King style

This is the welcome kit provided by Kingfisher when you apply for the frequent flier program.

For someone who is used to getting just a number on the internet followed by a plain card, it was a shocker to me!! The kingfisher flight experience in itself was way unusual - for someone used to sitting in rickety old fleet of Northwest/American Airlines with hardly any entertainment and soda/peanuts as the only refreshment served, the spanking new RED fleet of kingfisher with individual monitors, awesome food, and the little bag of welcome goodies everytime you fly, was a "HAAN?!!" experience!

Unfortunately for a skeptic like me, instead of feeling like a satisfied customer, it ends up feeling like a sticky affair.. Too much of red, too much of warmth and too much of long legs in short skirts.. (he he..)

Somehow it brings back teenage memories of being followed closely on the road by a stranger and complimented ad nauseum..

When i fly, my expectations are for the flight to be dang on time, have friendly cabin crew who are efficient and make social conversation (i wonder if any frequent flier gives a damn about the dress as long as it is neat), a pilot/announcer who communicates flight details frequently along with a dose of good humor and someone's there at the door with a smile when i push off.. everything else, for a frequent flier, is dispensable..

i remember, one tired friday evening, on a AA return flight to chicago, the flight reached half hour ahead of the scheduled time.. the announcer said with a delight in her voice "we have reached early today, next time we are late please do remember this instance" the whole flight broke out in a chuckle and it washed away most of my work-week's fatigue..

now THAT's what i would like from an air commute, the company of an acquaintance who is efficient in getting me to the destination, topped with cordial words and body language. NOT a sticky red hollywood street character showering hugs and kisses!!

Zen and the art of subtle correction...

In many ways I find Zen very similar to Gandhiism, with Zen having a tinge of arrogance and sarcasm that I find adorable.. In my mind a Zen teacher is like a mix of Gandhi and Pai Mei of KillBill..

Here is a Zen story that teaches how to correct without saying the obvious:

Many pupils were studying meditation under the Zen master Sengai. One of them used to arise at night, climb over the temple wall, and go to town on a pleasure jaunt.

Sengai, inspecting the dormitory quarters, found this pupil missing one night and also discovered the high stool he had used to scale the wall. Sengai removed the stool and stood there in its place.

When the wanderer returned, not knowing that Sengai was the stool, he put his feet on the master's head and jumped down into the grounds. Discovering what he had done, he was aghast.

Sengai said: "It is very chilly in the early morning. Do be careful not to catch cold yourself."

The pupil never went out at night again.

Bengalooru Habba

Sunday evening was a treat at the Palace Grounds - we went to the bengalooru habba - a b'lore cultural event that happens every dec. Yesterday was the grand finale of the 8 day long event.

It started with Rangageethe - select songs from theatres (i.e., live theatres - yatras) - performed by B.Jayashree, that lady had some dum in her voice, it was ecstatic..She and her group seemed to be enjoying the performance to the hilt!



Then came some fashion shows - raga watches, peter england shirts (that asbsolootly bored us) and a wow bridal collection! The surprise of the evening was Arjun Rampal, with his wife Meher Jessia. Then entered Malaika arora (the chaiya chaiya lady) , she was alright.. The show wound up with kailash kher (mangal pandey ka singer). there were some good fireworks overhead throughout the evening..


the best part of the evening was, imho, that the tickets were freee!! and we by luck got tickets that had 'vvip' written on them (the hubba organizers must be devoted promoters of lady luck!) and got to sit right near the stage!

most good things in life come without a price tag haan! :)

here is bellary road in rain - we went on this road for the first time.

That Chennai of ours..

Last weekend I was in Chennai - here are some of the observations:
- ze weather!!! warm sun with the coastal breeze - no s ign of the signature humidity...mmmm... there was som ething in the breeze that brought back memories of scho ol and college days - a feeling of " there is nothing i can't achieve"

- Autowallas - a marked difference from the rude bangalore ones! yes they will pinch an extra 5-10Rs. from you but they will gladly go anywhere u want them to go!


- Elliots beach - where is that vast expense of sand ending in rolling waves?! now it is bajji shops, kadlai shops and bhutta shops covering most of the sand, and there is such a crowd at the coast getting a little space to sit down is tough. heard that post - 10pm it is like old elliots though..

- T-nagar - Retail boom is o-so-obvious here! Pothys has dropped its kachda image of Raja Rani and stuff and become a la spencer with very affordable collection..branded and non-branded apparel side by side. a clean food court on the topmost floor... 6 glaswalled elevators.. each floor decorated according to its collection (the pattu saree floor was traditionally decorated with lamps, the western wear floor had contemporary posters)... Saw the poshlooking Saravana Stores building, heard that they ahve everything under one roof and very affordable.. .sorry b'lore, henceforth my shopping bucks go to chennai..