Five Important “Did you knows” of Air Travel

1. 1.       If you booked from Yatra or Make-my-trip or any third-party kind of sites, and had to cancel your tickets, the airline will charge Rs.1000 per ticket but these sites will charge anywhere between 350-500 additional.
2. 2.       When booking from third party sites, the price of tickets shown initially will match exactly if you go to the airline site but when you are just about to make the payment, the price goes up by Rs.125 per ticket/sector/passenger. These are convenience fees. Many airlines also charge Rs.100-Rs.125 per ticket/sector/passenger if payment is made by credit card. Net banking attracts no fees.
3. 3.       If you have booked a special return fare ticket (irrespective of third party or airline site), it means that once you have taken one part of the journey, many airlines will not allow you to make any modifications/cancellations to the return part. You have to forego the entire fare in case you are unable to travel back on the scheduled date/time. Since the fare difference is hardly a few hundred rupees when doing special return fare as opposed to two separate tickets, it is better to book two separate tickets even if you have an iota of doubt about your return journey.
4. 4.       The cheapest (not the quickest) way to book a ticket is to check prices in  third-party sites and then call the respective airline and book the ticket over phone. Once the agent books your ticket, they send a PNR number on your email and you have 24hrs to make the payment. They keep the reservation on hold for 24 hours and there is no extra charge. If you booked on web instead of phone there is an extra 100-125 per ticket charge.
5. 5.       Finally, many airlines run an unaccompanied minor service wherein they pick your minor from the airport and drop him/her to the destination. They will take care of the luggage, check-in, security, boarding, give minor food and hand the minor over to the person you have instructed after checking for his/her photo ID. The typical charges are Rs.1500 per sector. However, Spice Jet will refund this 1500 in case of cancellations but Go-Air will not. 

Right by Birth

You all must have seen that the son of a doctor, most of the times, ends up being a doctor. The son of an army man ends up joining defence and the son of an accountant has a high chance of ending up being an accountant. However, in all these cases, while the child ends up going in to the same profession as the parent, he or she has to go through the required education  - first to qualify and later years of training to be popular and successful.

However, there are two industries that beat this trend. Politics and Acting. In these two professions, just because your parent or a relative is a politician or an actor gives you a clear chance on the platter to become one yourself. Most popular politicians today are second generation and actors are the first generation. While you may intuitively know this, Manoj from my wife’s office pointed this out. Then I thought it would be nice to document it to understand its intensity.

The acting industry

Amitabh Bachchan – Abhishek ; Anil Kapoor – Sonam  ; Rishi Kapoor – Ranbir ; Shatrughan Sinha – Sonakshi ; Vinod Khanna – Akshaye ; Feroz Khans – Fardin ; Raj Babbar – Arya ; Amjad Khan – Shadaab ; Sashi Kapoor – Sanjana ; Salma Agha – Sasha ; Mithun Chakraborty – Mimoh ; Jackie Shroff – Tiger ; Shakti Kapoor – Shraddha ; Kamal Hasan – Shruti ; Dharmendra – Sunny, Bobby, Esha ; Jeetendra – Tushar ;Rajesh Khanna – Twinkle ; Tanuja – Kajol; Sharmila – Saif/Soha; Mahesh Bhatt – Alia ; Randhir – Kareena/Karishma ; Shabana Azmi – Tabu & Farah (nieces) ; Dev Anand – Shekhar Kapoor (nephew)  - Purab Kohli (nephew of Shekhar Kapoor) ; Smita Patil – Prateek Babbar ; Guru Dutt – Amrita Rao (her grandfather and Guru Dutt were second cousins); Nassir Hussain – Amir Khan (nephew) – Imran Khan (nephew); Anupam Kher – Sikandar Kher ; Mukesh - Neil Nitin Mukesh; Suresh Oberoi – Vivek ; Aparna Sen – Konkana ; And before Rajnikant gets upset and wipes Google out of the world – Soundarya, his daughter.

Then there are those that are related to Producers and Directors: Bonny Kappor – Arjun ; Vashu Bhagnani – Jackie ; David Dhawan – Varun ; Harry Baweja – Harman ; Yash Chopra – Uday ; Gulshan Kumar – Kishen Kumar (I thought I had erased him from my memory)

The political industry with little more detailing

Amit Mitra FM of West Bengal(grandson of Subhash Chandra Bose) ; Padmaja Naidu former Governor of West Bengal (daughter of Sarojini Naidu) ; Abhijit Mukherjee MP West Bengal (son of Pranab Mukherjee, who was himself son of Kamada Kinkar Mukherjee, freedom fighter and member of West Bengal Legislative Council) ; Nandamuri Harikrishna, MP of Andhra Pradesh and Ex Transport Minister(son of NT Rama Rao, former CM of Andhra Pradesh) ; Daggubati Purandareswari, Minister of State, Textiles (Daughter of NTR), Kotla Jayasurya Prakasha Reddy, MP (son of Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy, former CM of Andhra Pradesh) ; Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, MP (Son of Y.S.Rajashekara Reddy, former CM of Andhra Pradesh); Mrigendra Kumar Singh, Bihar Youth Congress Leader, (son of Dr. Madhurendra Kumar Singh, Member A.I.C.C and Prominent Leader of Bihar Congress who was himself son of Thakur Jugal Kishore Sinha, Member of first Lok-Sabha who was himself son of Sadhu Sharan Singh who was member of Indian National Congress.) Dr. Lakshmi Narayan Singh, Bihar Congress leader(Nikhil Kumar's son in law, who was governor of Nagaland who himself was son of Satyendra Narayan Sinha who was Freedom Fighter and former CM of Bihar, who was himself son of Dr.Anugrah Narayan Sinha, Freedom Fighter and first Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar.

Breathe deeply...

Pooja Mishra Jha, Member of Aam Aadmi Party (daughter of Vijay Kumar Mishra, MLA and Ex MP who himself was son of Lalit Narayan Mishra  Former Railway Minister of India);  Subhash Yadav, Rabri Devi’s brother who herself needs no further introduction. ; Mira Kumar of Congress is daughter of Babu Jagjivan Ram. Dayanidhi Maran, Union Minister (son of Murasoli Maran who was Former Union Minister  and nephew of Karunanidhi who himself was TN’s former CM). Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon a Cabinet minister in Parkash Singh Badal govt. (son of Surinder Singh Kairon MP and grandson of Pratap Singh Kairon former Chief Minister Punjab), Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister or Punjab and President of the Shiromani Akali Dal (son of Parkash Singh Badal, Current Chief Minister of Punjab). Mantar Singh Brar, MLA and chief parliamentary secretary, Punjab SAD (Son of Jaswinder S Brar, Ex. Corporate Minister of Punjab: SAD) ; Paramjit Kaur Dhillon, President Municipal Corporation, SAD (Badal) is Daughter of Jaswinder S Brar)

Breathe deeply again...

Sara Abdullah, (married to Sachin Pilot, Member of Parliament is sister of Omar Abdullah, Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, former Union Minister who himself is son of Farooq Abdullah, former CM of J&K who was himself son of Sheikh Abdullah former CM of J&K. Then there are Thakreys, Pawars, Patils and Ranes from Maharashtra ; Yadavs from UP, Scindias and Dangis from MP; Hoodas, Devi Lal, Bhajan Lal and Bansi Lal clans from Haryana; Patnaiks and Sathpathys from Orissa, Gowdas from Karnataka and many in the making.

Wow... looking at the political hierarchies, the acting industry has too much to catch on to!!!

Oops! I did forget to mention the Gandhi dynasty...

Bombay Talkies: Three good stories and a great blouse!

Bombay Talkies is celebrating Bollywood cinema’s centenary. The concept was to get 4 great modern filmmakers together to do 4 short films on this occasion. Here is what I felt.

Let’s start with Dibankur’s film that comes second in order. The story is about a day in the life of a lower middle class Mumbaiite who accidentally gets to play an insignificant role in a typical Bollywood flick. The film scores full points on two fronts – the casting and the execution. Nawazuddin plays his part very convincingly. While Bollywood never overshadows the common man’s story and is always at the back-drop, it re-ignites his desire to become an actor.

The fourth film by Anuraag is closest to the centenary theme. It shows that Bollywood fanatics can go to any extent. The movie has patchy realism but Vijay Kumar Singh, its protagonist, is very convincing for a novice. Especially the scene where he goes to the bodyguard’s house to persuade, plead and eventually convince him to get him an access to arguably the biggest Bollywood star– Amitabh Bachchan. The film showcases an important aspect of Bollywood, its fans. It is also refreshing to see the movie originate from Allahabad underscoring Bollywood’s pan-Indian popularity.

The third story by Zoya has an interesting take on how Bollywood influences us. In this case, a pre-teen boy. The interpretation is uncommon, like in Anuraag’s story, but it’s extremity and oddity make it unique. Like in Dipankar’s film Bollywood is a backdrop, here too Bollywood is the backdrop and the story is stuck to the boy who dreams of becoming a dancer like Katrina.

The fourth story, that I would call, “The great blouse”, is about how financially successful families in metros live unsatisfied lives, the topic here being subdued sexuality and gayism. Why does Rani wear a sexy blouse? Why do the gays finally not end up sleeping together? Why does the intern divulge Rani about her husband’s bisexuality? And most importantly what is this movie doing in Bombay Talkies? What is the Bollywood context? This one is a misfit.

I don’t know whether the directors spoke to each other before hand but the three movies talk about roles Bollywood plays in our lives. Dipankar’s story is about how some of us always wanted to be an actor or a singer but could not make it. Over the years the desire gets smaller and eventually hides itself in some corner of us. Joya’s story is about how Bollywood influences us – in this case the influence is about what one wants to be. Other extensions that we see in our lives are how we dress, wear our hair, speak etc. And Anuraag’s film renders that while all of us are fans of someone or the other from Bollywood, some of us are fanatics and would do whatever is required to get access to our stars.

Finally, it is critical to know what the writer/director wants to call his story. That sets the context or the ambit in which the movie is set. The films should have had a name. 

Bhandardhara Camping

I was not so sure whether camping was a good idea, with family, in Bhandardara. Not that we have not camped in India before. We did that recently in Mori, some six hours ahead of Rishikesh for white water rafting and it was a splendid experience. Part of the reason was that it was arranged by Aquaterra, who I would recommend to anybody interested in adventure sports. Bhandardara on the other hand was a make shift camp and I did not know the organiser Keshav before. He was recommended by an ex colleague. So with mixed feelings we drove down the Nashik highway, took the Ghoti right and reached Bhandardara in 3hrs from our Andheri residence in Mumbai.