lady at the counter told us that the flight is overbooked and since most the passengers had online checked-in she cannot give us seat no. and we have to go to the boarding area to see if there is a possibility to get the flight otherwise we have to board later flight.
So, after showing all our frustration and anger we dragged ourselves to the boarding gate K73 where we have to wait in the queue (just like in India) to know that we cannot board the flight.
Phew...now is the limit so we went to the helpdesk and told them about the experience we had with Iberia. The guy took our boarding passes and issued us the new boarding passes for the next flight which was 3 hrs later along with the lunch coupons. I was very disappointed as I wanted to watch the IPL finale on sunday and we were stranded at the same stupid Madrid airport where we were for the 4th time in the whole trip.
But then the helpdesk guy told us that we can claim for compensation as the flight was more that 3 hrs delayed and for that we have to go to ticket sales counter. We had no idea how much we gonna claim so we moved towards the counter and there was a long queue waiting and most of them were for the compensation only. After waiting there for half an hour we got our chance to talk to the person and told him the whole story. He asked very politely all of ours passports and tickets. After some formalities we got our compensation and an apology from him saying "Sorry for the inconvinience caused".
Then we straight went to use our Lunch coupons. It was a buffet where we can have one main-course dish, 1 salad, 1 dessert and any one drink (wine, beer, soft drink).
The FOOD :)
After having lunch we boarded our flight and hoping to have everything normal after that and luckily this time no more surprises waiting for us.
BTW.... The amount we got from compensation was a whopping sum of 250 euros per person :)
Trip Calculations :
Total flight ticket: 155 euros
Hotel Charges: 100 euros
Other expenses: 100 euros (approx.)
Refund amount claimed: 250 euros.
355 - 250 = 105 =~ 100 euros :))))) Ant bhala to sab bhala
End Conclusion : Hum to Iberia ke Jamai ban ke Spain ghumne gaye the. Khaya peeya, 4 star hotel me stay kiya aur wapasi me shagun ka envelope bhi mil gaya.
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