England as I see..

Some pictures of the suburban England..


Tiled roofs and old fashioned houses...


Houses seemingly deserted... but streets crowded with houses...

Srilanka on track

As namma bengaLoorina antara rashtreetya vimAna nildANa (international airport) comes up, I had the opportunity to travel in Srilankan airlines recently. Found somethings of Srilankan airlines and the international airport at Colombo really impressive. Here are some of the things that caught my eye.

First the Airlines,

• Good service.
• Smiling crew - Both in the flight as well as at the baggage checkin area. Professional to the core. Full of courtesy and elan.
  
• Young Crew (any resemblance to namma airlines is intentional.. :P..)
• Stick to their culture. The females wear the traditional Lankan dresses. I think men should also follow suite. A decent white shirt with a Panche should not be too much to ask for. Even Indian carriers should follow it. Kingfisher for example.. errrrr... ;)
  
• Though they seem to have second hand flights (the ones I used were strikingly similar to the Indian Airlines and the Air France flights), they've maintained it well.
• Good vegetarian food from the subcontinent.. (I'm partial here. But doesn't harm anyone. West has only a 'special meals' concept.. :)..)
• There was no chaos in boarding. Well planned and executed boarding. Usually, people are highly restless and create havoc.
  
• Timeliness
• At least the flights I used, stuck to the schedules to the T.
  
• Baggage!!
• Most important thing for any traveler. I was allowed to carry 30KGs as against the standard 20KGs.
• I got the baggage undamaged, even after a change over at Colombo and this being a through checkin. Keep it up!

Now the Bandaranayake International airport at Colombo

• International standards
  
• Could hardly get a glimpse of the bays for parking. But whatever I saw, was very nicely laid out. But I guess its not as great as the CDG.
  
• The floors are all granite and neatly kept. The feel is very much similar to the malls we find in Bangalore.
  
• Long walkways to the terminals and large waiting rooms on both sides of it.
• The walkways have escalator-like converyor belts at places to ease out the long walks with the baggage.
• Good ergonomic seats all over.
  
• Waiting rooms large enough to hold
• Big terminal indicators with black background and yellow alphabets/numbers.
• Plasma screens indicating the schedule of flights. Do we see the TV like programming in India? This is the next level of it.
• This is highly accessible and there are wheel chairs all over.
• TVs with international programming, like VH1 were being played. Not a big deal, but still.
  
• Airport crew
  
• There is an Airport crew, not just the Airline crew, for help. All females clad in red sarees and men in strict blue and white uniforms. All speaking English and more than proactive and courteous. Any 'where-am-I' kind of expression on your face will be greeted and prompted for help. Isn't that proactive?
• Airport crew has these small 4 wheeler vehicles to move around in the airport. These are very silent and smooth vehicles. Way to
  go!!

Overall a nice experience!! hmm. The penchant among the Lankans to uphold thier heritage and culture while adapting to the flat globalised world, was most conspicuous. Looking at all the developed countries, I think this pride among people is the one which creates a unique, respectable image in the world. A "must-have" characteristic for any developing country.. in my honest opinion.

Way to go Lanka!!.. Ayubowan!! (A greeting in Simhalese meaning 'may you live long')

scary story..

I returned home at 9:30 pm on a Friday, after walking for 10 mins on deserted streets, trying to avoid the drunken kids (yes.. thats how they looked) and pub goers. I open the door and switch on the path way light. House is deserted too. Nobody is in yet. I'm the least workaholic in this house I guess.. :(..

I climb the stairs and open my room and find some food items. Hungry, I take it towards the kitchen in the ground floor.

Screech.. screech.. dab .. click.. I hear some sounds in the first floor.. I think 'OK may be the next door neighbor's house. With houses so closeby, what else to expect?'.. I continue with the heating up stuff.

I remembered that I had to get the spoon from my bag, so I climb the stairs again, open the room and push the door behind me.

Screech Screech dab click... the rest room door this time. I peep out of the half open door and I can see the light trying to squeeze out of the door. 'May be I didn't observe. Guys must have left it on. Let me turn it off when I go back'. I continue with searching for the spoon in the already messed up baggage. I found it ultimately!!! I put my hand to rescue the poor spoon..

Screech screech dab click... Quickly I leave the spoon in the bag, trun around and look out the door of my room. Rest room door is open and light is switched off.. :(... But all the doors in the floor are closed and no light peeping out of these closed doors too ... phew... which means there is someone in this house, other than me........................

Reminds me of Ram Gopal Varma's Bhoot...

Then I decide, let me wait till the ones I can see return. They do, and I ask them do they also hear sounds like I did. 'Yes' came the answer. It is an recluse old woman, who avoids interactions with other beings on this planet...

First ever ticket..

No.. this is not a movie ticket... this was the ticket I got for violating parking restrictions in US.. :)..
What a sense of achievement..