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Mr. Totally Random

It has been more than 3 years since my last post - time flies. The recent events inspired me to start posting my experineces again...

As many of you know, I travel quite a bit almost 150 K miles each year and come across a lot of unexpected events and situations. Lately I have been noticing a trend... especially with the security procedures in US Airports.

In Phoenix airport, Terminal 3 (where Delta flies out of), there is a station for "random" screening for explosive residue between the officer that checks your boarding pass and the actual X-ray screening. This person stands there with a little cloth that they swab you and put it in a machine to check for explosives - you probably heard of it. Now, since there are so many people going through - they only screen one out of may be 10? So what do you think my odds are? 1 in 2? So last couple of times there was an officer at this station, I might as well stop before they signal - because it seems like he/she is ready for random testing when I walk by. 2 weeks ago, when the passenger in front of me got stopped and then she noticed me coming, then she waved her to move on and stopped me - never fails... so I feel lucky to be Randomly chosen :)

Then just last week on Wednesday I took a really late flight out of Phoenix for Denver. This is around 8:30 p.m. in Terminal 4 of Phoenix airport. There was only one security gate open since there weren't many people. They have a regular X-Ray and a Body Scanner next to each other. They also randomly send people through one or the other based on queue - so when I got in the line, there were 4 people - I am the 4th. The 1st one was in the scanner - so 2nd one will go through X-ray, 3rd one through scanner, 4th one me through X-ray... based on how they split them normally. But I somehow knew this is going to be RANDOM again, so I took off my belt and emptied pockets (needed for body scan), just to be safe and sure enough... the officer decides to let #2 and #3 through X-Ray so I can go through the body scanner. So, I am figuring that when it comes to Air Travel, I am Mr. Random (ly) screened passenger.

Now, I don't mind going through this (often), I am used to it, there are some other interesting stories I will post later.

If TSA decides to profile passengers and spare old people in wheel chairs and infants, I am all for it. But our official policy is that we only do random additional checks on passengers, and somehow it feels like profiling to me... may be it is just me.

Although, these additional screening are nothing compared to the FULL PAT DOWN i received in Amsterdam in 2009 - 2 days after the guy tried to blow up a plane headed to Detroit from Amsterdam - that my friends is a pat down just short of a full cavity search :)

If you feeling lucky - let me pick Random numbers and we may win lottery or something!!

New Hyderabad airport - Hit or Miss?

I have to say I am very impressed that it opened on time. So here goes my first experience.

I arrived from Chennai to Hyderabad new airport (also named Rajiv Gandhi Intl. airport) on April 25th at 7:40 a.m. by Jet Airways flight 493. You can see that the airport is in the middle of nowhere before landing itself. After it landed I noticed all the construction still going around - so they barely made it. The first glance is impressive - a lot more modern looking, international standard airport. Our plane taxied close to the gates, I noticed that there are a lot more jet ways for planes. BUT, we ended up parking at the end of building and used a traditional steps to get off the plane - what a BUST!! Why Jet Airways is too cheap to pay for the gates (there were plenty open ones)? Oh well - the rush to get on the bus ruined the impression - to make matters worse the Kingfisher plane that landed minutes after ours comes and parks next to us using a Jet way and the people getting off from that are looking at as second class passengers :) (may be it was my own interpretation).

So we get wheeled off to the arrivals - and we get up on a mini escalator and get to the baggage claim area. There seems to be a separation glass wall between the belts in the middle - later I learned that it was International arrivals. There are nice flat screens showing belts and status. There was a porter handing out carts (hmmm... is that really necessary - I will give an A for effort though). I went to the toilets close the baggage claim - now here is a brand new HUGE airport and they have 8 urinals? I noticed the typical line of people waiting - a big let down. There are nice amenities, but people couldn't figure out how to get napkins out - so they opened the top and picking them as needed - oh well!

Surprisingly the bags came out really quick - nice work - as I started walking out - I noticed that the bars outside the doors are same as every where else - people waiting for arriving passengers on both sides. At least it looks like the area is big and covered. Well here the chaos begins - there are so many signs - after I met my father and nephew who came to receive, they couldn't figure out how to get back to the car. We strolled down to the bottom level and started to walk towards the cars lot - I swear there was an arrivals pick up area. There were a few long golf carts that were being used to take people across the long middle area to the car parking lot. We ended up walking to the car and I noticed about 10 people directing cars inside the lots. Again, looks like a lot of man power. The exit gate had parking payment booths with tickets resembling US/western new parking booth system - so no more yellow ticket given by the guy in the parking lot? :) Looks like the fee is based on time - we paid Rs. 70 for the hour. Not bad.

While coming out - I had the driver go through the arrivals level - there seems to be a lot of cars parked on both sides - shuttles, rental cars, reserved spots, etc. The stickers on the pillars are peeling off already - hopefully they are temporary signs :) Still couldn't figure out if there was an actual passenger pick up area. I have to go back later this week and figure that out.

So, in conclusion - it definitely a good step forward for Indian Airports - lot of work left to do. Can the cleanliness and facilities maintained at the high level? I have seen a lot of facilities crumble under the relentless use and abuse around here - hopefully this will sustain. Only time will tell.....

Look - A
Parking - B
Cleanliness - A-
Man Power - A+

PS: By the way, the parking isn't Rs. 300 or they didn't collect Rs 1,000 usage fee upon arrival as a lot of people asked me about - there seems to be a lot of rumors going around :)

A check of reality - my visit to Muddapuram

On Sunday, September 9th, I went to Muddapuram along with Dr. Prakash Vinjamuri of Life HRG as they started their "Village by Village" program. This is my view point of the situation.

Ok, I admit, I haven't been much of a village boy or been in villages much to realize what the life used to be. So when Dr. Prakash invited me for this trip, I accepted it, even though I was overwhelmed with last minute issues on my recent trip. I also wanted to take a few pictures of Indian Village lifestyle to post them on Flickr (my recent obsession). But what I experienced was something out of the ordinary.

On Sunday, September 9th, Dr. Prakash showed up at 6:15 a.m. at our house as he promised. I had my alarm set for 5:45 a.m., but since I didn't get to bed till 2 a.m., it didn't work. So, I had to do my quick 15 minute getting ready routine, during which I dropped my camera (yes, the same one I used here, I have to send it for repair now). Sorry Dr. Prakash, for being late, that is not my style to make people wait. Anyway, We left around 6:35, along with his wife Dr. Kameswari, a gynacologist. We stopped near LB Nagar, Hyderabad to pickup another social worker, Madhavi, who is from the village Muddapuram it seems. It was her request to Dr. Prakash, that made this village the first choice for the new program. She seemed quite energetic and enthusisastic, and started preparing us for the conditions that we may face once we get there. After a brief break for coffee and gas we continued on this 90 kilometer trip. Half way through, there was a discussion that one of the bridges connecting the village to the route we are taking collapsed recently and we may have to take a detour. We stopped and asked one of the traffic cops we found in a town, and he very confidently said "yes traffic is going through", so without hesitation, we reached the place where the bridge collapsed. Needless to say, it was a dead-end. We found out that we needed to take a detour of about 10 kms.

I am not complaining, but the condition of the detour road was terrible. With roads barely wide enough for one bus, pot holes big enough to bring you to complete halt to cross, the detour took a lot longer than expected. The lack of infrastructure support to village outside of the mainstream cities is quite obvious.

We reached Muddapuram, about an hour late and when we entered the village, there was only one man at the Community Hall, where we supposed to meet with the villagers. As we stopped at Ms. Madhavi's in-laws place in the middle of the village, you can see others started to notice our arrival and starting to gather around. The old man in this picture made his way also, and immediately started talking to Dr. Prakash about his condition. I guess, all villagers are looking forward to medical consultation rather than listening to what they have to offer to help bring the village up to a new level. Patiently both doctors started talking to the people and after a brief breakfast break and a kid announcing our arrival with a "dappu" (a open drum that makes enough noise to get your attention), the group grew to may be 30-40 people.

I took a few pictures of the elder and a couple of girls playing in the street, but somehow, my creative desire to take pictures got overwhelmed by the experience I started to feel with the gathering. I wanted to feel comfortable and come back to take pictures, instead of being selfish and do the pictures I wanted.

There was a glaring lack of young and capable men. The crowd was predominantly older people and almost everyone seem to have a health issue. The so-called medical help they are receiving is a retired compounder (nurse) that comes by and dispenses pain killers and performs injections. So they are all used to drugs that will make them feel instant relief, even though they may not cure the actual illness. That is what they were all expecting from the doctors too. One of the older women even asked in the open - "Are you going to give us any drugs or is this all just show and tell?" - that closed the loop on what Dr. Prakash was trying to convey, but he continued to enquire others, and finally a couple of them saw what he is trying to do and started going over the background of the village and its facilities.

Everybody is now drinking so called filtered water, which seems to come in big containers and as reported by one of the villagers tastes different in each village. Not sure what the "filtering" process is, it seems like a good business around the villages. The effects of Musi (the dirty water river from Hyderabad) seem to be everywhere.

While I was in India, I was working on the our new Online venture PlaygroundOnline. When I visited the village, I realized how we are catering to only the few people in the cities, and how many of the villages may never even hear of us. That is a harsh reality, but it is reality still. Cell phones and TVs invaded most of the villages, but that is where it seems to have stuck. Education is almost on the verge of collapse, with everyone looking to private schools and travelling to nearby towns. Once they finish education, the youth are leaving for cities and leaving the old and aged people to their own devices. People that should have retired or be spending time taking care of their health, are working in the fields and worrying about their future and managing marginal health.

Is giving drugs, throwing money and facilities at villages the right solution? I don't think so. I like the concept Life HRG is taking up, which is to start educating on fundamental changes that can improve the health and lifestyle of villages. Making them utilize the resources they have and make changes to their lifestyle for the longterm well being will be a great accomplishment. It may take time to see the results, but it has to be attempted. In the modern era of instant gratification, people may not be patient enough to take this on instantaneously. So it is going to take tenacity and persistence to make this work and this is the path Dr. Prakash and Life HRG seems to have taken.

I plan on visiting this village on every trip to India and see how it progresses over time with the intiatives being taken up. I wish Dr. Prakash and Life HRG best of luck and do whatever I can do to contibute to its success. I applaude the support Dr. Kameswari is providing in this project to her husband and his vision.

I wish there are more people like Madhavi that take intiative to make their village better instead of preaching them to leave for town. After all, the lifeblood of India is still in its villages and I hope to see it continue to exist and get better!

Countries I visited So far

Air Travel has put the world at our finger tips. While growing up, I never even dreamed of visiting so many places. Here are the list of countries I have been to so far (first year I was there). These are countries where I visited some place (not just transited through).

India (Born in 1968 - lived till 1990, visit too often to list years)
USA (1991-Current)
Mexico (1994, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007)
Singapore(1995, 1997, 2000, 2001)
Malaysia (1992, 1997)
Japan (1997)
China (1997)
Taiwan (1997)
England (2007)
Australia (2007)
France (2007)

Countries passed through as Transit Passenger
Hong Kong
Macau
Switzerland
Germany
Thailand

Ganesha - the god of choice in Cars in India

The idol of ganesha decorated with Flowers
Originally uploaded by pchavali

Now, 90% of the cars I have been in have the tiny idol of Ganesha on thier dash board.

This one had special fake diamonds embedded along the trunk - not the usual one.

Taken inside of the car I did the 4 hr city tour on May 28th, 2007 - Read the "24 Hrs in Mumbai" for more details on this trip.