Of Wrong Tickets... Lost Luggages & of course Pratigam !!!

Helloss ... Its been long since I have had an opportunity to write anything for my blog... At Pratigam one of my readers asked me about new blog and I told i wld like to write if I get one good topic... Here I have it now... !!!

Its not just about Pratigam... But rather its about Post-Pratigam !!!

Pratigam was a fun-filled event for me atleast... getting a chance to be at Campus and meeting SDM Family... Yes the SDM Family... right from the Security gate person till the mess staff and hostel boy... of course batchmates, juniors and seniors go without saying...!!! The cricket match...the culturals... the DJ night... !!! All of these are the part of SDM Family... !!!

It was the Sunday morning when it all started... Leaving campus was yet again the most painful thing... and with Kabir crying, it became even more ....!!! However, we had to leave for Bangalore to catch flight on time... We reached Bangalore by 3.30pm ... surprisingly the Bus didnt stop anywhere in between Mysore & Bengaluru... So we didnot have lunch.... !!!

We waited for our friend Ankita at the Majestic Bus Stand of Bengaluru... while the Airport bus was there all set to go... had she been 5 minutes late, we would have had to wait for another 1hour...!!! We had reached airport really early... 5.00pm... Ankush's flight at 7.40pm and mine at 10.00pm !!!

We had some snacks at CCD outside the airport... and yes we were waiting for Karen to reach airport as her flight was at 7.00pm. Well, at 6.00pm received a call and came to know she had already checked-in... !!! So went to the departure lounge and talked to her with glass in between... Action spoke more than words for us !!! In the next half an hour, Kabir also went for check in and now only me and Ankita were left...!!! So now we sat waiting for my turn to get inside the terminal... by 8.00pm, i asked her to leave as she had to travel alone back to her home and I went into the terminal...

Went to Check in counter at Go Air... Confidently gave my ticket printout and my PAN card for ID... and the executive at the counter started to search for my name... she tried 2-3 times couldnot find.... then she asked other to find... he also tried but failed... !!! TENSION... !!! He took me to the main ticketing counter of Go Air, checked his system and asked me to contact my travel portal....!!! I called them and found that the ticket PNR no. showed the ticket for 21st nov.2010 but the Go Air system showed it for 19th Nov. So I called again and he confirmed me that it was 19th... !!!!!!! Goneeeee !!! what to do noww???? needed to board the flight by any which way as I had already lost my 2 days at office (UNPAID LEAVE) ... and didnt want to miss another... I told them to book any flight available and I started roaming from counter to counter asking for flights to Mumbai... JET Airways: No Sir, Indian Air: No, Spice Jet: tomorrow evening sir, Kingfisher: Only Business class...GO Air: all flights booked...NO ROOM... !!!

Now I didnt know what to do... It was already 10.30pm and my flight was already on its way to depart...!!! So I called Hardik and asked hm about his flight... He was leaving next day morning... and told him the story... I checked with the agent for availablity on that... but with no result...!!! Hardik told me to try for KSRTC Buses to Mumbai... Called Niting Rastogi at Mumbai to check online for the buses and Saurav Chakladhar at Delhi to check for connecting flights via Chennai to Mumbai... !!! The result from every where was a NOOOOOO !!! So Finally I called the agent and told him I need a ticket any how... he told me a ticket available for tomorrow at 9.30pm... matlab the day is gone... !!! I kept pressing on him to book me a business class as it was their fault... but Jitendra, the travel portal executive, told me they didnt have power to book a ticket of more than Rs.5000... now that's ridiculous... !!! I told him to book whatever was available... Hence finally booked ticket on Jet for the next day at 9.30pm ... I told him thank u for booking the ticket and ask ur boss, CEO, CFO & The Legal Team to be ready to answer the Consumer Forum's investigation as I was going to file a complaint about them... !!!

Hardik & Shruti were coming by a cab to the airport, so I waited outside the airport for them to come... !!! Meanwhile, I realised one of my bag was missing... !!! OMG.... Nw that was the last thing I would think of ... !!! I ran here and there at the waiting lounge, couldnot find... Told Sudhir Kumar, GoAir Executive to search inside but he also couldnot find... !!! Gone.... !!! My Bag... tough it just had a couple of books and my Bank ID Card... but ... a loss is a loss !!! Then Sudhir asked me to talk to the Lost & Found desk.... (Meanwhile Hardik & Shruti had arrived, I handed them my other bag and told abt the lost one... Hardik started running from counter to counter with me...) With Sudhir's help, we asked the help of Airport Police staff to find the bag for us and they knew it was there... !!! He showed me a bag is lying there... It faintly looked like mine but was not yet sure till the Sudhir brought it to me...!!! The Security person asked for any identification, thank God my Bank ID was in the bag and hence proved my identity... !!! Got my bag... !!! Relief !!! (It was while running from one counter to another, searching for bag, I thought Yes I got the topic to write about... Now that was crazyyyy !!! )

Now that all seemed to be settled, a ticket booked for tomorrow, I left from Airport to Vinay Pujari's home in Hardik's cab...!!! It took an hour to reach his home even after midnight... Didnot have any food in all this chaos... Thanks to Hardik and Shruti, they packed a couple of McD Burgers for me... !!! Had them on my way... totally unaware of what I was going to do at Pujari's place the whole day while all my Bengaluru friends would be busy attending their office... !!! However reached Pujari's place, he had gone to Railway Station to see off his friend... !!! Waited for him to come and finally I was home... !!!

Next day started with a tea at the bakery and then the Newspaper and TV !!! India Vs. New Zealand Test Match... !!! good time pass ... !!! But then, it also became boring... I had asked Pujari abt any place to hang out nearby and for lunch... !!! He told abt a couple of places bt the place for food what he told, I couldnt find and thought of going to a nearby mall and decided to have somethng there... !!! It was Hypermarket and I peeped inside and saw racks of goods.... I thought its jst a departmental store and hence asked the security there regarding some multiplex there... (Guzaarish realed 4 days back)... Went to The Forum Value Mall, searched for Box Office and booked a ticket for 1.30pm show... Then went to see the mall and finding some nice place to eat... !!! but could see only McD.... !!! and I had a combo meal !!! ( Now I realise why I am becoming fat day by day.... reached the figure of 70kgs...!!!) Watched Guzaarish... nice emotional movie... Hritik Roshan as always showed great talent and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan looked as gorgeous as ever... !!! Watch it if you can take some very emotional content... !!!

After the movie, went back to Pujari's home. He came home by 5.30pm and I started preparing to leave... This time I checked with Jet Airways about my ticket before leaving for Airport and only after it was confirmed, I left... (Experience teaches !!!)... Flight delayed by an hour but the point was... I had a boarding pass and had cleared the security check-in... that meant I would be able to board the plane though an hour late but I will be able to reach Mumbai by midnight... !!! Had a Turbulent flight to Mumbai... took God's name and everything settled... !!! Landed safely !!! Waise Jet Airways conduct in cabin auction of various products and I also made a bid... I had bid for a Blackberry Curve 8320 for 10,100/- and surprisingly... I won !!! :) :) :) .... Now that is what I call sheer co-incidence... !!! I had to win that smartphone and hence was not flying last night but was flying today !!! Now that's sweet end to my not so sweet journey !!! (Waise I have thought of gifting this one to my Sister's t0-be-husband... yesss My Chotu is getting married... its on 13th feb 2011 at Jodhpur !!! )

Finally reached home at 1.30am... !!!

Well, not done yet... !!! Now today as I thought of writing my experience, I thought of transferring the pics to my laptop and also charging the battery of my Digi Cam... Now I could not believe this... I had forgotten the battery charger at Gaurav Rathi's room (our junior in whose room me and Kabir stayed for Pratigam... He had to sleep in his neighbour's room... Must say... he gave us the best Hospitality we could imagine... and we celebrated his final placement at INFY)... !!!

Now I am here... with a lost battery charger and a case to be filed in a couple of days against the travel portal (travelchacha.com) ... Writing my experience... Hope my reader reads this... It seems you were really missing my writings and now you have this one to read for yourself !!!

JAM