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jbalonso777

Hello everyone
And welcome
To the non aviation part of my India trip.
I’ll keep this pretty short because this is an aviation forum after all!

MUMBAI!
So, it took me a Jet Airways Boeing 737 to get to Mumbai. It was a great build up to what was by far one of the best trips I’ve ever been on! Of course, the WAY before time arrival didn’t help my cause, for the simple reason being that our planned rendezvous time was more than two hours away! Sitting around and people watching at Terminal 2, it was interesting to see so many different kinds of people just going about their business.

And then came in Yatrik! We headed over to the Starbucks cafe wherein Hiren and Sanjeev Da came in. While I was just a silent observer of all conversations, I did take great interest. The lounges in T2, credit card benefits with an airline, Hiren’s next assignment in Abidjan, etc. Of course, SaMDa’s rant about Vistara’s box in a box was hilarious! Laughing

Found a couple of screws on the ground around Mumbai’s Terminal 2, which to date remains a mystery.

Vistara happened.

NEW DELHI!
Once in Delhi, it was great to see my brother pick me up from Delhi’s impressive T3. What was more impressive was the number ‘galiyaan’ going around just because: a) people were not calm about cars moving even if they just came to a stop, or b) people did not move their cars after a long wait. Oh well. Car took a while arrive, but it eventually did. While the drive was quite long (and the fact that I thought walking it all the way Rolling Eyes

), it was pretty close do the airport. Things did not go off to a very good start because the previous night I was out partying…and I forgot quite a few things…one of them being a credit card copy for the hotel voucher! The people at check in, however, made no fuss about this and took a Rs.2000 deposit instead. Fair enough!

The Vivanta Dwarka was the TATA service I was looking for onboard Vistara to be honest. A nice welcome drink juice, and courteous right to the room. And boy was I excited as soon as the nice man showed us around the room: a SriLankan Airlines A320! Yes, I’ve never been so excited to see an Airbus A320 but because it was SriLankan Airlines, I was happy. Smile

Waited for a bit before calling Shivendra sir. It was nice to talk yet to another aviation geek! I was super excited to meet him, and the spotting that followed. Shivendra sir warmly welcomed my brother and I as we drove to a spot that was right alongside the first taxiway going on to Runway 29. On the way, I was very proud to hear my brother ask me if an inbound Air India plane was a Boeing 787 (or as he put it - the Dream)liner), and how right he was! Very Happy

I will put up the spotting pictures up here very soon, do stay tuned!

As the soon went away, it was time to meet yet another aviation. The prominent member, Sumantra sir! Our rendezvous location was the USI Canteen in New Delhi, a place Sumantra sir suggested - one can always trust his guts when it comes to food! And we did have a lovely evening. Like I mentioned in the trip report itself, us three aviation geeks went on and on about aviation, while my brother and Mrs. D. R. tried to break these conversations up which were funny Laughing

And of course, little Soham! What a lovely young boy! He was pre-occupied with his gaming devices, but he was joy to look at, going about his things. The food amazing. I did feel a bit embarrassed not only to take pictures, but because I was about to eat so much, I saved myself the embarrassment of getting my phone out every time Embarassed

Like I said, there were times I just blanked out…the previous day I was out doing errands, the party (with Dobby involved), being up pretty much the entire night, 9W255, the Mumbai meet, UK944 and here I was..sleepy? Very. I was very sleepy and hiding the yawns were tricky!
Sumantra sir, Shivendra sir, I do feel bad for just being a silent observer in the ‘who gets to pay’ battle. Rest assured, now that I’m earning, the next rendezvous is on me! Smile

That night, I found it a bit tricky to sleep. Amazing isn’t it? Sleepy when around people, and then scumbag brain decides to have the wildest thoughts right when sleep is required! The next morning, it was all about packing and basically…waiting to depart. Some more spotting happened (again, pictures soon!), but my brother had some work to do. And hence he ‘ditched’ me at the airport a good three hours before departure. Crying or Very sad

Your's truly..spotting!

View from the room

The room...in a mess already. Rolling Eyes

While the long wait wasn’t helped by the fact that the flight was delayed
Air India did an amazing job.

KOLKATA!
Kolkata. Four days in Kolkata! It started off by meeting some relatives, who reminded me of embarrassing childhood recounts and offered some sweets. Then that was followed by visiting Mum’s friend who also reminded me of embarrassing childhood recounts and offered sweets. Things that happen in Kolkata…right there! Dinner followed at the prominent Peter Cat restaurant. A classy place that. Chelo kebab? Of course!

Chelo Kebab

Luchee ar aloo'r dom, jalebi (basically puri and potato curry)

Kolkata Knight Riders being a danger? Not to Mumbai Indians in 2015 at least! Wink

They got the new local trains! That's exciting. Smile

School, from 2004 to 2007. Smile

Hmm...

The next three days were in our to-be residence once my parents moved back to Kolkata (they’re in CCU right now..JBR and JFE took Dobby and the rest of the family from CMB to CCU via BOM. Tremendous job by Jet Airways!). Unfortunately, as is with Kolkata..everything took a lot of time! The traffic, the slow pace of work…eughhhh.
There was another huge family gathering which included mandatory Kolkata biriyani. Ohh bliss! Very Happy

Had some shopping to do for Grand Forks and University Life, while I also had to get my camera mirror cleaned (Rs. 500 vs a lot more paid in Hong Kong Rolling Eyes

and friendly Bengali people an added bonus!) Rains created havoc at times. Kinda hilarious to see Kolkata get so flooded even with the least serious of rains!

BIRIYANIII!

The answer to every question in the universe would be solved if only this mess was untangled!

Kolkata rolls, but of course!

MUMBAI AGAIN!
After a lot more food and embarrassing childhood recounts, it was down toVT-JLH to take me to Mumbai, a city I absolutely adore!
The first evening I was with my elder cousin who gave me college life tips over beer and traditional Mumbai food at the Bombay Bronx bar. Little did I know that in a hospital in France something really sad happened.

Ahh the Amul ads. Classy as ever!

Always loved having breakfast from Irani joints. Awesome delicious stuff!

Phoenix mills mall..but of course!

Former residence..the Marathon NextGen! (Nothing compared to the 737-600/700/800/900 Wink

)

Epic Margherita at the TGIF

Rain rain so much rain!

Jules Bianchi had a very bad accident at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix in October. His car skidded across the astroturf, under a recovery truck that was already out to rescue another stricken car. Jules’ head hit the under side of the truck, injuring his head significantly. Early morning on the 18th of July (IST), Jules succumbed to his injuries. This was the first track incident related death to an F1 driver since the great Ayrton Senna in 1993. Jules scored the minnows’ Marussia first points in their 5 year F1 career at the 2014 Monaco Grand Prix, raising eyebrows by outperforming a dog of a Ferrari at one of the test sessions (being quicker than the senior Ferrari drivers), while also stunning Ferrari in a qualifying session. 2016, Bianchi was supposed to drive a Ferrari alongside Sebastian Vettel.
On winning the 2015 Hungarian GP, the first after Bianchi’s death, Vettel said: Merci Jules, cette victoire est pour toi. [Thanks Jules, this victory is for you]. You will always be in our hearts. We know that sooner or later Jules would have been a part of this team.

Ciao Jules.

On to the trip in Mumbai, I also got to get drenched in the rain (which proved to be a headache as you’ve read from the AI966 trip report, I hope!) while having the opportunity to be on the Mumbai local. What fun! Well, I guess that’s pretty much it! The three flights followed, it was now time to enjoy Sri Lanka, one last time….

I was, once again, horrified to see AC locomotives in Mumbai. But this has been around for quite a while! Farewell, AC/DC locomotives Sad

One regular WAP5, the Amul WAP5 and a WAP4 (you can just about see it..)

Dheemi (slow) local!

Ahh Churchgate....you bring back so many fond memories!

And a subway sandwich to end it all!

Regards
Jishnu
_________________
http://www.youtube.com/c/JishnuBasu777

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

Any Jishnu piece is a masterpiece, however short it may be.
And coming after quite a while, it is really a treat!
This piece is quite aviation-related, since it strings together the tale of MBAI, with neat pointers to aviation and non-aviation-related incidents all throughout.
And thank you for a mention again, The Wife and Junior have pleasant memories of our meeting, with Dada, and Shukla-ji. We treasure both your gift, the cup and the cap: `the cup presented by the Uncle from Sri Lanka', and the lovely black cap from Shukla-ji, which he proudly strutted around in, on our 09 October visit to the IAF Museum at Palam. A Black Cap signifies New Zeal...and more! Smile

A UL A320 for you from the Vivanta, ha ha!
Yes, we look forward to the spotting pictures!
The silhouette picture looks...as fabulous as it did, when you had shown us, that time.
Embarassing childhood recounts! ha ha! I guess we all have had our share of these gems.
And thank you for the food pictures! And come on, luchI isn't quite a pUrI. The latter is more wholesome (pun highly unintended!), being made from whole wheat flour ATTA, whereas luchI is blissful refined flour maidA. How can a Bong imagine eating anything not sinful? Razz

Nice one about the Kolkata Knight Riders!
Bong biriyAnI...where is the ubiquitous potato? Or did you consume it as I do...at first sight? The Bong variety came into existence with Nawab Siraj-ud-Dowla from Awadh, and is a milder variety of the Lucknow-style, with an added bit of jaggery, or at times, caramelised sugar.
The Amul topicals...Rahul DeCunha's firm does it amazingly well, across th years!
Thank you...this made me re-read your individual trip reports, and enjoy them one more time, along with the gems in this part as well.
Cheers, Sumantra.

jbalonso777 · Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2015 2:46 am Post subject:

Thanks so much again, sir! I'm glad you've sticked around for the non aviation part, too! Very Happy

I have earned the title of Uncle? Shocked

I though that was reserved for another member on this forum Razz

Spot on sir - the luchi cannot be compared to a puri, never. They both are way different from each other! My bad..

I'm not too much a fan of the potato to be honest! Sad

I always skip that when possible. Since members of the family are quite a big fan of this, I don't feel too particularly bad for passing the potato! Smile

The AMUL ad for the first A380 to land in India got me super excited! Very Happy

Regards
Jish
_________________
http://www.youtube.com/c/JishnuBasu777

shivendrashukla · Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2015 9:08 pm Post subject:

Jish,

A very nice TR about the non AV stuff. It was a pleasure to have you here and look forward to meeting you again soon. And yes, you may pay the bill this time Razz

Cheers
Shivendra