Saturday, April 27, 2019

Exploring Airport Lounge

This again goes in my collection of 'FIRST TIME'. I'll create a separate bucket and add all my first times there. Well, there are actually two incidents that happened which I want to mention here. It's 7:53 pm now and my flight is at 8:50pm. I am at Chennai airport in one of the lounges that accept Ola Select. Since I have a very short time I'll write to the point and expect this post to be a short one.

The story goes like this - Wednesday 24th April I was traveling to Bangalore with two of my teammates. We get to Chennai airport and visit one of the lounges. Now depending on what kind of debit/credit card you are using, you get some number of free access per month into this lounges. Both of my colleague's cards got accepted but mine didn't. I have a Jet Privilege card and so it got rejected, you all know what is happening with Jet now. So, one solution was my friends go to the lounge and I go somewhere else and it was a fair deal. But then suddenly the receptionist said that they accept OLA select too. I was not aware of the details but decided to go for it. See, on Wednesday I was at Chennai airport, then on 25th I was supposed to be in Bangalore (flying back to Chennai) and today 27th I was supposed to be at the Chennai airport. The OLA select has various plans and I went for a monthly plan (750 Rs). I made the calculation described earlier, ie in the one month period (24th April - 24th May), I 'll be at airports 4 times. So I go for it and it turned out to be a really great deal. Turns out that OLA select users get some benefits in the cab pricing too, so far I am all good with OLA Select. Try it once if you haven't so far. Recommended for frequent flyers. Also, if you have availed this facility, then please share your story. Currently, I am enjoying F1 qualification on my  Lappi and also blogging.

The second story (I have less 10 mins to write). I came to the airport early to enjoy the Lounge and know more about it. But as soon as I started blogging, I got a call from SpiceJet GroundStaff asking me to report at the check-in counter. Basically, there was something in my bag vibrating and making noise too. I wondered if kindle ever vibrated. Then in a few mins, I realized it was my trimmer. My trimmer has a lock switch, if I turn it on, then the machine doesn't get on. I forgot to turn that switch on and my trimmer was on one side of the bag, accidentally the ON button got pressed and it started vibrating. I went there and took the necessary action. Once check-in is done we proceed for the security check. Now I had to do the reverse. So som SpiceJet guy came and escorted me to the counter. Before leaving out of the security check-in area, my boarding pass was canceled. So I had to scan my bag again after adjusting the trimmer and go through the security check again. It is all done now and almost time to leave.

I'll be in Bombay till 5th May, Sunday. Let m know if anyone wants to catch up. Also, do expect one more blog by Mid May. Thanks and Happy Flying Everyone !!!


Friday, April 5, 2019

Just a routine update from Airport

Hello readers !
Yet another post from airport(Chennai). It has now become a custom to write a post either while flying from Chennai or flying back to Chennai. Sometimes I delay my post just so that I can include those points when I write a post from Airport. BTW my last blog was an audio one - click here incase you haven't heard it yet.

So, continuing from the audio post - I did do a book review on 'Competing on Analytics'. Let me be honest, it turned out to be a flop. Only three people came for it and there were two more basically the organisers. So 5 in total. I was instructed to keep it short and I made my presentation accordingly. In all it was a one hour show. Those who came did enjoy it since they got some new insights in to the power of data. Now, we get some token of appreciation for our presentation and this time I got a book titled - 'Thinking Fast and Slow'  I have been thinking about reading this book for quite sometime but I never made the purchase. I felt Lucky to have received that book as a gift. Its a big book with small fonts. So I won't be starting it for next few months.

Data Science training - Going slow and steady. I will be missing out on some topics due to my Mumbai trip. It's 5th April and I am back from Mumbai. I came back in 1st April. Completing the post now. So on 29th March while going to Bombay I met one of my colleague at the airport and he happen to be in the same flight too. We chatted a bit and slept a lot in the plane. I went to Lonavala from there for couple of days for so called Family function. Ok, something to do with marriage and life partner selection etc. .

So, there is a friend of mine who stays in Mumbai and we hardly meet. Long distance friend, family friend. We met around 6-7 years back at a station in Mumbai while both of us were going for some classes .other than that we were mostly in touch through WhatsApp. I met him again and this time in Train to LinavaLo. Turned out that he was going to the same event. We both were allocated the same room too. With, there is one more coming up. 7-8 months back I met a girl in Mumbai, you know one of this first meeting of arrange marriage. Nothing happened after the meeting and I never spoke to her after that. You guessed it correctly, I saw her in Lonavala too in the same function. This all made me realise once again - 'World is indeed Small'. That's all from Lonavala for now.

Back in Chennai things are exactly the way I left it. I study, watch TV, eat sweets and go to work and go to walk too. I'll be more than Happy to hear about your incidents of - 'World is Indeed Small' - write it down in the comments section below. My next post should be between 28-30 April. Flying back to Bombay for elections, 29tj April in Munbai. My humble request to all of you to go out and vote and make this Country a Better Place to Live and Work in.