I am a bird
Monday, August 14, 2006
Flight connection to Smaller Towns
Talk of going to my home town, Varanasi, and I get a jitters. No, the overcrowded bazaars, temples, cows, monkeys on the streets are not any deterrent. But the fact of how to quickly reach at a short notice is more of a problem. Even though Varanasi attracts thousands of foreign tourists each year, there is no decent air connection. Most of the travelers are seen reaching by inconvenient train connections, cabs etc.
Why foreigners, even people like me who belong to Varanasi but work in different cities travel to their hometown is troublesome. Yes Indian Airlines does fly, but you just can’t plan a quick trip home at an outrageous cost. Since there is no competition in this area, IA charges exorbitant rates which are not affordable. Varanasi is not the only place, my friends from Raipur, Jabalpur, and Allahabad (& other small towns) complain of the same problem.
Even limited flights over a week can be an answer to woes of small town travelers by the thrift airlines. Adding convenience to travel may see a boost to tourism as well. These small towns have innumerous traditions, monuments and archeological wonders to boast of.
Till then..Sorry Mom – I will book my tickets home by train when I get availability.
68 Comments:
Oh - this is so true. I loved Varanasi, but its been a while since I have been there.
Air Deccan - Are you listening? :-)
Hey Shruti,
Awww... hope you have a good journey home. In Bombay we have the reverse problem - too many airlines and no parking bays / runways to land them in.
Cool blog!
Never been there. But should be an interesting place.
Since there is no competition in this area, IA charges exorbitant rates which are not affordable.
Not to mention the extra surcharge when and if you use a foreigh credit card.
Hey agreed of the enormous amount of trouble that it takes to reach our hometowns. Considering that I had to travel nearly 80/90 Km further of Varanasi in the near to non-existent public transport of UP, I feel happy and sad that I don't need to travel to the badlands of UP anymore.
I have a fear of flying anyway,so taking a small plane to a small town would freak me out.
hi shruti,
welcome to the blog world .. ( hehe .. no, me no representative :P bt still )
yups .. india is still to run a lot of miles as far as aviation is concerned .. let it take its own time .. trains r still nt tht bad ..
newyz .. have a nice journey home ;)
( nd jst fr fun check out reply to ur cmnt :D in ma blog )
take care
anuj .
Hi Shruti,
Have a good time and safe journey.
Never been to Varanasi, so i guess no idea.. :(
Hi Shruti,
Varanasi is a place I have been dreaming to visit. Hope everything is made easy before I visit Varanasi. LOL.. Nice blog.
Hi Shruti,
Good to see ur comment on my blog..which dragged me here :)
I had been once to Varanasi and I know why tourists are there :) its an amazin place...however the problem that you mentioned has to be brought up in big media so that ppl can understand and business can start thinking to bring competition in airlines or even fast buses (am not sure if that works out but...more frequencies etc).
I can imagine the restlessness when u start for home and u want to reach as quickly as possible...:)
Hope one day things will fall in place...good luck
Cheers
It is so true that flights to smaller towns are more expensive and infrequent. thanks for stopping by. I think you are off to a good start with your blog also.
welcome to blgs :-)
keep posting....
yaa u r not replying to any commentus !!! :-o
Wish u all the best at blogging ! Varanasi must be a nice place, I'll go there sometime in the future
welcome to blog!
tks for dropping by....
Monopoly....
keep writing...
Cheers!
:)
welcome to blog!
tks for dropping by....
Monopoly....
keep writing...
Cheers!
:)
Hi Shruti
i too like Varanasi, a spiritual earth. very hard to forget the recent bomb blast in varanasi. Have a peace trip, enjoy with your family:)
Hi shruti.
I understand how difficult it can get...I belive Varanasi is beautiful place....like to go there sometime...hopefully by then it will be well connected :)
IA, stupid service high charges..
Hey Birdy :-)
cheer up..soon varnasi will be in the low cost airlines map.
Im sure u wil celebrate diwali at home with mom.
~Cheers
Hey! Thanks for the comment on my blog. I hope you come visit again sometime! I loved reading your first post...it was interesting. God Bless!
hmmm ... are the airlines listening??? :)
thanks for dropping by Shruti ... Keep posting!!! :)
HI! thanks for visiting my previous blog. I have recently written on another true story of a unfortunate man in india. hope you like and dont forget to comment on the blog please. you can visit it at
http://whatwillshelivefor.blogspot.com/
you have got great writing style!
hi shruti ..
hwz life ??
come wid somthng dear .. jst scribble ;)
Have been to Varanasi but knew it as banaras then:), and for the first time in my life i saw fireflies there and was very excited. Would love to go back there and capture the famous subah-e-banaras :)
new blogger!! welcome to the club...
Must visit Varanasi..by train of course
Hehe :),
I think Varanasi is best reached by roads, somehow hv been thr thrice in the past 3 months, and the car ride is plain ossum !
Hi Shruti
Yea travellin can be pain sometimes. Even if u r flyin to the so called metros of our country. But as far as travellin to Varanasi goes yea I believe it will be real bad, though never been to the city myself.
So cheer up, Supply can never be far when there is demand. Or that is what simple economics says :-)
By the way "Welcome to the Blogger's World" n Happy blogging.
Nice to c that u dropped by my blog.
Most of the times I believe its too boring to be read :-)
N to tell u frankly been to that dark room of mine many times over though every time m out its the same ol me. Soon, will come out wid an answer though.
C ya around
welcome to blog world...
thanks for dropping by my blog.
have a nice and safe journey :)
why a bird need to travel by train or a cab. why not simply fly?
3nj0y every moment of life.
once gone its not gonna come back.
Though I have not experienced this problem..coz am stdin in my home town, Patiala( Punjab ). But I surely know how you feel. Luckily Patiala has an airport in Chandigarh and dats just 70mins away..So I got lucky here..Anyways I was really dissapointed to see just one post in ur blog..Post more dear..Wud love to read bout u..Cheers
Dear bird ..thanks for dropping by blog!
have fun! take care...
:)
i very much relate wid u.. but here in Vizag v hav Air Deccan at our rescue... :)
dudette.. u claim 2 be a bird.. got a bird brain too? just curious :P
wat da hell hav u jus typed out gal?
i mean looks like u hav crow shit in ur bird brain!
lol...may b mean n all..but tru!
raghu.. grrr.. be nice 2 the fellow paladin.. dont give a bird brain such a hard time... not fair :P
Varanasi is a beautifil place :D I wish to visit that place some day :D
Thnks fro mdropping by my blog
all hail paladin... n birds... paladins will protect da birds...or er... birds will shit on paladin??
watevr.. think of sumthin bettrv 2 do.. dan 2 jus go n comment shit on all guys blogs babes...duh babes!!
i cant belive ur tryin 2 get an air deccan flight fyin 2 varanasi...man dis is funny...thnx 4 da amusement..lol... agian rude n mean but tru!
lol...am i takin 2 much panga?
Thanks Shruti for visiting my blog! Do come again.
You blog about train and airlines just made me nostalgic for my own home and country.In any case I would prefer travelling by train rather than flight.It is fun in train.You can talk to people,look around,and above all can eat different types of street food and especially "chai-garam,chai garam".I love that.
hmm.. so ur the babli of varanasi who feels the tortuous train route as a bore.. Be proud of the fact tht bismillah khan saab lived in one of those dinghy lanes.. Anyway with the advent of low cost airlines a flight route to varanasi will surely be there.. btw, hi..
Shruti.
thanks for stopping by...Do keep visiting..and keep writing too
never been to varanasi
Lol I emphatise with you. I live in a tiny corner of AP and the flights from Vizag to Delhi are ridiculously expensive. So I gotta bus it down to Hyd and fly, tis a royal pain.
hey thanx for visiting.. :-) congrats on ur new blog......
hi...happy blogging...its really good though i wasnt able to do it for sometime...excuse - because of work...
and Varanasi...i must visit it once thats for sure...
and thanks for dropping by...
hi...thanks for commenting on my blog...
hmm well i never went to varanasi...don't know whether i will go or not...but ur problem sometimes depicts abt the situation of india...so many important things are ignored for frivolous things...only the hope remains it will be sorted out...
and yes u too take care...
and do post some more blogs...ur good at writing...
hi shruti, thanks for dropping at my world.
so, debut post uh? all the best. keep blogging.
:)
dont' worry u will not have to wait for a long.. Deccan will do something for u.. n it seems some other airlines will also come to market...
so till then "Rail gaadi...."
nice post birdy...
hi shruti,
i never been to varanasi..but heard a lot abt it...if im not wrong pinjar movie is also based on varanasi only..
beautiful place..
hope when i will visit there without having any inconvinence..
hope for the best..
hey !
thanx for stopping by !
i want to visit varanasi .. never been there
hey, varanasi is a lovely place i love to visit there more n more .. espacially that ganga ghat..
n yes i always prefer to go by train so not to miss the very beauty of our nature...
true buddy,
smaller cities should be connected more efficiently beoz the real beauty of india is hidden inside them..n a plce lke varanas cant be ignored..
hi shruti,
ur debut blog is cool
nice starting..keep blogging
hey shruti
thanks for droppin by my blog
never seen sooo many comments for a first time post
wow u surely are something :) !
I missed a chance to visit Varanasi a couple of years back, and have regretted it ever since. Somehow the holy city attaches a charm to itself, thats at once intriguing and spiritual. Looking forward to the day, when I finally set foot on the Varanasi soil...
:)
Its so true, generally for small cities they charge more due to lesser traffic, but a place like varanasi is exceptional coz of being one of the most famous tourist place, the other companies shud really look into it.
I thought all the airelines had some mandatory quota to fly to certain offbeat sectors?
Isnt that the case any more? And Varanasi is probably a place with more fliers than Leh..
You from Varanasi.Great.
Have u ever travelled in train from Mumbai to any place in uttar pradesh?Its pretty tiresome coz as soon as train reaches within border of UP it stops going according to schedule.
Trains being late by couple of hours is pretty common thing in UP bound trains.
hi...thankf fr visiting my space and wishes fr R:)...
i completely understand what u go thru! when i have to visit my parents in Agartala...i have to take a train and then a flight! Direct flights are way too expensive and train services have not yet reached Agartala! *sigh*
ur problem will be solved only when Varanasi produces a railway/aviation minister (like recently Laloo got his small hometown n his wifey's place on the railmap).. otherwise common ppl like us r bound to suffer
hope u get to meet ur mom soon..
thnx for dropping by my space.. c ya arnd
n will u be updating ur blog only when Varanasi gets a fully functional airport n cheaper air rates? :) .. update buddy
i have a total synpathy with you dear..
but seems govt wont have otherwise a bird wont think a twice to reach home...
right na!!
good luck...
Have some patience. Things are changing fast and you'll have your wish answered soon.
Air travel in India is improving in terms of number of flights and cost. I think it is just a matter of time. Cheers.
thanks for dropping by my blog
hey, nice post. thanx for stopping by my blog. hope u frequent. have a safe journey though by train.
Yeah Shruti....u reminded me of the same prob tht i faced while i was in b'lore and mysore...
thts so very true...
hope alternative cheaper 'n faster means of transport comes our way in future (fingers crossed) :)
hey thanks for stopping by shruti...no updates on ur blog?
Hi Shruti.. just came by looking for the new post..
How have u been?
when r u back to posting your next entry?
Hey Shruti!
I belong to varanasi and I stay in varanasi.............. I agree that there are indeed very few flights to varanasi but you also have to consider the amount of Air Traffic to Varanasi. Most of the foreign travellers come either from New Delhi or kolkata but you would be surprised to know that they deliberately travel by rail! A couple of people I talked to say that they want to have the earthy feel of India........none the less a couple of carriers now have daily flights from Varanasi to new Delhi and Mumbai, So things are improving. Wotsay!
The long train home has always been the romance of India, maybe it might just about reignite travel joys in ways unexpected :)
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