I honestly believe that there has to be some kind of universal language - Esperanto, for example? - that aspiring politicians must master before they make a foray into public life. Otherwise, much time will be wasted in trying to figure out what one is saying to the other. Additionally, more time-consuming and difficult will be the task of calming ruffled feathers at the drop of a Gandhi Topi!
Every time a public servant utters words which are new to the intended audience, sinister meanings are ascribed to them. Eyebrows are raised in anger. Accusations of slander are flung around. Motives of political vendetta are suspected. Soon it becomes grist to the mill for interpersonal, inter-party or inter-departmental face-offs.
Take the expression "spoilt brat". You and I are certainly no strangers to this description of a fellow human being. Perhaps, we have to deal with more than our share of them in our everyday lives! We do not panic at calling or being called spoilt brats. We do not take offence at this. After all it is a matter of perceptions, in the end. But does Mr.Gadkari think so? No. He thinks Manish Tiwari indulged in bad-mouthing him in the vilest possible words! Well, one can only hope that Gadkari saab brushes up a little on colloquial English before he pronounces judgements on the alleged mal-content of a word simply because he fails to appreciate its nuances!
This is reminiscent of the controversy that descended on Sashi Tharoor for having referred to economy class travel on international flights as "cattle class" travel. I had written about it on April 5 2010 in the post "It pays to increase your word power!" What a colossal drama was enacted by the law-makers and the media alike! All because of the lack of understanding of the connotations of certain words and expressions!
The "Headless Chicken" episode was no less an exercise in stupidity than the "cattle class" and "spoilt brat" cases!
It is not just a lack of mastery of the English language which leads to the wastage of time, money and commitment of the public servants. Molehills can be easily turned into monstrous mountains by the lack of appreciation of the vernacular, as well! Just recall the hilarious case of Nilotpal Basu. He was once stopped at the gate of Parliament House by the security guard who had failed to recognize him. Mr. Basu did not mind this at all. But when the guard called a superior and said that there was a "banda" at the gate calling himself Nilotpal Basu and was it alright to let him in, Basu babu flew into a terrible rage. He took extreme umbrage at being called a "banda" which, seemed to him, to be a bad word of the most heinous type! Well, it was a while, after much effort by a lot of people, that Mr. Basu was finally assuaged!
Therefoe, in the interest of the nation's progress and image, I contend that some kind of an universal languge be made compulsory for our public servants. No doubt, we, the general public, will lose out on a good laugh or two but the world will be spared the agony of the nonsesical dramas enacted from time to time due to language barriers.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
The murky side of the Games!
Thank God the Prime Minister wasted no time in ordering a thorough probe into the shenanigans of the Commonwealth Games. Despite the doubts generated in peoples' minds by the hysterical media as to whether the games would be held at all, the latter went off with a bang! Indeed the Games brought immense and much-deserved laurels to our silent, unseen and highly-ignored sportspersons from all over India. The athletes excelled and out-did themselves in the various disciplines, so much so that they reeled in a record haul of medals!
All these super achievements were almost rendered non-starters by the, I would say, Indian way of doing things i.e. with little imagination, no competence, zero professionalism, a high degree of ego-clashes and, of course, the pan-Indian and innate epidemic of corruption. Please pardon me if my views offend you in any way. I am not at all a cynic by nature. But decades of life in the corporate world and co-habitation with our other fellow-citizens through everyday or business experiences, have convinced me that corruption is more widespresd than we perhaps believe. This makes bungling shamateurs of a whole lot of us. And that is why I am happy that a detailed probe has ben instituted. My only prayer to God is that let the investigators not be corrupt too!
I had mentioned in one of my earlier posts that I am eagerly waiting to see who will be the popular scapegoat for the whole exercise - for, a scapegoat will be there for sure! Mr. Kalmadi has emerged as the favourite! Let me clarify before my good friends pounce on me! Suresh Kalmadi cannot be a scapegoat in the real sense because he himself is steeped in this controversy. However, in so far that he is being pushed forward to take the rap on behalf of all others does make him a scapegoat of sorts...or the American "fall-guy" if you so prefer.
This is my point. Let not the probe forget to examine the roles of the earstwhile Union Sports Minister, the current Union Sports Minister, the Union Urban Development Minister ( who was entrusted the responsibility to co-ordinate and oversee the preparations for the Games), the Cabinet Secretary, the bureaucracy of the concerned ministries, the numerous government departments responsible for the infrastructure, the civic agencies, the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi and ,of course, the State government itself!
Let not only the Organizing Committee be left to bear the blame for the rampant inefficiency and corruption attributed to the XIX Commonwealth Games because all of them were equally involved in the task. So, the truth - and nothing but the truth - must be unearthed.
May we, the nation, live in hope for retribution and just desserts for ALL the culprits, whoever they may turn out to be?
All these super achievements were almost rendered non-starters by the, I would say, Indian way of doing things i.e. with little imagination, no competence, zero professionalism, a high degree of ego-clashes and, of course, the pan-Indian and innate epidemic of corruption. Please pardon me if my views offend you in any way. I am not at all a cynic by nature. But decades of life in the corporate world and co-habitation with our other fellow-citizens through everyday or business experiences, have convinced me that corruption is more widespresd than we perhaps believe. This makes bungling shamateurs of a whole lot of us. And that is why I am happy that a detailed probe has ben instituted. My only prayer to God is that let the investigators not be corrupt too!
I had mentioned in one of my earlier posts that I am eagerly waiting to see who will be the popular scapegoat for the whole exercise - for, a scapegoat will be there for sure! Mr. Kalmadi has emerged as the favourite! Let me clarify before my good friends pounce on me! Suresh Kalmadi cannot be a scapegoat in the real sense because he himself is steeped in this controversy. However, in so far that he is being pushed forward to take the rap on behalf of all others does make him a scapegoat of sorts...or the American "fall-guy" if you so prefer.
This is my point. Let not the probe forget to examine the roles of the earstwhile Union Sports Minister, the current Union Sports Minister, the Union Urban Development Minister ( who was entrusted the responsibility to co-ordinate and oversee the preparations for the Games), the Cabinet Secretary, the bureaucracy of the concerned ministries, the numerous government departments responsible for the infrastructure, the civic agencies, the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi and ,of course, the State government itself!
Let not only the Organizing Committee be left to bear the blame for the rampant inefficiency and corruption attributed to the XIX Commonwealth Games because all of them were equally involved in the task. So, the truth - and nothing but the truth - must be unearthed.
May we, the nation, live in hope for retribution and just desserts for ALL the culprits, whoever they may turn out to be?
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
From Al's Diary....What was that again?
I was associated with Toshali Resorts International for a little over 3 years. During this time I was privy to some hilarious experiences which have left me with a rich repertoire of anecdotes. These anecdotes have the makings of entertaining drawing room natter with friends, on a leisurely evening or two.Let me recount a few of them for my readers.
The people in TRI, from the Directors to the junior executives, formed a milieu of cross-cultural personalities. The diverse ways of talking, the choice of words, the accents, the pronunciations - all carried a distinct Pan-Indian flavour! This made for a heady cocktail of unbelieavable hilarity.
Take the case of one of the General Managers. I shall never forget the earnestness with which he breezed into my office one morning to propose that " aal journal managers must be alotted steam cars or state cars". At least, phonetically, this is what I heard. I was foxed, to say the least. However, soon enough, I reasoned that our GM(of good North Indian stock) was, perhaps, being funny. It was obviously his humorous way of suggesting some innovations in cost-saving by converting the company's vehicles into steam-driven ones! But,when he started talking about prestige of the senior management, I realised that I was on the wrong track. By some nimble mental footwork, based on years of exposure to the vast possibilities of North Indian pronunciations, I finally realised that he was actually advocating that all General Managers be provided with big cars by the company, like the Esteem(Maruti) or the Estate(Tata). So much for innovations and cost-reductions!
On another occasion, the same worthy gentlemen was coaxing me into coming to his house for a stag lunch on a Sunday. Quite honestly,for various reasons, I did not find the idea welcome. So I demurred saying he lived vary far away and I did not know that part of the city at all. At this, he gave me a massive thump on the back and assured me that "it is no praablem yaar! I live in Palam Gaon. You know Palam Vihar sir ji? My rasidence is a mere crow's throw from there!" Crow's throw? That was a new one alright! I thought to myself that only an uber-confident North Indian could so unabashedly synthesize "as the crow flies" and " a stone's throw" to come out with a completely original howler such as this!! I could not wait to go home and tell Kumi and the kids about this. Obviously, I also shared this with many of my friends. Boy was it a hit! So much so that I heard one friend narrating the experience some time later as one of his own and, that too, in my presence!!! Talk about stolen thunder!
The eastern states of India do not lag far behind either in producing innovative and unique conversational masterpieces. TRI is an Orissa based company and, naturally, the owners and Directors mostly hail from that state. The MD, a tubby man of pleasant disposition, had foxed me early on in my stint with the company with some classic Oriya-accented pieces like - launch,doll,lob,ROM. Only later did I come to realise that he actually meant lunch,dull,love,rum, etc. How was I to know that the alphabet u is given a wide berth by a majority of Oriyas?
One day, in the weekly morning conference of the top management, we discovered that all were present except the big boss himself. Naturally,we waited and sure enough, after 10 minutes or so he appeared and started to apologise forthwith. " Sorry for the late" he began. "Actually what happened was that I was arrested!" We were all taken aback and were anxious to know what transpired. It seems his driver jumped a red light and was pulled up and challaned by the cops. That is how he was " arrested!" He added for our benefit that "The problem was that I had no monny. Fortunately Mr. Bhora (read Vohra) was also passing that way and he stopped to escape me from the police and absconded me in his car!" He further lamented that "too many traffic signals are being installed. Yesterday while going home I discovered that our locality has become a totally red-light area!!"
During one morning conference the big boss had all of us stumped by his indictment of all "overnight fly-byers". He exhorted us to be extra vigilant in protecting the goodwill and good reputation of our product, our organisation and the credibility of the industry as a whole. Although we recognized the importance of the goodwill and credibility part, the rest of us were much exercised about the mystery of the "overnight fly-byer" phenomenon. Our attempts to tactfully elicit the meaning of this expression produced no satisfactory result, especially since the MD was not very fond of being questioned about his pronouncements. Only when he made a couple of references to some new, wet-behind-the-ears Time Share operators who had turned out to be the "here today, gone tomorrow" type, did it dawn on us that he was actually talking about the fly-by-night operators who had suddenly mushroomed in the industry!!! It is needless to point out that the lunch hour in the office was a specially boisterous one that day!
One day our assistant manager in the Customer Relations department, burst into my room, somehow uttered a "good morning sir" and flung herself into a chair, before I could even say Jack Robinson! On top of that she broke out into a paroxysm of uncontrollable laughter!
Considering the fact that it was well short of 9.30am and she was a habitual late comer, I was completely baffled at the turn of events. Why the laughter (in particular), I was asking myself? Well, eventually the young lady gathered herself and explained that she had purposely come in early to appraise me of what she had experienced the previous evening in a meeting with the MD.
On the previous day, the head of the Customer Relations department had been on leave. As a result of this, the big boss had asked my early visitor to see him at 5.00pm to discuss various issues related to that section. As the discussion progressed the boss lost track of the time. Many of the client-related points were complicated and my visitor, being a junior, was struggling at times to fill in. Suddenly the big boss asked her "you are missing your boss, no?" Our young friend very candidly said "yes sir, she has vast exoerience in this field and she really helps me out whenever I have any problem, especially in important discussions like this". The big boss looked dismayed and hastily clarified "No no no! I am talking about your "chotor bos" - you have missed it, no! It is already 7.00pm!" The Assistant Manager (CR) claimed, that as soon as she realised that the boss was in fact referrring to the Chartered Bus that she availed of every day, she excused herself for the night and ran away lest she burst out laughing on his face!
One of the officials, who was a popular man, was in charge of Toshali Sands, the company's resort on the Konarak-Puri Marine Drive in Orissa. Although he operated out of Sands, there came a time when he was given the additional responsibility of Toshali Royal View, Kufri in Himachal Pradesh. Obviously, this meant a lot of travel to and fro for him. One day, when he was visiting the Corporate Office in Delhi en route Kufri, I asked him if he even knew where he would spend the next week in, at any given point of time. He was very frank and forthright about his plight. He said " it is bheri difficolt. You see I have both my legs on one side!" I am still trying to figure out that one!!
The eastern states of India also contain West Bengal. Needless to say we had a fair number of Bengalis too in the organisation. One such gentleman was in our Admin Dept. This man was excellent in getting a job done - any job. However, while he was very high on delivery, he was a bit rustic in his spoken English. He became a source of a lot of hilarity in office by his doings - whether yelling at the top of his voice on the telephone "I want you. I want you now!" while asking a girl employee to report to office or whether ordering "bhanilla with cadbury" for dessert (meaning vanilla ice cream with hot chocolate sauce!) during an annual departmental lunch in a restaurant.
But the piece de resistance came at one of the official dinners at my residence. These dinners at our home had become a half-yearly feature by popular demand of our Advisor, Mr. Pran K Choudhury. On one occasion such a party was sprung on me at a couple of hours' notice. Therefore I had no alternative but to ask some caterer to put up the dinner. And, since I would be stuck in office till late, I designated Manager Admin to look after everything, food, drinks, service, etc to help out Kumi who was still in office.
The evening went off well. I had whispered into the ears of Mr. Admin to keep a discreet eye on the bar and the bartenders. He must have taken his task a little too seriously for, soon enough, I discovered a merry twinkle in his eyes and a new-found verbosity, both of which were quite uncharacteristic of him.
Just a few days earlier, I had finalised a new house for our MD. It was no mean task because he kept dilly dallying inordinately till the prospective landlord gave us an ultimatum. Only then was the deal clinched. Earlier, I had deputed our man in Admin. to carry out the initial search and short list 2 houses for my final approval before I invited the MD to see it.
At the dinner, after being suitably primed by a few large ones, our man from Admin suddenly dropped his reticence and decided to join in on the conversation. He approached the MD and announced with glassy eyes and a pasted smile "You are bhery lucky sir,you phound new house! You are bhery lucky sir." After this, every now and then he would stagger up to the MD and repeat "You are bhery lucky sir!" I had to quietly lead him awsy from the MD by asking him to check up on the caterer. Even then, off and on he would be back to accost the MD with the familiar refrain of "You are bhery lucky sir!"
Anyway, the evening progressed nicely. Everybody appeared to be in a mellow and jovial mood. The conversation ranged from the latest blockbuster on screen to the Pokhran II blast. In the meantime,the periodic reminder to the MD of "You are bhery lucky sir!" continued with metronomic regularity. So,finally, when the caterer informrd me that dinner was ready to be served, the news came as a great relief to me in my capacity of an embarrassed host! But I had counted my blessing a little too early! Before I could even approach the guests to invite them over to the buffet, our over-zealous man from Admin. had artfully dodged past me, planted himself right in front of the MD and announced "You are bhery lucky sir, dinner is served!"
The people in TRI, from the Directors to the junior executives, formed a milieu of cross-cultural personalities. The diverse ways of talking, the choice of words, the accents, the pronunciations - all carried a distinct Pan-Indian flavour! This made for a heady cocktail of unbelieavable hilarity.
Take the case of one of the General Managers. I shall never forget the earnestness with which he breezed into my office one morning to propose that " aal journal managers must be alotted steam cars or state cars". At least, phonetically, this is what I heard. I was foxed, to say the least. However, soon enough, I reasoned that our GM(of good North Indian stock) was, perhaps, being funny. It was obviously his humorous way of suggesting some innovations in cost-saving by converting the company's vehicles into steam-driven ones! But,when he started talking about prestige of the senior management, I realised that I was on the wrong track. By some nimble mental footwork, based on years of exposure to the vast possibilities of North Indian pronunciations, I finally realised that he was actually advocating that all General Managers be provided with big cars by the company, like the Esteem(Maruti) or the Estate(Tata). So much for innovations and cost-reductions!
On another occasion, the same worthy gentlemen was coaxing me into coming to his house for a stag lunch on a Sunday. Quite honestly,for various reasons, I did not find the idea welcome. So I demurred saying he lived vary far away and I did not know that part of the city at all. At this, he gave me a massive thump on the back and assured me that "it is no praablem yaar! I live in Palam Gaon. You know Palam Vihar sir ji? My rasidence is a mere crow's throw from there!" Crow's throw? That was a new one alright! I thought to myself that only an uber-confident North Indian could so unabashedly synthesize "as the crow flies" and " a stone's throw" to come out with a completely original howler such as this!! I could not wait to go home and tell Kumi and the kids about this. Obviously, I also shared this with many of my friends. Boy was it a hit! So much so that I heard one friend narrating the experience some time later as one of his own and, that too, in my presence!!! Talk about stolen thunder!
The eastern states of India do not lag far behind either in producing innovative and unique conversational masterpieces. TRI is an Orissa based company and, naturally, the owners and Directors mostly hail from that state. The MD, a tubby man of pleasant disposition, had foxed me early on in my stint with the company with some classic Oriya-accented pieces like - launch,doll,lob,ROM. Only later did I come to realise that he actually meant lunch,dull,love,rum, etc. How was I to know that the alphabet u is given a wide berth by a majority of Oriyas?
One day, in the weekly morning conference of the top management, we discovered that all were present except the big boss himself. Naturally,we waited and sure enough, after 10 minutes or so he appeared and started to apologise forthwith. " Sorry for the late" he began. "Actually what happened was that I was arrested!" We were all taken aback and were anxious to know what transpired. It seems his driver jumped a red light and was pulled up and challaned by the cops. That is how he was " arrested!" He added for our benefit that "The problem was that I had no monny. Fortunately Mr. Bhora (read Vohra) was also passing that way and he stopped to escape me from the police and absconded me in his car!" He further lamented that "too many traffic signals are being installed. Yesterday while going home I discovered that our locality has become a totally red-light area!!"
During one morning conference the big boss had all of us stumped by his indictment of all "overnight fly-byers". He exhorted us to be extra vigilant in protecting the goodwill and good reputation of our product, our organisation and the credibility of the industry as a whole. Although we recognized the importance of the goodwill and credibility part, the rest of us were much exercised about the mystery of the "overnight fly-byer" phenomenon. Our attempts to tactfully elicit the meaning of this expression produced no satisfactory result, especially since the MD was not very fond of being questioned about his pronouncements. Only when he made a couple of references to some new, wet-behind-the-ears Time Share operators who had turned out to be the "here today, gone tomorrow" type, did it dawn on us that he was actually talking about the fly-by-night operators who had suddenly mushroomed in the industry!!! It is needless to point out that the lunch hour in the office was a specially boisterous one that day!
One day our assistant manager in the Customer Relations department, burst into my room, somehow uttered a "good morning sir" and flung herself into a chair, before I could even say Jack Robinson! On top of that she broke out into a paroxysm of uncontrollable laughter!
Considering the fact that it was well short of 9.30am and she was a habitual late comer, I was completely baffled at the turn of events. Why the laughter (in particular), I was asking myself? Well, eventually the young lady gathered herself and explained that she had purposely come in early to appraise me of what she had experienced the previous evening in a meeting with the MD.
On the previous day, the head of the Customer Relations department had been on leave. As a result of this, the big boss had asked my early visitor to see him at 5.00pm to discuss various issues related to that section. As the discussion progressed the boss lost track of the time. Many of the client-related points were complicated and my visitor, being a junior, was struggling at times to fill in. Suddenly the big boss asked her "you are missing your boss, no?" Our young friend very candidly said "yes sir, she has vast exoerience in this field and she really helps me out whenever I have any problem, especially in important discussions like this". The big boss looked dismayed and hastily clarified "No no no! I am talking about your "chotor bos" - you have missed it, no! It is already 7.00pm!" The Assistant Manager (CR) claimed, that as soon as she realised that the boss was in fact referrring to the Chartered Bus that she availed of every day, she excused herself for the night and ran away lest she burst out laughing on his face!
One of the officials, who was a popular man, was in charge of Toshali Sands, the company's resort on the Konarak-Puri Marine Drive in Orissa. Although he operated out of Sands, there came a time when he was given the additional responsibility of Toshali Royal View, Kufri in Himachal Pradesh. Obviously, this meant a lot of travel to and fro for him. One day, when he was visiting the Corporate Office in Delhi en route Kufri, I asked him if he even knew where he would spend the next week in, at any given point of time. He was very frank and forthright about his plight. He said " it is bheri difficolt. You see I have both my legs on one side!" I am still trying to figure out that one!!
The eastern states of India also contain West Bengal. Needless to say we had a fair number of Bengalis too in the organisation. One such gentleman was in our Admin Dept. This man was excellent in getting a job done - any job. However, while he was very high on delivery, he was a bit rustic in his spoken English. He became a source of a lot of hilarity in office by his doings - whether yelling at the top of his voice on the telephone "I want you. I want you now!" while asking a girl employee to report to office or whether ordering "bhanilla with cadbury" for dessert (meaning vanilla ice cream with hot chocolate sauce!) during an annual departmental lunch in a restaurant.
But the piece de resistance came at one of the official dinners at my residence. These dinners at our home had become a half-yearly feature by popular demand of our Advisor, Mr. Pran K Choudhury. On one occasion such a party was sprung on me at a couple of hours' notice. Therefore I had no alternative but to ask some caterer to put up the dinner. And, since I would be stuck in office till late, I designated Manager Admin to look after everything, food, drinks, service, etc to help out Kumi who was still in office.
The evening went off well. I had whispered into the ears of Mr. Admin to keep a discreet eye on the bar and the bartenders. He must have taken his task a little too seriously for, soon enough, I discovered a merry twinkle in his eyes and a new-found verbosity, both of which were quite uncharacteristic of him.
Just a few days earlier, I had finalised a new house for our MD. It was no mean task because he kept dilly dallying inordinately till the prospective landlord gave us an ultimatum. Only then was the deal clinched. Earlier, I had deputed our man in Admin. to carry out the initial search and short list 2 houses for my final approval before I invited the MD to see it.
At the dinner, after being suitably primed by a few large ones, our man from Admin suddenly dropped his reticence and decided to join in on the conversation. He approached the MD and announced with glassy eyes and a pasted smile "You are bhery lucky sir,you phound new house! You are bhery lucky sir." After this, every now and then he would stagger up to the MD and repeat "You are bhery lucky sir!" I had to quietly lead him awsy from the MD by asking him to check up on the caterer. Even then, off and on he would be back to accost the MD with the familiar refrain of "You are bhery lucky sir!"
Anyway, the evening progressed nicely. Everybody appeared to be in a mellow and jovial mood. The conversation ranged from the latest blockbuster on screen to the Pokhran II blast. In the meantime,the periodic reminder to the MD of "You are bhery lucky sir!" continued with metronomic regularity. So,finally, when the caterer informrd me that dinner was ready to be served, the news came as a great relief to me in my capacity of an embarrassed host! But I had counted my blessing a little too early! Before I could even approach the guests to invite them over to the buffet, our over-zealous man from Admin. had artfully dodged past me, planted himself right in front of the MD and announced "You are bhery lucky sir, dinner is served!"
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
In the land of the Lion People
The 1st of September this year saw Kumi and I set off to spend a week or so with our cousins in Singapore. And since we were to be in the vicinity, anyway, we thought it worthwhile to spend a few days in Malaysia as well, on our way back, as neither of us had been to that country! This, however, was not our first visit to Singapore. To say the least, this trip was as memorable as our previous one in 2003.
Singha pura - is the land of the lion people, as the derivation of the name goes, based on local folklore. This whole myth is captured dramatically by the imposing image of the "Merlion", half lion half mermaid, that guards the Marina Bay, at the centre of commercial and, at one time, maritime activities of the island.
Singapore is a city after my own heart. To my mind,the place is a visitor's delight. It is clean, pretty, orderly, disciplined, highly civil, totally safe and very very easy to move around in. Above all, it is still quite inexpensive. It is a foodie's paradise. It has wonderful sights to see. It has high-end entertainment in the form of night-clubs, theme parks and casinos. It offers you a drink any time, any place without feeling apologetic or moralistic about it!!!. And it is the epitome of secularism - nobody cares a hoot about your faith, the colour of your skin or the country of your origin.
Singapore is completely and truly cosmopolitan. That is what appeals to me most.
One remarkable thing is that all waitresses,waiters, cabbies,bus-drivers, MRT operators, bell-hops, airport officials - in fact practically everybody - is friendly and helpful and English speaking. Nobody will ever ask for or suggest by body language a tip, although tips are always appreciated.
It is difficult to think of an unknown place of visit which is so completely tension-free and tourist-friendly.
Also,Singapore being a relatively small city, no place is too far! The public transport system is so good and efficient that moving around the city at any time of the day or night , is easy, comfortable (air-conditioned whether you are in a cab, bus or MRT),relaxing and safe. I certainly cannot dream of such conditions in any city in India. It is a revelation,as indeed is the traffic discipline. For a Delhiwalla, it is impossible to imagine that not a single motorist breaks any traffic rule despite the absence of any cops on the streets!!! On our first visit to Singapore, Kumi and I happily went our own ways without any fear of the unknown or the untried.
The buses are beautiful. The only challenge, for a short-term visitor, is to know the intricacies of the routes. The cabbies issue receipts and carry substantial change so that one is never in a bind to pay the fare without hassles.
Achintan & Sraboney Dey, our cousins, and their lovely little daughter Rani live in a wonderfully peaceful residential area on Meyer Road, near the East Coast Parkway, quite close to the ocean.
Well, we arrived at Changi Airport at around 8.30 in the morning of the 2nd of Sept having changed flights at Kuala Lumpur ( a three-hour hiatus, just enough to disembark, do immigration, breakfast, do immigration again, do customs and embark!)The Deys were there to receive us (imagine!) That day was spent on generally relaxing and catching up with some sleep. The next seven days were action packed, to say the least!
We were lucky to have visited Singapore and KL during Id, since both places were celebrating the festival with long week-ends. The festival is known as Hari Raya Aidulfitr and is celebrated with much gusto. I sent a "Salamat Hari Raya Aidulfitr" greetings to my friend Mowla in Kolkata. He must have been totally stumped by the message as he failed to acknowledge it, despite the fact that I had thought it prudent to add a cautious "Id Mubarak" at the end!
In the next week, we drove around quite a bit (mercifully it is a small city!),visited the Jurong Bird Park, took a ride on the Singapore Flyer, cruised on a bumboat down Singapore river, loafed on the famous Orchard Road, wandered around the fascinating China Town, shopped at Mustafa's in Little India, walked along the ocean-front on the East Coast and, of course, gorged on the food that Singapore has to offer in great abundance and variety.
What we did not do was to visit Sentosa Island and the Zoological Park, since we had done that in our previous trip. We were determined to be as little touristy as possible and concentrate on visiting only the favourite places - just to lounge, laze, eat and drink. But we did recall the splendour of Sentosa often enough in our discussions. It is difficult to forget the dazzling laser show with the "Dancing Fountains", the performing dolphins or for that matter the Underwater World where fish, big and small, went about their business above us as we walked under the sea!
As I said, China Town is simply fascinating! It is quaint; it is bustling; and it has an extra-ordinary array of typically and rare Chinese things on offer.It really pays, both in terms of education and bargains, to venture into the deep interiors of shops lining the numerous lanes and interact with the elderly shop-owners who are full of tales of old Chinese practices and customs. Very rewarding. Lovely place to shop for things with local flavour. We picked up a gorgeous looking dice-shaker complete with dice (genuine used stuff of yersteryear, not a replica or toy) which was used in Chinese gambling dens. The proprietess, much taken in by our keen interest in matters Chinese, even dug out two good-luck coins to prepare us for the casinos!!! Little did she know that, unlike most Indian tourists of today, we were not in the least interested in visiting them. We also managed to pick up a famous narrow-necked glass bottle with intricate artwork on the inside, a typical masterpiece of miniature work for which the Chinese are renowned. We immediately decided to present it to our sweet daughter-in-law. These rare items in China Town come a little pricey, but they are worth it, aren't they?. However, most of the things on sale are very reasonable, quite inexpensive. I even picked up a genuine Chinese silk shirt. Very cheap. The question is, when do I wear it? The dice-shaker is now holding center stage in our modest drawing room in C498.
The Singapore Flyer is also very interesting. The view from the top is fabulous, especially of the bay. In fact, thanks to it, we noticed for the first time that there is a full-sized football field on the water complete with a grandstand on the shore-side. The whole field is enclosed by netting on the sides. I wonder if they award a goal for every lost ball during matches!! We also had a view of the Formula 1racing track! Having taken a ride on the Flyer we were rewarded with a panaromic bird's eye view of what Singapore is. It made us think that the London Eye must be equally fascinating. Now,it remains for us to quickly get to ride the newly opened Delhi Eye!
The Jurong Bird Park was also a treat despite my trepidations about close proximity to creatures of the feathered variety! Apart from the beauty of the park itself - which is green and beautifully ladscaped - they hold a special Bird Show every day that has to be seen to be believed! Huge big birds like vultures and pelicans and horn-bills are made to fly and do tricks in interaction with the spectators! Although I had my heart in my mouth most of the time, I must confess that it was a mind-blowing show of unique performances by different birds.
We spent a lot of time in and around the Singapore river. The river was the lifeline of Singapore for many many years as cargo from all over the world would be fetched by boats from the big ships anchored in the harbour and deposited on the many quays lined along the two banks. Today Singapore is an ultra-modern port with fully automated cargo handling facilities. There is no more need for these boats to run up and down the river to fetch and carry. These "bumboats", as they are known, have been converted into tourist boats, immaculately maintained, to give the tourists a history of the river, the origin of Singapore and information on all the modern wonders of the city that have come up around it. There is a very nice commentory that is presented on board - very lucid and very informative.
For most Indians a glimpse of Little India is a must. And why not? After all Mustafa Centre, the shoppers' dream, is located here! We too made a couple of sorties to Mustafa's. Little India is where most of the locals of Indian origin live. No wonder that this place is a little less tidy and a little less disciplined than the rest of Singapore!
Finally, it is a sacrilege not to spend quality time on Orchard Road. We did it too, mainly because of the lively, energetic aura of the place. Orchard Road is known for its posh malls. This aspect, I suspect, has become a bit passe with the advent of the malls all over India. It is no longer a novelty. However it is still a great experience to idle along all day long with occasional window-shopping, store-gazing and eating thrown in, in good measure! If nothing else, it offers a wide cross-section of people, from all over the world, to watch and observe. This itself is a compelling pastime!
Wherever we went or whatever we did, Kumi and I would invariably fall back on one or two of these delightful places to spend time every day. Since we had "seen" Singapore in our earlier visit, we could take it really easy and savour the places of our choice repeatedly. And we did it with a passion!
The story of Singapore can never be complete without a mention of the food on offer -its sheer variety, the easy availability, the extreme affordability and the seductive ambience of the numerous eating places. Singapore has many top class hotels starting from the grand colonial Fullerton and Raffles to the modern ones from all the leading chains in the world. But,it is not in the precincts of these 5-star giants that one always finds the gastronomic delights that I am talking about. I would rather seek these in the restaurants that line the river on both sides; or in Chinatown; or in that intriquing place called the "Chijmes" (pronounced "chimes"); or in various cosy cafes or restaurants that abound in profusion all over the city; or even in Little India. Let me explain what I mean.
There are two kinds of Indian tourists. One group prefers and sticks to Indian food. There are plenty of Indian restaurants in Little India, for instance. One can have a pick from North Indian to Chettinad food, vegetarian or otherwise. In fact, one evening we had some Chicken Chettinad packed and brought home for dinner.
Then there is the other kind of Indian who likes to taste different kinds of food. For him, Singapore is a veritable paradise. The places we mainly luxuriated in are the riverside cafes and restaurants on Clark Quay or Boat Quay with an array of places serving exotic food from all over the world including, as may be expected, mind-blowing sea-food. These fascinating eateries, right on the bank of the river, also serve many kinds of Continental, American, English or Mexican food. We had a memorable meal at a Portuguese restaurant called Cafe Iguana. We also haunted a place called "Hooters" (believe it or not!), which like all the others, offer delicious fare from T-bone or tenderloin steaks to Lamb Chops, Pork Chops,Fish delicacies, you name it. And of course, there are the sea food specialities! The waterside restaurants also offer very interesting and affordable fixed-price menus which are really value for money. I am simply crazy about Clark Quay where one can spend hours in bumboat criuses down the Singapore river, window shopping or simply lounging in one of the water-side restaurants leisurely sipping Tiger beer (it is excellent) and enjoying the food. And don't miss Clark Quay in the evening. Amazing atmosphere!
The other enchanting eating place is the Chijmes (pronounced chimes) next to the legendary Raffles Hotel. Here, the periphery of a big church yard has been converted and is now lined with a series of charming restaurants which offer mouth-watering cuisines from all over the world. We had a memorable lunch in Hog's Breath Saloon where pork is not the only food one gets!!!
We discovered (through the good offices of Achintan) Quentin in the Eurasian Community Centre on Ceylon Road. What we got was a mind-blowing buffet at lunch time which included choices ranging from Shepherd's Pie, through Lamb Chops, through Vindaloos to Saffron Rice!
Talking about food, one must not forget China Town. The best of Chinese food! Really gorgeous! We simply loved a place called Old Cuban where the food is great and the waitresses are better! It is heavenly to try the crab, prawn, chicken or beef dishes and to wash them down with Hoe Garden, a light white Belgian beer. We kept going back to this place, so strangely called Old Cuban because it started off as a cigar store!
And lastly, I just have to write about the Long Bar in Raffles Hotel. It is a tippler's temple steeped in history. This is where the famous Singapore Sling was invented, very appropriately one may add, because the hotel itself is named after the founder of Singapore! The Long Bar is also where the likes of Maugham, Hemingway and some other celebrities whiled away many a creative hour en route to fame and fortune! I missed it on my first visit to Singapore, but not this time! Oh no! The Long Bar is one of the holy shrines of the world, much in the same fashion as Lord's in London! I absolutely exulted in the queer tradition maintained here of chucking peanut shells all over the carpeted floor!
I need to mention the exquisite pleasure of biting into the meat of the giant black crabs of Sri Lanka. You can hardly think of a juicier morsel of sea food. This surprise was brought home one evening by Achintan much to our delight, for we had never tasted this delicacy ever before. To cap it all, another Sala Babu from Delhi, Babua the bearded marine, turned up for dinner. He was on a temporary assignment in Singapore.
Well, like all good things, our sojourn in Singapore also soon came to an end. After enjoying the overwhelming hospitality of the Deys, we bid them adieu and left for Kuala Lumpur in the morning of the 10th of September.
We had missed out on a visit to Malaysia the last time around due to some political disturbance in that country. But all was well this time. Our trip was essentially a package tour of 2 nights/3 days comprising basically of a city tour of Kuala Lumpur and a day in Genting.
Kuala Lumpur is a really pretty city with wide roads, lots of greenery, beautiful buildings and delightfully undulating in its topography. Since time was woefully short, for once we were very happy to be on a conducted tour. We saw the iconic Daulat Tuanku (also known as the Twin Towers or the Petronus Towers)and had ourselves duly photographed! However, we did not at all feel like Catherine Zeta Jones or Sean Connery and in no way did we wish to emulate them in cavorting on the precariously hung connector on the 41st floor between the two towers! After all, that was "Entrapment"!
We were hugely impressed by the National Mosque - so beautifully open, modern and precious. We also saw a lovely Buddhist temple, the Martyrs' Memorial with a cenotaph, the King's Palace, the Parliament House and some wonderful buildings from the British days like the old railway station. Lastly, of all things, we were taken to a chocolate boutique which is supposed to be the only chocolate shop in the world that offers chilly chocolates!!! I did not try any!
We spent a day in Genting at an altitude of over 2000 metres and just about an hour's drive from Kuala Lumpur. Our travel agent had visions of us spending the day enjoying the rides in the amusement park and gambling away in the casinos. We had different views. After wandering around the amusement park for a couple of hours, Kumi and I quietly slipped out. We strolled around in the picturesque town (somewhat spoilt, I thought, by the invasion of casinos, hotels, Theme Parks,etc.)and soaked in the cool atmosphere after the depressing and humid weather of Delhi. It was heavenly to walk in and out of a mist which was rising from the valley as the day progressed! In the bargain, we enjoyed a lovely lunch in one of the local restaurants.
Kuala Lumpur means the confluence of muddy rivers. But what we saw was not muddiness but greenness, in gay profusion. A lovely city with lovely people, gentle and friendly.
We flew out of Kuala Lumpur in the afternoon of the 12th of September to be back home by the late evening.
This account will not be complete if I fail to write about Air Asia. We had a wonderful experience of punctuality, courtesy, good food, efficiency and willingness to help at all times from this incredible Low Cost airline. Considering the unbelievable prices, it was a very very rewarding experience to fly with Air Asia!
Please do have a look at over 100 pictures that I have uploaded on Facebook.
Singha pura - is the land of the lion people, as the derivation of the name goes, based on local folklore. This whole myth is captured dramatically by the imposing image of the "Merlion", half lion half mermaid, that guards the Marina Bay, at the centre of commercial and, at one time, maritime activities of the island.
Singapore is a city after my own heart. To my mind,the place is a visitor's delight. It is clean, pretty, orderly, disciplined, highly civil, totally safe and very very easy to move around in. Above all, it is still quite inexpensive. It is a foodie's paradise. It has wonderful sights to see. It has high-end entertainment in the form of night-clubs, theme parks and casinos. It offers you a drink any time, any place without feeling apologetic or moralistic about it!!!. And it is the epitome of secularism - nobody cares a hoot about your faith, the colour of your skin or the country of your origin.
Singapore is completely and truly cosmopolitan. That is what appeals to me most.
One remarkable thing is that all waitresses,waiters, cabbies,bus-drivers, MRT operators, bell-hops, airport officials - in fact practically everybody - is friendly and helpful and English speaking. Nobody will ever ask for or suggest by body language a tip, although tips are always appreciated.
It is difficult to think of an unknown place of visit which is so completely tension-free and tourist-friendly.
Also,Singapore being a relatively small city, no place is too far! The public transport system is so good and efficient that moving around the city at any time of the day or night , is easy, comfortable (air-conditioned whether you are in a cab, bus or MRT),relaxing and safe. I certainly cannot dream of such conditions in any city in India. It is a revelation,as indeed is the traffic discipline. For a Delhiwalla, it is impossible to imagine that not a single motorist breaks any traffic rule despite the absence of any cops on the streets!!! On our first visit to Singapore, Kumi and I happily went our own ways without any fear of the unknown or the untried.
The buses are beautiful. The only challenge, for a short-term visitor, is to know the intricacies of the routes. The cabbies issue receipts and carry substantial change so that one is never in a bind to pay the fare without hassles.
Achintan & Sraboney Dey, our cousins, and their lovely little daughter Rani live in a wonderfully peaceful residential area on Meyer Road, near the East Coast Parkway, quite close to the ocean.
Well, we arrived at Changi Airport at around 8.30 in the morning of the 2nd of Sept having changed flights at Kuala Lumpur ( a three-hour hiatus, just enough to disembark, do immigration, breakfast, do immigration again, do customs and embark!)The Deys were there to receive us (imagine!) That day was spent on generally relaxing and catching up with some sleep. The next seven days were action packed, to say the least!
We were lucky to have visited Singapore and KL during Id, since both places were celebrating the festival with long week-ends. The festival is known as Hari Raya Aidulfitr and is celebrated with much gusto. I sent a "Salamat Hari Raya Aidulfitr" greetings to my friend Mowla in Kolkata. He must have been totally stumped by the message as he failed to acknowledge it, despite the fact that I had thought it prudent to add a cautious "Id Mubarak" at the end!
In the next week, we drove around quite a bit (mercifully it is a small city!),visited the Jurong Bird Park, took a ride on the Singapore Flyer, cruised on a bumboat down Singapore river, loafed on the famous Orchard Road, wandered around the fascinating China Town, shopped at Mustafa's in Little India, walked along the ocean-front on the East Coast and, of course, gorged on the food that Singapore has to offer in great abundance and variety.
What we did not do was to visit Sentosa Island and the Zoological Park, since we had done that in our previous trip. We were determined to be as little touristy as possible and concentrate on visiting only the favourite places - just to lounge, laze, eat and drink. But we did recall the splendour of Sentosa often enough in our discussions. It is difficult to forget the dazzling laser show with the "Dancing Fountains", the performing dolphins or for that matter the Underwater World where fish, big and small, went about their business above us as we walked under the sea!
As I said, China Town is simply fascinating! It is quaint; it is bustling; and it has an extra-ordinary array of typically and rare Chinese things on offer.It really pays, both in terms of education and bargains, to venture into the deep interiors of shops lining the numerous lanes and interact with the elderly shop-owners who are full of tales of old Chinese practices and customs. Very rewarding. Lovely place to shop for things with local flavour. We picked up a gorgeous looking dice-shaker complete with dice (genuine used stuff of yersteryear, not a replica or toy) which was used in Chinese gambling dens. The proprietess, much taken in by our keen interest in matters Chinese, even dug out two good-luck coins to prepare us for the casinos!!! Little did she know that, unlike most Indian tourists of today, we were not in the least interested in visiting them. We also managed to pick up a famous narrow-necked glass bottle with intricate artwork on the inside, a typical masterpiece of miniature work for which the Chinese are renowned. We immediately decided to present it to our sweet daughter-in-law. These rare items in China Town come a little pricey, but they are worth it, aren't they?. However, most of the things on sale are very reasonable, quite inexpensive. I even picked up a genuine Chinese silk shirt. Very cheap. The question is, when do I wear it? The dice-shaker is now holding center stage in our modest drawing room in C498.
The Singapore Flyer is also very interesting. The view from the top is fabulous, especially of the bay. In fact, thanks to it, we noticed for the first time that there is a full-sized football field on the water complete with a grandstand on the shore-side. The whole field is enclosed by netting on the sides. I wonder if they award a goal for every lost ball during matches!! We also had a view of the Formula 1racing track! Having taken a ride on the Flyer we were rewarded with a panaromic bird's eye view of what Singapore is. It made us think that the London Eye must be equally fascinating. Now,it remains for us to quickly get to ride the newly opened Delhi Eye!
The Jurong Bird Park was also a treat despite my trepidations about close proximity to creatures of the feathered variety! Apart from the beauty of the park itself - which is green and beautifully ladscaped - they hold a special Bird Show every day that has to be seen to be believed! Huge big birds like vultures and pelicans and horn-bills are made to fly and do tricks in interaction with the spectators! Although I had my heart in my mouth most of the time, I must confess that it was a mind-blowing show of unique performances by different birds.
We spent a lot of time in and around the Singapore river. The river was the lifeline of Singapore for many many years as cargo from all over the world would be fetched by boats from the big ships anchored in the harbour and deposited on the many quays lined along the two banks. Today Singapore is an ultra-modern port with fully automated cargo handling facilities. There is no more need for these boats to run up and down the river to fetch and carry. These "bumboats", as they are known, have been converted into tourist boats, immaculately maintained, to give the tourists a history of the river, the origin of Singapore and information on all the modern wonders of the city that have come up around it. There is a very nice commentory that is presented on board - very lucid and very informative.
For most Indians a glimpse of Little India is a must. And why not? After all Mustafa Centre, the shoppers' dream, is located here! We too made a couple of sorties to Mustafa's. Little India is where most of the locals of Indian origin live. No wonder that this place is a little less tidy and a little less disciplined than the rest of Singapore!
Finally, it is a sacrilege not to spend quality time on Orchard Road. We did it too, mainly because of the lively, energetic aura of the place. Orchard Road is known for its posh malls. This aspect, I suspect, has become a bit passe with the advent of the malls all over India. It is no longer a novelty. However it is still a great experience to idle along all day long with occasional window-shopping, store-gazing and eating thrown in, in good measure! If nothing else, it offers a wide cross-section of people, from all over the world, to watch and observe. This itself is a compelling pastime!
Wherever we went or whatever we did, Kumi and I would invariably fall back on one or two of these delightful places to spend time every day. Since we had "seen" Singapore in our earlier visit, we could take it really easy and savour the places of our choice repeatedly. And we did it with a passion!
The story of Singapore can never be complete without a mention of the food on offer -its sheer variety, the easy availability, the extreme affordability and the seductive ambience of the numerous eating places. Singapore has many top class hotels starting from the grand colonial Fullerton and Raffles to the modern ones from all the leading chains in the world. But,it is not in the precincts of these 5-star giants that one always finds the gastronomic delights that I am talking about. I would rather seek these in the restaurants that line the river on both sides; or in Chinatown; or in that intriquing place called the "Chijmes" (pronounced "chimes"); or in various cosy cafes or restaurants that abound in profusion all over the city; or even in Little India. Let me explain what I mean.
There are two kinds of Indian tourists. One group prefers and sticks to Indian food. There are plenty of Indian restaurants in Little India, for instance. One can have a pick from North Indian to Chettinad food, vegetarian or otherwise. In fact, one evening we had some Chicken Chettinad packed and brought home for dinner.
Then there is the other kind of Indian who likes to taste different kinds of food. For him, Singapore is a veritable paradise. The places we mainly luxuriated in are the riverside cafes and restaurants on Clark Quay or Boat Quay with an array of places serving exotic food from all over the world including, as may be expected, mind-blowing sea-food. These fascinating eateries, right on the bank of the river, also serve many kinds of Continental, American, English or Mexican food. We had a memorable meal at a Portuguese restaurant called Cafe Iguana. We also haunted a place called "Hooters" (believe it or not!), which like all the others, offer delicious fare from T-bone or tenderloin steaks to Lamb Chops, Pork Chops,Fish delicacies, you name it. And of course, there are the sea food specialities! The waterside restaurants also offer very interesting and affordable fixed-price menus which are really value for money. I am simply crazy about Clark Quay where one can spend hours in bumboat criuses down the Singapore river, window shopping or simply lounging in one of the water-side restaurants leisurely sipping Tiger beer (it is excellent) and enjoying the food. And don't miss Clark Quay in the evening. Amazing atmosphere!
The other enchanting eating place is the Chijmes (pronounced chimes) next to the legendary Raffles Hotel. Here, the periphery of a big church yard has been converted and is now lined with a series of charming restaurants which offer mouth-watering cuisines from all over the world. We had a memorable lunch in Hog's Breath Saloon where pork is not the only food one gets!!!
We discovered (through the good offices of Achintan) Quentin in the Eurasian Community Centre on Ceylon Road. What we got was a mind-blowing buffet at lunch time which included choices ranging from Shepherd's Pie, through Lamb Chops, through Vindaloos to Saffron Rice!
Talking about food, one must not forget China Town. The best of Chinese food! Really gorgeous! We simply loved a place called Old Cuban where the food is great and the waitresses are better! It is heavenly to try the crab, prawn, chicken or beef dishes and to wash them down with Hoe Garden, a light white Belgian beer. We kept going back to this place, so strangely called Old Cuban because it started off as a cigar store!
And lastly, I just have to write about the Long Bar in Raffles Hotel. It is a tippler's temple steeped in history. This is where the famous Singapore Sling was invented, very appropriately one may add, because the hotel itself is named after the founder of Singapore! The Long Bar is also where the likes of Maugham, Hemingway and some other celebrities whiled away many a creative hour en route to fame and fortune! I missed it on my first visit to Singapore, but not this time! Oh no! The Long Bar is one of the holy shrines of the world, much in the same fashion as Lord's in London! I absolutely exulted in the queer tradition maintained here of chucking peanut shells all over the carpeted floor!
I need to mention the exquisite pleasure of biting into the meat of the giant black crabs of Sri Lanka. You can hardly think of a juicier morsel of sea food. This surprise was brought home one evening by Achintan much to our delight, for we had never tasted this delicacy ever before. To cap it all, another Sala Babu from Delhi, Babua the bearded marine, turned up for dinner. He was on a temporary assignment in Singapore.
Well, like all good things, our sojourn in Singapore also soon came to an end. After enjoying the overwhelming hospitality of the Deys, we bid them adieu and left for Kuala Lumpur in the morning of the 10th of September.
We had missed out on a visit to Malaysia the last time around due to some political disturbance in that country. But all was well this time. Our trip was essentially a package tour of 2 nights/3 days comprising basically of a city tour of Kuala Lumpur and a day in Genting.
Kuala Lumpur is a really pretty city with wide roads, lots of greenery, beautiful buildings and delightfully undulating in its topography. Since time was woefully short, for once we were very happy to be on a conducted tour. We saw the iconic Daulat Tuanku (also known as the Twin Towers or the Petronus Towers)and had ourselves duly photographed! However, we did not at all feel like Catherine Zeta Jones or Sean Connery and in no way did we wish to emulate them in cavorting on the precariously hung connector on the 41st floor between the two towers! After all, that was "Entrapment"!
We were hugely impressed by the National Mosque - so beautifully open, modern and precious. We also saw a lovely Buddhist temple, the Martyrs' Memorial with a cenotaph, the King's Palace, the Parliament House and some wonderful buildings from the British days like the old railway station. Lastly, of all things, we were taken to a chocolate boutique which is supposed to be the only chocolate shop in the world that offers chilly chocolates!!! I did not try any!
We spent a day in Genting at an altitude of over 2000 metres and just about an hour's drive from Kuala Lumpur. Our travel agent had visions of us spending the day enjoying the rides in the amusement park and gambling away in the casinos. We had different views. After wandering around the amusement park for a couple of hours, Kumi and I quietly slipped out. We strolled around in the picturesque town (somewhat spoilt, I thought, by the invasion of casinos, hotels, Theme Parks,etc.)and soaked in the cool atmosphere after the depressing and humid weather of Delhi. It was heavenly to walk in and out of a mist which was rising from the valley as the day progressed! In the bargain, we enjoyed a lovely lunch in one of the local restaurants.
Kuala Lumpur means the confluence of muddy rivers. But what we saw was not muddiness but greenness, in gay profusion. A lovely city with lovely people, gentle and friendly.
We flew out of Kuala Lumpur in the afternoon of the 12th of September to be back home by the late evening.
This account will not be complete if I fail to write about Air Asia. We had a wonderful experience of punctuality, courtesy, good food, efficiency and willingness to help at all times from this incredible Low Cost airline. Considering the unbelievable prices, it was a very very rewarding experience to fly with Air Asia!
Please do have a look at over 100 pictures that I have uploaded on Facebook.
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