Month: February 2010

Sun behind the Clouds

Published by Anita

I have a special place for Tibet in my heart – especially since one of my dearest friends is a Tibetan. And I think that it’s quite a struggle for Tibetans today trying to find their identity wherever they are in the world. It’s not easy when your homeland is no longer yours. Or that you can no longer even “visit”. And that the only images you can see of your homeland are the ones you see through films that make their way out of the borders. I can’t even begin to think what it feels like for the Tibetan community. But here is something interesting happening on Monday. Acclaimed filmmakers, Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam will premiere “The Sun Behind the Clouds: Tibet’s Struggle for Freedom” in an event jointed hosted by Friends of Tibet and Think Tibet. The details: Winner of the Silver Conch Award at the 11th Mumbai International Film Festival, “The Sun Behind the Clouds” will be screened at the Centre for Film and Drama, 5th floor, 71 Sona Towers, Millers …

Tuk-tuk calling!

Published by Anita

This guy’s going to be getting a lot of calls for sure. Meet Samson, an auto driver from Chennai, who has his own website, and incredibly (yes, yes!) also turns on the meter! When I think Chennai and auto driver, my mind wanders to a journey we undertook a few years ago – my sister and I. We were just visiting South India then and decided that Chennai would form a part of our tour plan. We made the mistake of trying to bargain with a auto driver who was intent on robbing us. We paid him a perfectly decent amount. What he did next, left us scarred forever. Despite my ability to completely forget small details, I still remember this incident. He threw the money out of the rickshaw and abused us. I thank God that we didn’t understand a word of Tamil. Phew! After that, I approach all auto drivers in Chennai with some amount of fear. Samson therefore comes as a breath of fresh air. A Japanese tourist set up an email …

They couldn’t make my trip!

Published by Anita

Had quite a bad experience with makemytrip.com today. I booked a ticket online for a bus to Chennai in the morning. After the payment was done, the screen blanked out and I didn’t get a confirmation for my ticket. Then I receive an SMS with my booking ID and a message that my credit card had been charged. But there was no ticket for me in my mailbox. When these kind of gaffes happens, I also realised that they don’t call to tell you that something went wrong. I had to wait for around 10 minutes on their toll free number trying to figure out what happened. The lady apologised and asked me to try after an hour. Later in the afternoon, I try again. After another 12 minutes of holding for someone to answer, I get told that my booking is not done. My card is charged (!). And could I make the booking again? And not only that, pay again? Why would I want to book my tickets again on a website which …