It could have been us!

Today at 5:15 pm, in an unfortunate incident at Tekkady in Kerala, a Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC) boat overturned in the Periyar lake drowning 35 people to death (as per the recent count reported by a TV channel). The boat was carrying 76 tourists.

Tekkady is one of the main tourist spots in Kerala known for spice plantation and wild life sanctuary. It is about 140 Kms from Cochin and 105 kms from Munnar.

To see animals in their natural habitat, KTDC arranges boat rides through the Periyar lake. There are about 5-6 old boats named Jalyatra, Jalraja, Periyar etc. used for the purpose.



In one of these boats today, 76 unsuspecting tourist like us (including foreigners) excitedly started a 90 minute journey expecting to catch glimpse of wild animals. As they were returning, the boat tragically overturned.

As one of the local Kerala channel was listing the names of unfortunate tourists who drowned and died, a shiver ran through me - It could easily have been us! Just 48 hours back, it was me and Gurpreet who had taken one of these boats in Tekkady!

Two days back, even then, we actually feared a stampede - there was absolutely no readiness in handling big crowds. That being a long week-end, people were going one over the other, to board the boats from a small platform (lest they would not get a proper seat to sit). Women and children looked most vulnerable. That evening no more tickets were available and few were even sold in black!

I remember one of our co-passengers commenting to the boat guy- "These boats are very old, why don't you just throw them?" Unfortunately, in India no one thinks much of these comments (as so far nothing untoward would have happened). A tragedy is just lurking round the corner and people just don't seem to see it - till actually something happens and people lose their lives.

Just couple of months back, another person lost his life near Chennai during bungee jumping! One of my friends, who is interested in adventure sports, reported an alarming number of people dying in Goa, until recently, for the lack of safety measures. Just imagine, what all would be happening across India due to 'chalt hai' and 'it can't happen to us' attitude.

But the point is - are you safe as a tourist in India?
My answer is- I am not sure.
It could easily have been us.
Just 48 hours separated us from the unfortunate ones!

(K)not Again!

After few years of separation and subsequent divorce, I decided to move on.

Yesterday in a simple function in the presence of few close friends at an Arya Samaj Mandir at South Delhi, got married to one of my colleague Gurpreet.We have known each other for about a year.



Seeking your wishes & blessings,

-Sanjay & Gurprret.

a "Thank You Moment!"

As my traveling increased, I took to reading fiction during the flights (there was a time when I used to think reading fiction is wasting time – but times change and so does the taste!). My favorite Author these days has been Agatha Christie with her riveting Murder mysteries.

This was one of the seriously early morning (5.50 am types) flights which all of us in corporate dread but keeps taking once in a while. I took out my Novel (which was gifted to me by my special friend – about whom you’ll hear more in next couple of days) in the hope of catching few pages but with eyelids drooping and sleep seducing, what chances I had? I snored mostly through the flight to Ahmedabad.

Next day while checking out of the Hotel, I realized that I had lost the novel. I asked the reception to thoroughly check my room if I had left it there. Through the housekeeping they got it checked and reported convincingly that nothing was left. It occurred to me that I might have left it in the Flight.
Hmm…another lost thing due to carelessness.

While I was about to board this Indian Airlines Flight to Delhi, the Airline woman looked at my boarding pass and asked, “Sir, did you also traveled with us yesterday Delhi-Ahmedabad?” After I nodded, I was pleasantly surprise to hear that “Sir, you left a book in the flight. It is with us. It is too late to get it now, can you collect it when you’d come next time?” She thus filled in hope and then kind of punctured it. Who would remember next time? Whom would I contact?

Now, it so happened that I was again at Ahmedabad a week later. Before boarding my flight to Delhi, I went inside the Indian Airlines counter and said, “Last week I was traveling through your Airlines and….” the man at the counter interrupted and completed the sentence for me “….and you left your book in-flight, right?” He then rushed to the Almirah dig out my Novel and joyfully handed it back to me saying excitedly, “So many people leave their books in flight, we keep them all, hardly anyone comes to claim them, I am happy you are back….”



It was a genuine heartfelt “Thank You Moment” for me, despite being Indian Airlines, the staff at Ahmedabad Airport is sure doing a great job. Kudos!