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

Hi there, Hyder...abad! Feb'14

http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic14365.html

83.1 A weird title again, a bit of history.

I request the reader not to get put off by the weirdness of the
titles, which distort names and other words, in a lame attempt at
word-play. This was to be an official trip to Hyderabad. Yes, the
same city which is often termed as `Hydra'-`bad' (pronounced as
these two words are pronounced, in English) by some of my
friends from the erstwhile undivided Andhra Pradesh.
Hyderabad is a tourist's delight.
The Wife and I had a memorable trip to the place in 2008, where we
had come into the Begumpet airport on IC 942, and gone back to
Delhi on the Secunderabad Rajdhani Express.

Our itinerary had been the following:
Set out 01 Feb (Fri) from New Delhi for Hyderabad
IC 942: Indian Airlines (A320) [PNR: REMLYG, RHAAI7]
New Delhi (DEL) - Hyderabad (HYD)
[09:50 am - 11:50 am]

Set out 06 Feb (Wed) for New Delhi at 07:25 am
2437 Secunderabad Rajdhani Express, III Tier AC
Coach B4, Berths 49, 52 (Lower, Lower) [PNR 140-2513248]
to reach Hazrat Nizamuddin Feb 07 (Thu) at 05:50 am

I had come in on official work, and used my Flying Returns (the
then joint frequent flyer program on the pre-merger Air India,
and Indian Airlines) to garner enough points for The Wife to
accompany me, on the onward leg. The reason for choosing the
flight option on the onward leg was to allow The Wife to
experience the fascinating views from Terminal 1-A (closed since
quite a few years, now) at Delhi's IGI Airport. This was the Air
India terminal, while the arrival terminal was Terminal 1-C,
which was used by all airlines, at that time. Terminal 1-D was
under construction, and Terminal 1-B (later razed to the ground)
was used by most private airlines.

We had used this opportunity to visit most of Hyderabad's
tourist attractions: the Golconda fort with its impressive
light-and-sound programme, Ramoji Rao Film City, the Salar Jung museum,
The Charminar, a bit of the Mecca Masjid, the Chaumahala palace,
and the Hussain Sagar lake (with its slightly disappointing
`Eat Street' on one bank), and the Shilparamam, and HiTech City.
And yes, we also went to Abid's and searched for pearls close-by,
in spite of having been given pearls of wisdom.
(Yes, both The Wife and I had been given pearls of wisdom, albeit
quite separate. about shopping around in Hyderabad),
I guess we were able to see most of the tourist attractions,
apart from the Quli Qutub Shahi tombs.

My next trip to Hyderabad was in 2009, and the itinerary was as follows:

Set out 13 Feb (Fri) for Hyderabad from New Delhi
IC839: Air India (A320) [Seat 27F, PNR: RQBX6Y]
New Delhi (DEL) - Hyderabad (HYD)
[07:30 pm - 09:30 pm]

Set out 16 Feb (Mon) for New Delhi from Hyderabad
IC939: Air India (A320) [Seat 27F, PNR: RCZTZ4]
Hyderabad (HYD) - New Delhi (DEL)
[06:40 am - 08:35 am]

There was a February 2010 trip to the city, too.

Set out 12 Feb (Fri) for Hyderabad from New Delhi
IC 839: Air India (A321) [Seat: 09F; PNR: RBFXD8]
New Delhi (DEL) - Hyderabad (HYD)
[04:55 pm - 06:55 pm]

Set out 13 Feb (Sat) for New Delhi from Hyderabad
IC 941: Air India (A321) [Seat: 11F; PNR: RBFXD8]
Hyderabad (HYD) - New Delhi (DEL)
[04:15 pm - 06:35 pm]

And that was that.
I have had quite a few trips to other close-by places, via Hyderabad.
My January 2010 Nanded trip had been via Hyderabad.
My December 2013 Gulbarga trip was via Hyderabad.
78. khilte hain gul yahAn: Gulbarga, Dec'13
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic14268.html
My December 2013 Nanded trip was again via Hyderabad.
80. www:Work-Weakened Weekend.Half-Dead at Nanded,Dec'13
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic14348.html
There would be another trip to Gulbarga in 2014, via Hyderabad.

83.2 Planning for the trip

We were supposed to set out on Sunday the 23rd of February, 2014.
Till Friday, the official travel agent had not got back to us.
Suddenly, the phone rang, with the information that there were no
seats available on AI 127, the ORD-DEL-HYD flight.
I quickly told a few friends about my bad luck, at missing out on
yet another domestic wide-body experience. Forum member Rishul
pointed out that filling up 303 Economy class B77W seats on a
domestic leg was quite something. Indeed, the Chicago route is
one of the best performing routes for Air India, where getting a
seat on the domestic leg between Delhi and Hyderabad actually
becomes quite difficult. While American Airlines may not exactly
be a benchmark for comparison, Air India had trumped it soundly,
on the same leg, forcing them to withdraw their ORD-DEL flight.
Air India's other star performing flight was the `Gujju Express',
the AI 191/144 combination, AMD-BOM-EWR and back, where even the
front-heavy B77Ls made good money over the years (taking over
from the B744s, which had a CDG stop in between BOM and EWR),
owing to great loads (passenger and cargo), and good yields.
There are a few domestic wide-body routes in India, and perhaps
the AI 101/102 JFK flight offers a chance to get a seat even when
planned a few days before the flight. The domestic loads are
certainly not usually up to the brim, and Air India uses this route to
often rotate a particular plane via its heavy Engineering base at Mumbai.

I resigned to my fate. The group wanted to return to Delhi on the
penultimate Air India flight of the day, AI 840, and not on the
last one (AI 127, the Chicago flight!), so I had no choice at
this end, for the planned trip. I had been hoping to get a ride
on the other leg of the Chicago flight, AI 126, but the flight
had been all booked out, as I have described above.
We would be picked up, and dropped at our place of work, where we
had to go together, and come back together as well, else I may
have liked to book my tickets separately.
Finally, it would be AI 839 on an A321 [08:25 pm - 10:45 pm], which would
reach Hyderabad a bit too late for my liking, and
AI 840 on an A319 [07:10 pm - 09:20 pm], which would depart from
Hyderabad a bit too early for my liking.
I shared my lament with a friend, who while not as aviation-inclined as I am,
at least understands my craze for the same, and more
importantly, puts up with it. I had booked a taxi to the airport.
I told him that I would come with a vehicle to pick him up.
He stays on the third floor of a building.
``Do not bother about getting the vehicle up, I will come down
the stairs,'' he added, with his usual touch of humour.

``Hyderabadi biriyAnI tonight?'' he asked.
Does AI 839 serve this on the flight, I asked, quite expectantly.
I then told him that we had not managed to find a single seat on
our earlier planned AI 127, the 5pm flight. That also put paid to
our plans of having the snack on board, and then stop by at the
famous outlet for authentic Hyderabadi biriyAnI in the
city. (The RGIA at Shamshabad, Hyderabad has an outlet for this,
from what I remembered.) However, we would now have dinner on
board the flight itself, and we would reach our destination in
the city close to midnight.

83.2 At the airport

The automobiles at the airport were exactly the same as I had
seen about a week earlier, when I had my Indore trip, on Jet Konnect.
82. Indore on Jet's Props, Feb'14
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic14356.html
However, the Ford Ecosport did look a bit delightfully different,
when the daytime illumination (with the ambient daylight in the
IGIA T3) was absent.

As we went up the ramp towards the Air India domestic departures
gates, the red Volvo S60 was also still there.

This became the subject of some leg-pulling.
One of us ventured to actually ask about the cost of this vehicle.
``44 lakhs.''
We were there right behind, to pull his leg.
``Red colour, hmmm...you will be in the red if you get interested in this.''
``You think I'll buy it in black?''
``No, that would give me the blues.''
The discussion was getting colourful, and
green...er, grin was the colour in question.
The discussion started with these PJs and poor puns, but moved
towards more interesting matters.
Two of us (including Yours Truly, of course) evinced a
more-than-academic interest in the F&B outlet, more specifically,
the beverages, and even more specifically, beverages with a
specific gravity less than one.
``Sumantra, you owe us a beer, at least, you have got us into the
airport a bit too early,''
I was game, However, one of our group was a complete teetotaller,
who did not evince any interest in volatile liquids.
Hence, we settled on coffee as a compromise.
We decided to patronise the Costa coffee outlet.
With a slice of sinful chocolate cake, of course.
I was getting hungry, and while I hated to start my digestive
process before the Air India meal arrived, I could not resist the
bliss of having that chocolate cake, with gooey chocolate oozing
out of the middle, which was stalking my thoughts all this while,
while were were selecting the particular beverage we would partake of.
It would be complementary, the gentleman at the counter announced.
I could scarcely hide my joy.
A companion noticed it, and said that the only thing that would
be complementary for me would be the calories.
I could scarcely take that as a compliment.

As we waited for the three others in the group who would be
joining us on the flight tonight (two others would join us in
Hyderabad the next morning), two of us fired up our laptops to work,
and one of us fired himself up, to prevent the others from working.
No guesses as to who this third pixie might be.
I noticed the domestic remote stands on the south-facing cusp of
the terminal. Prominent among the sights included
three Air India Regional CR7s, and one Air India A332, VT-IWA.
There was an Air India Regional AT4 also parked at the side, in
the old Alliance Air colours. BO, the `Smelly plane' VT-ABO, I guessed.
I could not read the registration in the darkness.
My attention turned towards my two colleagues beside me.
``A little alcohol is the best night-cap,'' said I.
``Second-best,'' added a colleague, with a wink.
He then mentioned the National Geographic channel.
``NatGeo, the channel with adult content? Whenever I turn it on,
there are scenes of mating, and killings...blood, gore and violence,'' he added.

The schedule for the onward trip was the following:

Set out 23 Feb (Sun) for Hyderabad from New Delhi
AI 839: Air India (A321) [Seat: 10F; PNR: Y36QG]
IGIA T3, New Delhi - Rajiv Gandhi Int'l Airport, Hyderabad
New Delhi (DEL) - Hyderabad (HYD)
[08:25 pm - 10:45 pm]

I'll just come from the toilet, said a colleague.
We noted that in our office complex, one did not need signage
to lead one to the toilets. The stench itself sufficed.
Talking of signage, I was reminded of my earlier job, in Mumbai.
On our campus, there was a small hospital.
A colleague noted that the situation was quite ominous.
There were signs leading to the hospital, but none leading out of it.

We boarded well before time. In the darkness, I managed to spot
the registration of the A321 on the wing, after getting seated.
It was pH, the newer `acidic/basic' plane VT-PPH.
Forum member Ameya, knowing my priorities in life quite well,
wished me a safe flight and a good dinner.
`` `hope the acidic juices are good,'' he texted me.
Yes, else I might get a bit caustic, I thought.
We had boarded from gate 30B, and would take off from the new
runway 29. Captain A. S. Dhaliwal was in command.
This was a familiar name! I have flown with Captain Dhaliwal at
least twice before. From my notes, I figured out that I have
flown with him in 2012 twice, on the NAG-DEL segment on AI 469,
on 21 Jan (Sat), and 13 Feb (Mon), on AI 633 on the IDR-BHO-DEL segment.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a very clean plane, without the
grime marks one has seen of late on the newer narrow-bodies in
the Air India fleet. The reader would remember my friend
Mr. J. R. R. Talking, from not Middle Earth, but Central
India, Bhopal. He had had a few bad experiences on board the Air
India narrow-body fleet of late, with dirty planes, and
non-functional IFE. I was pleasantly surprised at the nice
environment inside. The crew were nice, and went about their
tasks promptly, and cheerfully. Most of them were young men and
women, and their youthful enthusiasm showed in their work.

83.3 Hyderabadi biriyAnI on board!

SkyGourmet was the catering supplier, for today's flight.
The cabin crew got into action as soon as Captain Dhaliwal switched off
the seat belt sign. The food trays came in quite quickly.
I opened the cover on the main course box, and clicked a snap.

It started with an extremely soft and fresh brown bun.
It was nice to see Air India continue with this trend, to have a
healthier alternative to a white bread, as a more-or-less standard
item on long flights at meal-times.
The Amul butter chiplet was rock-hard, just as I had wanted it to be.
It was a great start to the meal.
The next target was the salad, which was as fresh as it looked.
The lemon slice was just inviting a squeeze.
However, it got subjected to a throttle.
As always, I had squeezed the last drop out of the lemon onto the
salad, so that the juice would permeate the contents of the box,
and some of it would get left behind, along with the pepper, and
a pinch of salt. There were slices of the red carrot, some tomato,
and some great crunchy cucumber, with the skins on.
I was on Cloud Nine.

The main course had some nice and soft lentils to the left.
The lentils had been boiled, and were done just right: neither
were the grains separate and under-cooked, nor was it over-done
with the effect being a yellow soggy mass. I had poured the
remaining salad-modulated lemon juice over this mixture.
Need I say more?

The item to the right was Hyderabadi chicken biriyAnI!
Yes, I was overjoyed beyond words.
I could sense the marination in the generous chunks of chicken
that adored the bowl. The pieces were rich, succulent, soft and
extremely flavourful. The long-grained aromatic bAsmatI
rice lent its own flavour to the rich combination of spices that
had been added along with the other contents of the rice-based
dish (shredded vegetables), which had been cooked over a slow
flame. It was delicious!

My neighbour had opted for the vegetarian tray. In the main course,
the lentils part was the same, but the middle had some
long-grained aromatic bAsmatI rice, but in the form of
cumin rice/pulAo/pilaf, The right side had a pAlak paneer,
cottage cheese pieces done in a spinach puree-based gravy.
By this while, the beverage service had started.
Yes, it was coffee for me, which had again come before the Indian
all-time favourite, tea. This was poured from an old Indian
Airlines neat and stylish long necked jug. However, those were
perhaps the only nice words I could use to describe the coffee,
and the environs from which it originated.
It was completely flat and bland, the ubiquitous offering of the
multi-national brand, which passes off as coffee.
It as hot, however.

The dessert was simply awesome. It was a banana pie. It had a
light covering (which itself was braised with some sugar syrup),
with the interior having some firm but tasteful banana-based
mash, baked to perfection. This was served on a bed of some thick
custard, which was not too sweet in itself, to divert the
taster's attention from the culinary masterpiece over it, at the
same time, complement its taste beautifully.

83.4 At Hyderabad. From midnight, to breakfast-time.

Captain Dhaliwal landed the plane like a feather. We taxied to
the gate (an aero-bridge gate). We parked right beside a
sharkletted Indigo bird, VT-IFK. We were received outside the
airport by our hosts, who took us to our place of accommodation.
It was close to midnight by the time we reached there.
We hit the bed very soon.

I had a disturbed sleep, and woke up hurriedly.
Twice, to be precise.
Once at 04:00 am, when the alarm rang, and once at 05:00 am, when
alarm bells rang inside my head, imploring me to get up.
The walls of the rooms were quite thin, enabling one to hear the
goings-on in the adjacent room as well.
Most of us colleagues had got adjacent rooms.
I heard sounds of some clumsy movements in the adjacent room.
I also knew who was responsible for them (in other words, I knew
who my neighbour was), and I picturised myself
in the same sleepy situation, and let out a chuckle.
Joy has been defined as that unique state of mind, a natural
human emotion, arising out of seeing one's neighbour in an uneasy situation.

My neighbour was the same witty person,
whom I had picked up from his residence at Delhi.
He was however not in one of his best moods.
He was stumbling against items in the room, having woken up with a start.
To my impish delight, I heard sounds of him striking
against stationary objects, which were disturbed from their reverie, to
come under the sudden influence of gravity, and violently hit the floor.
``Don't break things,'' I said quite aloud,
``you will have to pay for the damages.''
``What...Sumantra? Where?''
``The walls have ears,'' I chuckled at his apparent discomfort.
``And you will soon count your years. Your days are numbered.''
``Hmm...''
``Can you hear me?''
``Everything. I know exactly what you did last night.
Including the exact number of farts.''
``Don't you sleep at night?''
``What is the meeting for, then?''
I was waiting for a morning tea, which showed no signs of coming in.
It was to urge my body with some hydraulic pressure and warmth,
for something which showed no signs of coming out.
The tension was palpable.
When the tea finally arrived, I noticed that I was not alone in my discomfort.
Another colleague had just taken his cup, and the gentleman
serving the tea was urging the tea drops to try and make a
semblance of filling a tiny cup. He failed, much to my
colleague's delight, and my frustration.
I gave an understanding chuckle, as he was doubling over with laughter.
``Sumantra...Quanti-tea...pi-tea''
A tea and the hurried sequence of event that followed,
I was ready to hit the breakfast table at 08:05 am.
My immediate neighbour was also ready, but he just could not
locate the key to his room.
``What was that sound of something metallic falling out of your
window, last night?''

83.5 Breakfast

Two AlU parAnThAs with ground-nut and tomato paste, and a
cut of syrupy tea later, we were ready to face the day. The fried
whole wheat pancake with a potato filling inside would do the northern
part of the country proud, but I was disappointed at not getting
a typical South Indian breakfast. We also
figured out that half of us had had a nice Andhra-style dinner at
midnight after coming in, which put a glutton like me, to shame.
We also got news about two of our colleagues still stuck up at
Delhi, owing to some un-seasonal fog. Fog affects Delhi airport
for about 15 days in a year. This season, it had set in quite
early, way back in November, and it was February now. The duo
would perhaps come in to Hyderabad, rush to the place of work,
and then very soon, have to head back again.
The eight of us would take the same flight back to Delhi.

83.6 Catching the flight back home

The meeting ended quite late, as we sped towards our
place of accommodation, to pick up our bags, and check out.
The itinerary for the return flight was as follows:

Set out 24 Feb (Mon) for New Delhi from Hyderabad
AI 840: Air India (A319) [Seat: 05F; PNR: Y377J]
Rajiv Gandhi Int'l Airport, Hyderabad - IGIA T3, New Delhi
Hyderabad (HYD) - New Delhi (DEL)
[07:10 pm - 09:20 pm]

The check-in and security check happened without much ado.
My friend was subjected to a secondary check, from which he came
out sheepishly. ``You were showing an undue interest in the
biscuits, I guess they were gold biscuits.''

There was an Audio Q3 on view. The GMR group, which runs the two
superb airports at Delhi and Hyderabad, seems to have a passion
for exhibiting cars, especially high-end ones.

Here is another view of the same.

We went to the extreme left of the terminal,
close to which our assigned gate was.

My friend found me a bit distracted, as I had just sighted an
Air Costa Embraer E-170, standing at a remote gate.
He was understanding however, as he fired up his laptop, as I
took pictures of the plane, which had fired my imagination.
I find the E-170 a beautiful plane. For some reason, the tail
section reminds me of the Tupolev Tu-104 and the Tu-124, two
planes, whose tail sections have been among the most beautiful
ever, in my humble opinion.

There were two Jet Konnect ATR-72-500 planes parked at remote stands,
VT-JCQ and VT-JCK. It was still Jet Konnect back then, in February, 2014.

I had my eyes towards the tarmac, as the others in the group
spread out, some of them looking for a quick tipple.
The E-170 VT-LSR headed towards the runway, for a take-off.
Dusk was dawning quickly.
I clocked a few snaps of this beautiful aircraft,
in the graceful Air Costa livery, as it sped towards a take-off.

83.7 Dinner on board our flight!

It was CH, the `Swiss Miss' plane, VT-SCH.
Captain R. Bhandari was in command, and Ms. Lalita was in charge
of the cabin. We boarded from Gate 22, the leftmost aero-bridge
gate at the RGIA, Shamshabad, Hyderabad. My mind was on the dinner,
which came in quickly.

I was disappointed that there was no biriyAnI on offer.
There was no salad bowl, either.
However, replacing the salad bowl was some DhoklA, which
was not that nice. I often look forward to this culinary
masterpiece from the Western state of Gujarat, which has a
steamed mass of a pulses-based concoction, with a hint of sugar,
a hint of the sour taste coming from the curd used in the
preparation, a hint of the green chillies that go very well with
this, and of course, it is a bit salty, as well.
The DhoklA was unfortunately a bit cold, and did not taste as
well as it should have, had it been extremely fresh.
The sesame bun however was very fresh, and went very well with
the rock-hard butter chiplet.
The main course had a lovely mA kI dAl, a black lentil-based
(uDad pulses, with their skins on)
gooey and sticky preparation, where the dish had been made with
very little oil, spices and condiments (with the exception of a little
shredded onion, done ever so lightly). It was heavenly!
It went well with the aromatic bAsmatI rice, which had
some fried cumin (jeerA) and half a cashew kernel
stylishly being placed on top, which had been fried in
ghee (clarified butter). The right side of the bowl had a
tasty chicken curry, that was a bit greasy. Yes, butter chicken
is expected to be a bit oily. The chicken pieces were soft, and
very well done. By this time, the beverage service had started,
and I went in for my usual choice, coffee.
This time was no different from the usual, and there was nothing
out of the ordinary. It was the usual plain, bland and flat brand
of coffee from a famous multi-national company.
It was hot and strong, at least.

The dessert promised quite a lot. Was it the signature Air India
firnI, the famous sweet dish from Kashmir, made with
broken rice, and milk, boiled to a rich and creamy consistency
over a slow fire? No, it was not, but it was something nice.
My neighbour was the same colleague, who revelled in pulling my legs.
Not that I never lost a chance to retaliate, but we share
a common passion for matters edible, though he is a vegetarian.

Each common item on our trays was met with a guessing game, with
questions pertaining to the contents, and related trivia.
Both of us enjoyed the light yellow milky preparation of broken
sUjI or rawA (semolina, or durum wheat), which was
lightly sweet, and had delightfully sinful sheets of light cream,
running through the length and breadth of the bowl. Sheer bliss!
Captain Bhandari landed us lightly on the new runway, 29.

83.8 Having a Blast

As walked out of the plane (we were all seated close-by).
we were discussing two blasts that had taken place in our
organisation's building that day, when we were away.
There had been some heavy security in South Delhi on 22 Feb 2014,
on the roads, and in the airport as well, on 23 Feb 2014, the day
we set out for Hyderabad. Everyone was subjected to a manual
secondary security check, with every one's cabin baggage being
checked individually. Today was also a heavy security day, as our
two colleagues who had come in late, had told us.
And by mid-day, we got news of a two blasts.
Blasts? And Two of them?
It had so turned out that luckily, no one had got injured, in either blast.
The two colleagues who had come in late that morning, told us a
bit about the blasts, which had occurred in the early morning that day.

I will describe it as I did, to The Wife's father, who happened
to ring up, albeit some time after the blasts, while the meeting was going on.
My immediate reaction on hearing about the blasts, had been to
ring up The Wife (and not her parents, or mine, who would get
worried and nervous, as we live close to my office), but I could
not reach her either on her mobile (the automated voice insisted
that her phone was witched off: it was clearly lying), or on the
land line. We have MTNL mobile connections. MTNL stands for (in the chaste
vernacular of the region), `merA telephone nahIn lagtA'.
(literally, `My telephone does not connect').
MTNL outside Delhi and Mumbai, is BSNL.
`bAhar se nahIn lagtA, bhItar se nahIn lagtA'
(Does not connect from the outside, does not connect from inside).
There I go again, with a distraction.

Let me get back to The Wife's father's call.
``I heard that there were two blasts in your office complex...I
hope you are fine. How far were you from the blasts?''
``Some...1400km away?''
``What?''
``Yes...I am in Hyderabad.''
``What? Oh..wait. I heard that the Delhi airport has a hotel complex
that was inaugurated some time back?''
I got the point, and laughed out. He was wondering as to why I
did not reserve a room at the airport itself, given the frequency
of some of my out-of-station trips.

The two in the group who had come in late, gave us some details.
By now, The Wife had also called up, and given me some more details.
The first blast had occurred in one of the laboratories.
A fire had broken out in a cheap local set of batteries.
It spread around rapidly, drawing its wrath on a set
of gas cylinders placed some distance away.
``the lab having lots of chemicals, there must have been lots of colourful
fireworks as well,'' I joined in.
The fire brigade had been called, and just as they managed to
bring things under control, they did not have to go back, before
they got their second call, from the same place.
There was a blast in the visitors' parking lot, inside an LPG-powered car.
The Wife and Junior had been passing by, when she noticed a car afire.
``I guess it was some experiment with an internal combustion
engine gone bad...it had become an external combustion engine.''
It had sounded awful, and smelt even worse.

As we were coming back from the airport,
the discussion shifted to Autonomous Guided Vehicles,
as the eight of us shifted into two cabs.
A senior colleague in our car had said that he remembered the day
when he built his first AGV, in 1993, a tethered model. One of
the workers in his lab had called up from a shared phone in the
corridor, and said,
``Sir, it has started moving!''
As sounds of elation came from both ends, just after the voice
had made the above statement, he heard a loud crash on the line,
and guessed what had happened. The AGV had pulled the PC along on
the tether, till it had fallen of the table, and onto the floor,
and got dis-assembled quicker than one could imagine.
``What now...did he say, ``Sir, it has now stopped moving?'' ''
I added, to the peals of laughter from the others in the vehicle,
which was thankfully, not autonomously guided, in the crazy Delhi
evening traffic. The driver would have really wondered what this
wacky group of people had been up to, and what they did for a living!
---
Links to my 83 trip reports:
https://sites.google.com/site/sumantratrip/

ameya · Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2015 2:15 pm Post subject:

Thanks Sir for the first TR of 2014! Comes with your historic trips on the sector

DEL-HYD meal looks appetizing but not so much for the return !
Thanks for letting us know your wonderful trip!
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sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

pradeep777 · Member Joined: 21 Nov 2014 Posts: 57 Location: Mangalore

As always a wonderful TR and pics sir.
Just love the food description and pictures.
I am hungry again. Very Happy

The first trip of 2014. I am wondering how much more trips are going to be added by the start of 2015. Keep it coming sumantra sir. Smile

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

jbalonso777 · Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 11:26 pm Post subject:

Hi there...great TR as usual from you, sir! I have missed being part of this forum and it sure is good to be back!

Nice overview of you and your family's trips to HYD! But unlucky you couldn't get on the mighty B77W for this domestic flight!

Hyderbadi Biryani outlet at Shamsabad? Hmm, I arrive at 0640 and depart at 1025.. I hope to have a spicy breakfast! Razz

Ecosport is a smart looking car.

Food looks amazing, and so are your descriptions of it - and of course, the witty quips while waiting at the airport, and the conversation at HYD! Razz

And some lovely shots of the LB bird and the 9W ATR!

Ah, felt nice reading your TR, now there is so many to go! Smile

Regards
Jish
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rakesh959 · Member Joined: 28 Aug 2012 Posts: 58 Location: Chennai

Thanks for a Very Nice TR Sir!HYD has been one of my favourite airports!And the AI food has seen new heights on this forum only after your vivid descriptions!I just love it and makes me long for it.I soon (may) have a DEL trip coming up soon,So might try AI for the food as well!And No mention of the famous Karachi Bakery stalls all over the airport!You missed it?I'm almost sure you wouldn't have Very Happy

Cheers!
Rakesh.

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

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

Sir, thank you for the kind words!