Continuing from where I had left the last post, the taxi had to be tracked somehow. But how? How could we track down the taxi without having any clue about it? Suddenly my friends got reminded of something magical. On our way to the hotel from the airport, the entire journey was captured as a motion video in the camera. Could there be some clues in the video? At least it was worth investigating.

The video was long, so we had to quickly glance through it and find clues. Most of the video had captured the mountains and greeneries (yes Madinah is surprisingly much greener than Riyadh!).  We went through the entire video, and there was nothing which could help us track it down. We saw it all over again. And suddenly we realized that we had captured the driver’s face for a couple of seconds!!!! There was a ray of hope now. If we went to the airport and showed this photograph to the taxi drivers out there, someone must be able to recognize him and help us get in touch. This was really promising. To help us out came one of the hotel staff who was from India. He called up a taxi fellow he knew so that we could go to the airport. The taxi arrived in a few minutes and we rushed to the driver to show him the image and ask if he recognized him.

Bingo! We showed him the image and he didn’t even take a second to recognize the guy! Wow! This was just awesome. It seemed as if I already had the passport.  The taxi in which I had left the passport belonged to an Arab guy, while the driver who recognized him was from Pakistan. He didn’t have his number. However, he was confident that we can track him at the airport. We lost no time to rush to the airport. The way the Pakistani guy (Ghulam Ali) assured me about getting the passport was really promising. I thought for a moment, it is only when I am in India, there’s a negative mentality about Pakistan .  Over here, it feels like they just belong to some state in India! I’ve met quite a few people from Pakistan here, and all of them have been exceedingly helpful in making my stay comfortable over here, in some or the other way. That deserves a post.

Getting back to the passport hunt, we reached the airport and Ghulam Ali went on to hunt the driver. He was back in about 5 minutes, not with the Arab driver, but his phone number! He called him up and asked for the passport. The Arab guy said he has passengers and will check immediately upon dropping them. We headed back to the hotel. We called up the guy again midway and he confirmed that he has the passport with him. I felt so relaxed! All jailed abroad stuff vanished. Ghulam Ali dropped us to the hotel as the Arab guy was in the Madinah city where I wasn’t permitted to go. One of my colleagues went on with him. In about 15 minutes they got back with my passport!!!!!!!!!

I thought Ghulam Ali would demand a good sum of money to have helped. To my surprise, he just asked for the taxi fares to the airport and back (which was half of what the Arab driver had charged us!). This was really something which moved me. I gave him the fare with some extra money for the calls and all he made and a million thanks from my heart!

Ghulam Ali, this post is dedicated to you. I will never forget your kind gesture to have helped me track down my passport. A zillion thanks from the core of my heart!

It is said that everyone has a risk profile according to which they take their decisions. Opps, for those who do not know, ‘Risk Profile’ is simply the ability to take risk. The more risk you take in your day-to-day life, the steeper is your risk profile. We take more risk when we are young and the risk taking ability or urge diminishes as we grow old. Of course, different people at the same age could have diametrically opposite risk profiles.

Anyways, why I am writing this is for the fact that I seem to have a high risk profile. This is what happened today:

I went to the ATM to deposit cash (did you know you can do that?). I had two envelopes to deposit. I inserted my card, chose to deposit cash from the menu and slid the cash envelope on the beep. Wow, as soon as the ATM machine engulped the cash envelope, I got a message on the screen informing that my transaction has been cancelled! What do I do now?  Well somehow I knew that when the cash is cleared from the ATM machine, the bank will anyway acknowledge my deposit. So things are safe.

So far so good. Here’s where the risk profile comes in. Already knowing that there’s something wrong, I started another transaction to deposit cash on the same ATM! And guess what? The result was the same!

Well, just to ensure that I was thinking in the right direction, I called up the customer care. They assured that the deposits will be registered in 48 hours. So all should be well.

So am I someone with a high risk profile, or am I someone who is utterly stupid? Hmmm…tough call. Let’s see. If the deposits come through smoothly, I have a high risk profile. If for some reason they don’t then……………..Alright, I am utterly stupid.

Update: Just got a confirmation that both the deposits have been credited. So that proves that I have a high risk profile and I am not stupid

It hasn’t been long when I pleasantly missed my flight! Yes, I pleasantly missed my flight. I had to travel from LA to Buffalo via Charlotte. While I left for the airport a bit tight on time, it was good enough to reach there in time. However, the LA traffic had something else in store for me. The slow moving traffic almost for the whole stretch, made it impossible to make there in time. While I reached there half an hour before the scheduled departure, it was already too late to check-in my baggage as most of the airlines have a cut-off time of 45 minutes before they stop accepting any baggage for the particular flight.

As I walked into the airport, I was almost relaxed. I knew that I had missed my flight so no need to hurry and all. I started thinking about plan B’s and plan C’s (which I didn’t have). Anyways, I had a US airways flight, so I reached the full-service counter. After the initial greetings, I simply told that lady that I think I’ve missed my flight. I didn’t know what to expect. And to my surprise, she gave a very reassuring smile and said, “Let me see what I can do for you!”. Wow, never I would have expected such a reassurance while traveling in India. Within a couple of minutes, she said “You’ll reach your destination half an hour later than your initial itinerary”. That was so relaxing. So simple it was. I immediately gave my nod to proceed. Nothing could have been better that day (except for not missing the flight.). Well, no point mentioning the rest of the story. It was a usual longish travel day. I was in Buffalo a little later than I had planned for.

I don’t think I could have had any smoother experience of missing a flight and then reach with an alternate itinerary and that too without spending an extra penny! Even through they say US Airways  is not the best when it comes to the customer service, I don’t see any scope as to how the whole process could have been better. I was completely sold.  And let’s keep in mind that it is a low cost airline. Full marks to the airlines.

I can understand that I was lucky to find a seat on an alternate itinerary. At times and on busy routes, the process may not be smooth. But then, missing a flight is the passenger’s fault. So we can only be grateful if we find an alternative and certainly can’t crib if the airline is not able to manage one. What matters is the attitude. Logistics is not always in one’s control.

I haven’t heard of such a customer experience in India. Or may be, I don’t even know what happens if I miss a flight here! Traffic in Indian metros is no better than LA.  But I am eager to know. I don’t want to miss a flight to know this, so if you’ve had an experience, please share it here . I hope we have everything it takes to provide a similar customer experience. In fact, we may be doing so, just that I am not aware of it.

So next time when you are traveling in the US and realize that you are getting late to catch your flight, do not press hard on the accelerator and increase the chances of an accident! Relax and reach safely. Missing flight is not all that bad after all!

Happy missing flight! (well not recommended though)

The Hollywood Sign

It has been a while since I’ve put an article. But then, this is not the first time it has happened. Well, a lot has happened over the last couple of months. A lot of travel, places and people.

So where have I been all the time and what have I been doing to find an excuse for now writing a post? I can answer the first, I was in Los Angeles/ Hollywood most of the time. But the second one…Hmmm..tough to answer. More than the work, it was the schedule which prevented me from posting something, in spite of so much happening around.

Finally I seem to have some time to put up a post (that is because I have to wait for my flight back to India for 3 more hours!). So all the while, I was living just a block away from the famous “Hollywood walk of fame”! Yes, the same place where people come from all over the world to have a glance at the entertainment capital of the west. How exciting! Well yes, it is, only if you have come as a tourist. It loses importance when you walk the same streets everyday, for two months. And that’s what happened to me. I remember almost every shop and restaurant along a mile, on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (on both sides of the road J). Anyways, that place is worth watching if you are in and around LA. Just walking on the road for about half a mile, you would witness an ambience which will remind of the best of Hollywood movies. The pirate, the hulk, the spiderman, the batman, spider woman, the mask man……….and the list goes on. Yes, these are the characters you would witness not once, not twice, but almost every time you walk down the street. And while you walk down the street, once every while, you can witness the famous ‘Hollywood’ sign on the hills. The trademark I must say.

Now when I am on my way back, I realize how lively that place was. I wouldn’t say I miss it, but it does deserve a mention here.

Currently, there’s nothing which can excite me more than getting back to India! Ah, how much I missed the Indian food, I can’t even describe. What and how did I manage to eat in the last couple of months deserves a post dedicated to it.

Hopefully I’ll settle into my regular schedule soon and find time to put some posts and catch up!

Not long enough I had read a book called ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance‘. While it was more of a philosophical journey as opposed to what the title suggests, there is definitely something good about motorcycle maintenance (or anything for that matter).

I had been deferring the routine servicing of my motorbike for quite some time. If I remember correctly, it has been over 9 months. And guess what, this is when the workshop is (rather was) just behind my workplace! This is the height of laziness, isn’t it? (I know most of you are no different ). Anyways, 2-3 months ago, I decided to shun the laziness and went to the workshop behind my workplace. But wow, look at my destiny (or my bike’s destiny rather), I came to know that the workshop had been closed. Possibly because of people like me not bothering to service their bikes.

Anyways, the closure of the workshop nearby gave me a solid reason to defer the servicing. I could only imagine, how good it would have been if the workshop was still there. Servicing the bike at the other, more prominent workshop, would mean killing a day. So weekdays were out of question. I somehow couldn’t convince myself to trade off a weekend to get this through. Moreover, a couple of my friends warned me against the main workshop which received hundreds of bikes everyday and supposedly couldn’t pay attention to details. Ah! this was more than enough for me. How could I get my bike serviced at such a place? So I decided to live with a couple of smallish troubles which were already starting to show off in my bike. I was noticing a drop in the mileage. The chain and sprocket were making noise. The rear view mirrors were long out of alignment and beyond any use. I could neither see my face nor the traffic in them. They were somehow pointing to the ground beneath!

With all this, as I went on for my work every morning, the troubles my bike gave was nagging. I actually avoided using my bike as the feel good factor was lost. Now, people around me could notice the irritating noise it gave when changing gears. Thankfully it never broke down.

This morning, I remembered the joy and feel of riding the bike when I first bought it. I decided that it was enough and I must do something about it. It was simple. I went ahead for servicing. Had a tea with the mechanic over there as he examined the bike for the problems. I mentioned all the troubles I had along with the cosmetic changes which were necessary and came back. Somehow I felt a huge load, off my head!

And this effort was not in vain. When I went ahead and received my bike in the evening. It looked almost new. I could resist riding it back. And wow, there was a whole lot different experience while I rode it back to my home. Suddenly all noises were gone. Everything was in perfect shape. The ride was intact. I cannot explain the relief and the ‘feel good’ factor I got in the short ride from the workshop to my home.

I am sure most of us have had such experiences. Motorbike is just an example. It can happen with anything. The joy of putting things back on track is just so refreshing.

So did I learn a lesson? Well yes, to experience the joy of getting the broken things fixed, wait till they break! Ha ha! Just kidding. Let’s see when I go for the next servicing