Hi all,
Life was quite in dramatic stage few months before leaving to India. The decision to leave or not to leave was hot topic and I had to justify why I’m leaving to everyone. Few offers were in scrutiny and the best among the worst :p was selected. It was one of the tough decisions in my life as I will be based in India for at least two year. Well some sort of Kamunting detention but this detention is for better life later on.As the offers and decision was at oscillation mode, I was reluctant to pack my bags – because as usual - I’m lazy. Finally one week before the exact leaving date, the confirmation letter came and I had to rush to the Indian High Commission to get my visa done. After running few errands on preparing the things to leave, I had about 2 days to pack up my things and to give up my rental room in Subang Jaya.
My flight was scheduled on 14.09.2008 Friday morning @ 8.00am and I was cursing the fellow who got me the ticket (the travel agent). As I have trouble waking up early in the morning even in normal days for going to work I was hoping that I would get a night flight but sometimes “Life”…. Sigh…. And due to some “bye bye” meeting with few of my friends and acquaintances I didn’t get to pack my things until Thursday night… that’s about 10 hours before my departure. Well I was packing the things with help of my ex-worker and the amount of things has to be cleared off was a big headache. The computer spare parts, main boards, cpu’s and monitors had taken the largest amount of space in my room and I had to clear off everything before giving up the room. The packing time alone took about 4 hours and everything ended up at 2am. I was terribly sleepy and just wanted to have a short sleep. After dropping off my ex-worker at his place I went to my boss’s house and was lepaking there instead of sleeping.
He was advising me what to do when I land in India and reminding other necessary things. I decided not to sleep because if I do, then for sure I’ll miss the flight. My boss told me its better to exchange the money in India and the rate was good there at that time. At 3 o’clock in the morning, I and his whole family went for “mamak-ing” –some sort of farewell party for me. As I have called the airport limo earlier that night and requested them to come at 4.30am and on dot the limo was outside the house. Thumbs up for their services and I kindly recommend that you should take the airport limo rather taking the public cab as the public cab will charge higher price with less comfort. It was so cold outside and my eyes were burning due to lack of sleep. After carrying 4 huge bags with an accumulated weight of 58 kg into the limo I waved to my boss and his family. My boss - a wonderful and great man indeed. He was the one who helped me throughout when no one was there till that very day I’m leaving to India.
The only thought in my heart and head was, when I’m gonna see them again? When the limo was passing by all the familiar places I was wondering am I gonna miss all this places? The people I knew? I have no friends or relatives in India and how I’m gonna stay and live there? All the bad experiences and complains from people who had traveled to India before was continuously playing in my head. Little I realize that I didn’t charge my mobile phone!! The low battery signal was beeping and my heart beat too. Well after reaching the airport and paying off the driver, I hurried to the check-in counter as fast as I could. I was the third in the queue. Well my turn came and went to the counter and hand over the necessary documents and the malay lady at the counter asked me to put in the luggage. That’s when the terrible moment of my life happened. My luggage weight was 58 kg and the permitted weight was 30kg only. Well of course the weight details were stated in the print out ticket but as all of us know, we get screwed by the fine prints!
Power Converter - Front View
The guy who introduced me to my employer in India told me they would not check the weight so I was not worrying about the luggage weight at all. Well after talking to one of the manager in-charge he told me to repack my bags or pay for the excess which comes up to RM 800! I said *** that’s the flight cost! I had to leave one bag behind and the weight of my total luggage still exceeds by 8kg after repacking. Now I have two problems. First, I have to settle the 8kg excess weight and second, how to dispose my fourth bag. I was all alone in KLIA and sitting with so many bloody things in my mind. I tried calling as many people I know but when you are meant to be screwed, you are screwed to glory! None of them picked up the call because it was 5.15am and my battery was running really low. After using my negotiation and convincing skills to the manager, he allowed me to the check-in the excess 8kg for free. One problem settled. Second problem now, I have another bag with me and I can’t just leave it in the airport because there is two laptops which doesn’t belongs to me. The laptops were meant to be repaired in India.
Power Converter - Side View
After wandering around I found a “left luggage” counter. I was relieved and the payment was only RM10 and I gave the malay boy extra RM10. About 6.30 in the morning I managed to get my colleague and I told her that I left my bag in KLIA and she agreed to picks it up later in the afternoon. It was so nice of her to drive all the way to KLIA just to pick up my bag! I switched off my mobile phone before boarding the flight. I thought all the problems were over until I reached Anna International Airport, Chennai. After all the necessary immigration checks I walked out and the ambient in Chennai was so lively. (Note: Life in India is lively and life in Malaysia is happening and please don’t ask me to explain it :p). Huge numbers of people standing and waiting for their relatives and friend. It was terribly noisy with the loud horn sound and huge amount of people. The problem started when I found that the money exchange counter was closed. It was 8.30 in the morning and someone told me that it will be opened only at 11am. I was only carrying Malaysian ringgit. There was and Indian guy who took the same flight with me and I managed to persuade him to change some money. There was of course a lot of illegal money changer carrying a whole bunch of Indian rupees but it could be fake note so I didn’t want to try my luck as I was going through a bad one anyway!
I had mobile phone in my hand which battery power level was on the red zone and without a local line. So I decided to take note the number of the person I need to call. The moment I finished writing the number on my hand the battery went off. Praise and Hail the Lord. OK, now I have the number in my hand and went to the nearest STD Booth and asked what are the charges to call the local number were and they wanted me to have some change rather than handing over the Rs.100 (RM 8). Well I managed to get a booth which could change the Rs.100 and I called the guy. He told me that he couldn’t pick me up from airport and asked me to take a cab to his place called Nugambakkam. The taxi charges were Rs.250 (RM 20) and travel time was like 45 minutes due to traffic. The best part was they wanted me to pay upfront and I told those guys I don’t have Indian rupee with me and I will get the my friend to pay. After persuading them, they requested me to pay a deposit of Rs.80 (RM 6). I was happy anyway because the taxi model I got was an “Ambassador” model. It was dream came as I wanted to ride in “Ambassador” the moment I land in India. Well I think all the negotiation and persuading skill I had was very useful that day :p I got used to the honking sound and the dusty environment after 10 minutes of landing. Thanks to the mock environment in Indian High Commission, Taman Duta. After reaching to my friends place, he paid for the taxi fare and I return the amount in Malaysian Ringgit and I told him I need to change all the money I have to Indian Rupee. I was doing some shopping in Thiyagaraya Nagar (Famously known as: T Nagar). After couple of pusing-pusing I had to leave due to a wedding invitation to attend – The Indian Wedding in India! I was in Chennai for two days – Fri and Saturday.
I was suppose to leave to Salem on Friday itself but due to holiday season (Vinayaga Chaturthi)in Tamil Nadu all the buses to other city was fully packed. The amount of people in Koyambedu Bus Station, Chennai was like “woh” (not wow). As I had to return to the hotel I was taken for a ride by the “auto” fellows that night. It was a good “valuable” lesson to me! Never trust some people and always bargain. Set the price then get in. I took me almost three days to get a local prepaid number because you must have a local address prove to buy a prepaid number. This exercise was mainly due to the rampant terrorism activities. On Saturday night I left to Salem and reached at 4am on Sunday. I started my work as a Placement Officer in one of the Engineering College the following Monday. The experience, working environment, people, culture, people’s mentality in India cannot be written in just one paragraph. It will be another discussion for another day. By the way, Salem is located 400km from Chennai and 200km from Bangalore. It usually takes about 8-10 hours from Chennai to Salem via bus even though the distance is only 400km and 5 hours via train. The highway from Chennai -Salem has only two lanes and the road condition is not up to the highway level which makes it a stretchy trip. Average speed of the buses and other vehicles are 50-70 km/h. Salem is fifth largest city (not very sure exactly) which was divided into few smaller towns like Hosur, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Namakkal, Rasipuram and few others. On my personal opinion, I would say there is nothing great about Salem. The steel industry is famous here and maybe one day I can update more details about Salem in the upcoming postings.
The only thing I would remind anyone who are traveling to India as I had gone through; keep a checklist of things you need. Generally this can be used for traveling to other places also.
- Keep some foreign currency (the country you are traveling to) and maybe some USD or Euros (Euro will be better as it’s stable)
- Buy some power converters because the power plug/point will be different. (As I didn’t have local number, I wanted to use msn / skype / voip but my laptop power cord didn’t fit the power plug in the hotel and I was totally cut of with Malaysia for 3 days)
- Check out the procedures to get a local line and the charges from the website of preferred country’s service provider.
- Keep extra charged battery for your mobile phone
- Read the terms & condition (fine prints) on your travel itinerary.
- Don’t simply believe anyone if they were extra nice or change money with illegal money traders.
- Be a cool face and bargain especially in India. Speak like a local if can – never speak English with a strong accent. We tend to say “that’s cheap” when things are really cheap and they guy who is guiding us might take advantage.
- Travel with genuine/legimate business people only. (Taxi or tour bus company)
- Be highly adaptive, aware and alert! Ignorance is not a mistake it’s a crime!!
Indian Power Point / Plug
Indian Power Point / Plug - Zoom-ed View
You can add more things to your own checklist as this only a guide based own my personal experience. I’m quite happy now that I can deal like a local person in Salem now with huge numbers of friends and acquaintance, a great leap from not knowing anyone to few hundred known people. So the next time anyone of you is traveling to India, do let me because as a Malaysian you can trust me that I won’t take you for a ride :p but makes your trip to India worthwhile. Till then……
Signing off,
Ajay
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