Choices

Choices be made right!
..

Flight vs Rail

I remember, when I was a kid, I had visited Patna airport once just to see an aeroplane, take off and landing. Seeing the aeroplane landing and taking off, It was so beautiful, I had asked my parents whether, we would also sit on aeroplane some day! My mother said, "son, we have done, whatever, we could do. Now, all these demands are to be met by you!"

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Certainly, a flight journey these days is not a very privilaged wish as used to be some 10 years back, as the flight fare is low as compared to hike in salary. But, for me a flight journey is not a matter of choice/luxury, rather, a necessity! Rail distance from kolkata to Agartala could be around 1500-2000 kms. whereas, the air distance is only 400 kms. This is due to presence of Bangladesh plugged into lower arm of northeastern states!

To travel by rail, It takes more than 48 hours, where as by flight, It's less than an hour!

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However, a luxurious journey adapts oneself to it so much so that other travel modes seems inferior and unwanted. I also had to visit Delhi recently! The Rajdhani express and AC berths are full before the sleeper class, clearly depicting people getting richer,or low fare as compared to hike in salary/ income! To add to it, there are so many people who have to travel, so, Sleeper class becomes like a local train, with so many waitlisted passengers! Yet, a night joureny is just good, as we reach our destination while in our sleep, but, if trains too late, it really is a kind of harassment.

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I believe, a long flight journey is yet low cost as compared to land travel, if we perform a nice analysis, including all costs. Whereas, to travel by land, we have to develop a complete land infrastructure, It's not so for the air travel, where the complete space is the route, which requires no additional cost! The infrastructure which needs development is only while taking off and landing, the two end terminals. I believe, for long journey, air travel is the future! If somehow, cost of fuel could be reduced, air travel would be very economical! A plane carries more number of passengers than a "train with specified number of berths" in the same time interval, due to more number of trips possible due to high speed of aeroplane and hence less time taken.

Vacation: Boring days!

No work and full pay! Just gets too boring to imagine life next two months! However, me and some of my friends have decided to utilize this time in our own personal good like health and fitness! Let's see. Hope, I do not be too lazy!

April and disturbing!

This April was relatively calm as compared to others! However, An incident occured in first week of April which had very high potential of destruction and/or bad reputation to our group friends at our present stay.

It was mere luck and coincidence that I was present in my flat and that I noticed the smoke coming out of my adjacent room. When, I opened the room completely, It was too horrible sight and I was shocked to find the bed in flames. The fire was at its initial stage and could be controlled soon. The cause of fire was not established, but having no other clue, we concluded an electric short-circuit might be the cause!

Being a villager!

Rightly described as "gaonwalo" by my friend Chinmay :)

The last movie I watched in a cinema hall was "I hate love stories" at City centre, Salt Lake, Kolkata in July last year! There are no cinema halls at Agartala!

Places around my present stay don't have restaurants! and to travel 20 kms to main town just to visit a restaurant! or just visit a restaurant when you visit the town!

Ok, there is something more! To have the cash in my hand, visit the nearest ATM which is around 10 kms away from the university campus!

What if suddenly, you need to send some letters through speed post! Go and visit the town!

However, Inside university campus, very good facilities of residence, electricity, water, internet, etc. exist! So, At least not so bad!

India wins the Cricket World Cup 2011

Yesterday(02-April-2011) was the glorious moment for Indians as we won the Cricket WorldCup. I was watching it live on TV with my friends and was overjoyed when Dhoni hit a last sixer to win the match against SriLanka. Finally, the SriLankan captain had to say, 'Even 350 runs could be less for Indians!' a marvellous inning was played by Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni which brought India on the track of winning the game after losing two early wickets of Sehwag and Tendulkar.

Below here in the picture is the winning sixer shot by MS Dhoni, being watched by two captains very eagerly!

Kolkata to Agartala via Imphal

Day before yesterday (on Sunday), I had to travel from Kolkata to Agartala. There are many direct flights from Kolkata to Agartala. However, I wanted to enjoy the flight experience as direct flight duration from Kolkata to Agartala is too short (only 40-50 minutes). So, Intentionally, I booked long duration flight via Imphal. It was of an extra hour duration! When I informed my mother of my longer journey, she was too scared! :D She said that flight journey was risky so, one should avoid it. She said that my behavior was too childish and warned me not to repeat the same again!

The flight experience is too breathtaking! The whole journey seems to be like travelling in a hanging vehicle with no or little jerking! It feels like just sitting on a chair and enjoying the outside clouds (I always book my ticket at the window seat). Last time, I had an opportunity to see a very big size rainbow in the sky (too awesome view).