India Calling (Little India Magazine)

Click here for Naomi Abraham's article on Indian Americans moving to India for opportunities, which has a mention of my own experience here.

Hangla's, the taste of Kolkata

Linking Road, Opposite Amarson's
Linking Road, Bandra (W), Mumbai 400 050
www.hanglas.in (non-operational when posted, but is the site they publicize)
Bandra: +91 7738-364225 and 91 7738-3364235

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Located inside a newspaper stand-like street front stand alone structure on a corner of Linking Road in Bandra, Hangla's most recent outlet is a welcome addition to the Bandra culinary almanac. Nobody I spoke to when ordering could speak Bengali (odd for a restaurant which produces the "taste of Kolkata"). That, combined with the quality of my Hindi (and the quality of his English) made for a bit of a challenging ordering process. The food was Bengali enough to satisfy this Bengali's cravings, despite the initial language barrier.

I ordered three items to test Hangla's capabilities: a chicken kathi roll with egg, a mutton biryani and mutton kasha (essentially a Bengali mutton curry with a thick, relatively dry gravy). The chicken kathi roll with egg was delicious, as many online reviewers had suggested. The Kolkata style biryani was quite good as well, though chicken would have been less oily than the mutton, which couldn't quite free itself from a touch of red meat grease (though much less than most Hyderabadi style biryanis I've had in Mumbai). The kosha mutton was acceptable, though a touch sweet. The mutton, while tender and flavorful, did not fully satisfy me from an aromatic perspective.

The serving sizes were generous and the service quite fast. This was the first Bengali food I've been able to purchase in Bandra in my four years here. While the place is a street corner dive, and the quality wasn't stellar, it was Bengali enough, tasty enough, and clean enough to garner a return visit someday soon.

Just Another Victim of 9-11...

My mom's long time colleague and fellow Sociology Professor, Shirley Kolack, was married to Sol Kolack, the New England Director of the Anti-Defamation League. Sol, who passed away a few years ago at age 80 but whose image and principles are still vivid in my memory, stood for everything this inexplicable decision by the ADL does not: equality in law and culture for all religions and faiths. (Debate Heating Up on Plans for Mosque Near Ground Zero, New York Times, July 30, 2010)

While I can understand and appreciate a desire to be sensitive to the families of the nearly 3,000 victims forever lost at the site, we have to remember that the attack itself was committed by radical Muslim extremists against us and our way of life, which includes at its core religious pluralism and diversity. The hundred or so Muslims who also died in the attacks, who make up about a percent of the victims, and the families who loved them should not be forgotten.

Abraham H. Foxman's decision to endorse the Palin/Gingrich position opposing a Islamic Center near ground zero goes far beyond the professed goal of being sensitive to the majority of the victims and approaches the realm of religious intolerance that the ADL was formed to fight. Kudos to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a Republican, for standing up for the principle of religious freedom, which may have just become another sad victim of that horrible day in 2001.

My Own Private Indian Joke?

Funny or Racist?

I had been hearing about Joel Stein's article in Time Magazine, My Own Private India, for a few days but until just a few moments ago, hadn't read it. Why read about a dust up involving Indians in Jersey when I feel that I'm living in one dust up or another involving a whole lot more Indians in India itself? For whatever reason, sitting here in Bangladesh inside a substandard hotel, I decided to read Stein's piece; perhaps the bad Indian food in Chittagong that has me throwing up stirred me to it.

There is a lot of outrage about what Stein wrote. While I understand that feelings were hurt within the Indian community, I can't necessarily understand the outrage. Many have said that Time should never have published the piece. I disagree. It has its moments of humor, partially reflects the jokes Indians tell about themselves, and doesn't shed the most positive light on the natives the immigrant Indians have replaced (i.e. "There is an entire generation of white children in Edison who have nowhere to learn crime.")

Sure, Stein's references to Arizona, and understanding how people there could support a draconian and racist new law can be viewed as hurtful. His message can be viewed as unfunny, his viewpoint misguided. Or, we can hear the guy out and laugh as much as we can about life and the people who live alongside us.

I am a North Andover, MA native, and must admit that the town has changed a lot over the more than 30 years I've lived there. I can't stand many of the new people who have moved there. They bring traffic, higher property taxes (because they have kids who actually require good public schools as opposed to just relying on the good ole Pike Schools of the world), and tons of new traffic lights to the sleepy little town I once knew and could speed through. Now, I could have said that I don't like the new white people who have moved into town (most of the new folks are, after all, white). Most of you who know me would have laughed because you know that I often interject race into humor to force people to laugh about the topic. It is the only way that I believe we will ever be able to tackle the much more complicated issues of race and religion in America and around the world.

Stein could also have left race out of his piece, and many would argue he should have. But then it would have just been a dry piece about his hometown growing up and evolving. Who reads stuff like that? His humor is overdone, for sure. But underlying a lot of his perhaps poorly executed humor are real facts: Indians who came here in the 60s and 70s were far more accomplished, on average, than the relatives who followed them more recently. That's not a necessarily important phenomenon to explain; after all, there are plenty of dumb white folks in Jersey too and they didn't need to move there, they've been there for a while. Did he need to explain that fact in this particular Time magazine column? No, but comedy routines, whether delivered in an article or as part of a stand up gig, never really need to do much, except make people laugh -- sometimes uncomfortably.

What I guess I don't get is that Russell Peters, the Canadian comedian of Indian origin that pokes fun at almost all races, does similar stuff. Perhaps his comedy is a touch different, perhaps a touch better executed. But underneath the humor is a lot of racial stuff. We laugh because he's a comedic looking Indian guy that pokes fun of every possible race including his own. Doing so may be funny, but it is also is eerily similar to Stein's humor.

I'm not defending Joel Stein. I'm just suggesting that perhaps we can all learn a thing or two by sometimes attempting to laugh and in the process see a different perspective and not assuming that everyone that brushes up against our racial sensitivities is a racist. I don't give a shit that Stein lost his town to a whole mass of Indian immigrants. They have as much right to be in Edison as he does. What I do care about is the ability for society to continue to laugh at itself and others in an effort to notch down the rhetoric that we see around us. Surely, there is racial humor that crosses the line into racist territory. While I don't think Stein does that, I also don't think that we should stop trying to poke fun at things that might be a touch thorny.

The great thing about America is that our freedoms allow us to speak openly and candidly and debate issues of significance (or even insignificance). During my recent travels in Bangladesh, I spoke to the owner of a TV channel that has been shut down for broadcasting, on live TV, views the current government finds offensive. Better we allow Stein to speak, and then respond -- either using humor, or when appropriate, otherwise -- than to censor and disallow because sensitivities may be affected.

Vie Deck & Lounge

102 Juhu Tara Road,
Vile Parle West
Mumbai, Maharastra 400 056 India
Tel: +91 22 26604884

D+

Mistakes and Mosquitoes. That summarizes our recent meal at Vie Deck & Lounge, which in my opinion has become nearly unbearable for anyone seeking decent food and passable service. While I can't entirely blame Vie for the mosquitoes, I can certainly hold them accountable for the mistakes. We were seated at perhaps the worst outdoor table in the house. I asked repeatedly about better tables that appeared to be available. All taken, I was told. More than two hours later, when we left Vie, most of the tables I had inquired about were still empty. The one table that was no longer empty was taken by a couple that apparently was given a different answer by the restaurant; they hadn't reserved that table either. Let's set aside seating issues. After all, had the restaurant been packed -- and not nearly empty -- we might have justifiably been seated where we were.

Unfortunately, the food and service were unacceptable as well. The humus plate came with six mini pita wedges. Yes, mini wedges (think pita chips from a bag). Having ordered the humus in the past, I had ordered extra pita wedges. The ten additional mini wedges that came for Rs. 150 (US $3) were equally inadequate. The baked mushroom appetizer was tasteless, while my kebabs/skewers were woefully undercooked (evidenced by the pool of blood and the fact that the kebabs refused any attempt at cohesion). Raw and unacceptable. I asked that the kebabs be cooked some more. They were taken back to the kitchen and never returned.

Besides the food quality, the service left me feeling cheated for leaving the house. My drink order came without the vodka that I had asked be repeated and a pasta dish with shrimp came without the shrimp. When I asked Glen, our server, about the missing crustaceans, he advised me that he had heard and confirmed that the dish was to be presented with mushrooms. While all four of us at the table had heard shrimp be ordered, there was a bigger problem with Glen's claim: the pasta lacked even the mushrooms he had based his defense on.

I spoke briefly with the manager, Dilip, who offered little in the way of consolation. When the bill finally arrived, the bloody kababs had been taken off, but a service charge had already been added to the check. Given how bad our experience was -- and we were multiple-time repeat clients -- I would have expected some additional gesture from the restaurant to help palliate our concerns.

On my way out, manager Dilip walked me to my car and said, "hope to see you again, sir." No, Dilip, I don't think you will. I wasted an evening at Vie. I won't let that happen again.

Goodbye my dear Sammy Dog...

Samantha "Sammy Dog" Das

August 2000 - August 16, 2009

A prayer for my beloved greyhound, Sammy

Oh dear lord, you have been so kind to me and everyone close to me. You have protected me from harm, helped provide me with abundant love, health, education and sustenance. You have provided me a lovely family, a loving home, and all of the possessions anyone could ever hope for. For a majority of the past decade, you have blessed me, my family, and my friends with the love and affection of one of your servants. Our dear Sammy Dog, who you lent us for nine years, has gone back home to you. Please care for her in her new home as you did in her old one. Please pass along the following few words to her:

Goodbye, my sweetheart Sammy Dog. You picked me at the animal shelter all those years ago. I knew so little about greyhounds back then. You walked right over to me, and instantly but silently asked me to look no further. And I never did. You have constantly been by my side, patiently waiting for me to come home, and expressing the kind of unconditional love only you could provide. Through professional turbulence and personal turmoil, you always gave me your kind and compassionate support. You never complained, never doubted, never acted in anger. You just loved.

Your grandma, grandpa, all your friends around the world and I will miss you. I am forever grateful to you for making me a kinder, better person. I love you. Goodbye.

Om Shanti. Shanti. Shanti.

A bedtime thought for May 12th...

A little perspective...
Mumbai, India

Most of you who know me and have been in touch recently are aware of why today was not one of my better days.

I spent the day at work -- thinking a lot about the direction in which my life appears to be going. On the one hand, I have a job I really enjoy for a company I like, my family is generally happy and healthy (knock on wood), and I have yet to really go in want of something I really desire in life (let's leave out, for a moment, the over the top fanciful items like the Gulfstream). On the other hand, the past few years have seen enough stress (the economic downturn of '01, the crazy exit from my previous employer, etc.) to cause me to lose more hair than has unmercifully already fallen, the long term performance of my overall investment portfolio remains anemic and pathetic, and I have yet to find success in relationships. The analysis that I ran through my head all had me feeling much worse for myself than perhaps would be warranted by a rational review. Yet, I left work and headed home this evening feeling like I had been defeated. I felt that my most recent life failures had left me an unfortunate and unusually unlucky man. A sad soul, lost, even if temporarily.

This evening, as I entered by bedroom to prepare for bed, I remembered a thought I wanted to share with all of you . Only a few hours before, I had returned home through the dusty streets of Mumbai in my comfortable German car. Yes, this was the car that I recently purchased because the late model Japanese car it replaced had "no soul," in my oft repeated opinion. This was the car I had purchased to help myself enjoy my life more.

My housekeeper was waiting for me to arrive home before leaving for the evening. As I took my blazer off, she asked rather meekly, "Sir, is it OK if I take the pillow you had thrown away home with me tonight." I remembered back to yesterday, when I had thrown away a spare pillow that had gathered a touch of mold. "This isn't safe at all," I had wondered while promptly discarding the pillow. As I wondered why would she could possibly want a moldy pillow, she told me about an old woman without any pillows that she was going to see. "She would really appreciate it, sir," my housekeeper continued. Lest she upset me for re-using something I had thrown out without my permission, she had asked. While suddenly feeling guilty for having thrown out something that perhaps many view as a luxury here, I quickly added another pillow to my housekeeper's bag to take over to this old pillow-less woman I would likely never meet.

The story I have just recounted has no real purpose, plot, or punchline. However, it did give me enough pause to ponder the fact that during a day when all the fancy material goods that surround me could not buy me a simple smile, a moldy pillow I had discarded would provide someone much less fortunate than me exactly the smile that had eluded me all day.

It is perhaps important, in these lives we lead, to take a step back and place our lives in perspective on occasion. It is with the perspective gained from a moldy pillow that I sign off tonight. And yes, I go off to bed finally with that simple smile on my face.

Good night everyone.

- Beej

Bev & Barry from Shooters Bar, Calangute, Goa

Bev & Barry from Shooters Bar, Calangute, Goa

I have finally located traces of Bev and Barry from Shooters Bar in Calangute. After stopping at Shooters over a period of several months asking for Bev and Barry, the owners, and being told that they were still not back from their travels, I began to suspect the worst... Had the pair left Goa for new adventures? Alas, after a bit of internet research (ok, fine, a quick google effort), I have located the pair's blog. For all of you who have accompanied me to Shooters for a shot of something strong and tasty, here's a link to the pages of the couple, who are apparently back to traveling for a bit. Stop in to their blog and say hello!

This is not the time to bail on General Motors...

While the debate about whether the government should bail out Detroit rests on largely theoretical grounds, the failure of General Motors in this economy would have a significant and sustained negative impact on the nation's industrial base. Some argue that saving General Motors is merely a stop gap measure to prop up an ailing industry giant that cannot ever again emerge as a world leader. While there is some evidence to support the contention, I would argue that General Motors can and will emerge as a strong player in the global marketplace. It should certainly be given some help to attempt such a recovery.

As a car buff for nearly the last thirty plus years, I have often been a critic of Detroit and its ailing car makers. The early eighties saw the atrocious Cadillac Cimarron, a compact car built upon GM's J platform. Unfortunately, the Cimarron was nothing but a Chevrolet Cavalier with a Cadillac badge. Years of such antics did not help General Motors compete with the Japanese and German automakers, who continued steadily towards technologically advanced vehicles that were aesthetically pleasing, reliable and safe. GM's mandate has not always been to build world class cars without regard to other considerations. In fact, General Motors, like much of the US industrial base, has been hamstrung by prehistoric union arrangements that have kept labor and medical costs astronomically high. It is hard to build a world class car when nearly $2,000 of every car you build pays for entitlement programs for past and current employees. The market may have wanted GM to change, but its past often did not allow for it. Surely unions did not account for all of GM's woes, and management shares significant culpability, but organized labor did play an important role in where GM is today.

Remember $19 car rentals at Avis, Hertz and Budget in most markets? Those rates did not come easily. They came from years of Detroit's subsidization of auto rental companies, which served as repositories for vehicles the markets could not and would not absorb. GM and other domestic auto producers needed to manufacture those vehicles to finance and pay for the massive labor and health care entitlement program obligations they had accumulated over time. Despite its baggage, over the past two years, General Motors has made significant strides to returning to a respectable position amongst global auto makers. Transformation of an industry that for years served as a jobs bank for nearly three percent of the US labor force cannot happen overnight. First must come products, which after a drought of nearly a decade, have come to GM. Products like the new Cadillac Escalade, the 2008 Cadillac CTS Sedan, the Chevy Corvette, and the 2008 Chevy Malibu are vehicles that can compete on a global scale. The upcoming Chevrolet Volt, and the re-engineering of the energy supply for consumer vehicles that comes with it, will put GM and America in a strong position for automotive leadership. The problem is time. GM needs more of it, and so does America. The aid that GM needs can come in the form of legislative assistance through revision of "closed shop" rules in certain states, it can come in the form of incentives for new products, and it can come in the form of tax incentives and loan guarantees. I haved argued that all of them will be needed in some form or another.

No strong industrialized global economy currently exists without a healthy or emerging automotive industry. Manufacturing in Germany and much of continental Europe has survived on the wings of Daimler-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, Volvo, Fiat and Renault for years. England's manufacturing fortunes, once uplifted by Rover and Jaguar, have waned as those brands were acquired and traded. Japan and Korea all have growing automotive industries and China and India are waiting in the wings with domestic offerings of their own. America cannot afford to lose the industrial base that auto manufacturing provides. Perhaps never, but definitely not now.

We also cannot risk the industry on the theory that foreign automakers will somehow fill in the gap left by the US companies. The retooling and re-engineering required to allow suppliers who service GM, Chrysler and Ford to serve purely foreign manufacturers will take years, not months, and will spread the "rust belt" well into America's manufacturing heartland. Millions of US jobs are vested in the hundreds of automotive suppliers that feed the big three. In this case, the sum is significantly greater than all of its parts. I hope the current outgoing Congress will show leadership on this issue and give GM and its ailing siblings the loan guarantees and aid they need to continue the transformation of America's important auto industry from an outdated jobs bank into a potent force for global automotive leadership.

For another viewpoint, see Mitt Romney's article in the New York Times.

Focus on Indian Hospitality: The road to economic growth and lower inflation

The road to economic growth and lower inflation
Guest Column
Hospitality Biz India, May 2008

This is an article I wrote a bit ago that was recently published in an Indian hotel publication. I would love to hear your thoughts. Click here to be taken to the article.

Home BBQ Done Right
The Big Green Egg Smoker and Grill
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Savoring the Celtics Game 2 victory in the 2008 NBA Finals was nearly matched by another exceptional experience I recently had while dining on meats cooked on an ingenious little charcoal grill called the "Big Green Egg" that my friend Mitch has at his Chestnut Hill home The device comes in several sizes, and allows for very accurate temperature control. Various attachments also add to the cooking possibilities.

The art to this grill and smoker is the ability to use charcoal fired heat to slowly cook meat in a container that protects against moisture loss. You can slow cook or smoke meats for hours and days using this thing. I enjoyed a very tender beef teriyaki skewer and herb encrusted steak that the Big Green Egg had produced under Mitch's guidance. In the day and age of stainless steel gas fired grills mass produced in China and sold at Home Depot, the Big Green Egg stands apart. It is definitely worth checking out this American designed grill and smoker which is sold only through distributors and, on occasion, on ebay.

Barack Obama for President

Dear Friends,

As most of you have known for some time, my frustration with the political process stems not from a belief that it does not work, but rather that those who share the center-liberal leaning beliefs that I do have accepted political defeat as a necessary condition. Some have argued that our leaders don't materially affect our lives while others feel that any impact is offset by the hassle involved in exercising one's ability to make a choice. This proposition, though wrong today as in the past, must now be totally banished from our thoughts.

In 2000, we watched Al Gore and Joe Lieberman go down to defeat. In 2002 and 2004, we watched as George Bush's political machinery gained momentum by convincing enough people that the external threat from global terrorism warranted changing our entire way of life. Over the following several years, we watched as Bush, his allies and handlers ran roughshod over our way of life and the great American constitutional system that put up as much resistance as it was designed to present. I remember watching in horror from London as the election results from 2004 came again. Much like 2000, moderates and liberals had lost their voices at the most critical time. Little did I know that the damage Bush would inflict on America would be as severe as it has turned out to be.

Since those two elections, with the events of 9-11 as his own personal weapon of mass destruction, George Bush and his forces have systematically reduced our constitutional protections one by one. Most of us watched this happen, constantly deferring meaningful opposition to some later day.

Well, my dear friends, we no longer have the luxury to defer the expression of our political will. Please join me in supporting Democrat Barack Obama in the quest to regain America. Let us allow our political will to launch a movement: a movement to restore human rights and the protections of the Bill of Rights, a movement to ensure opportunity for all Americans, and perhaps most importantly, a movement to return America to its rightful place as a beacon for hope and opportunity for all of mankind.

Please make a contribution today and join me in helping elect Barack Obama as our next President of the United States. To make a donation, please click on the following link: DONATE NOW.

Thanks,
Beej

Shradh Ceremony, Dev Kumar Datta, October 1, 2007

"Hari Om Tat Sat"
Om Ganga

With grief we inform you about the sad demise of our beloved father Dev Kumar Datta on 22nd September 2007 at 3:00am (21st September night).

To pray for his departed soul, you are invited to attend the Shradh Ceremony which will be held on Monday, 1st October 2007 at our residence from 11 am onwards.

Venue

West Hill, East Wing
4th Floor
27 Nepean Sea Road
Mumbai 400 036
Tel: +91 22 23695917

Deeply Mourned by:

Uma Rani Datta
Mitra Das, Chitra Datta
Rati Datta, Kaveri Datta
Sanjukta, Pronoti
Priyanka, Piyali

Mukti Lal Das
Sree Kumar Datta
Pranab Kumar Datta
Pradyut Datta
Abhijit, Sarosh

Dev Kumar Datta, 1912-2007

In Memoriam: Dev Kumar Datta

b. November 20, 1912
d. September 22, 2007

Today is a sad day in the life of my family. For nearly thirty four years, I have been blessed to have the loving support and affection of both of my grandparents on my mom's side. That changed today. Early this morning, at around 3:00am, I lost my grandfather. My dadu (grandpa, in Bengali) died rather unexpectedly. His death came after a short period of deterioration in his health. It was a mere four months ago that dadu was the healthiest and most vibrant 94-year old I could ever imagine. Today, dadu left us in the same exemplary manner in which he lived his entire life.

My grandfather was a wonderful father, a loving husband and brother, and an amazing grandfather. It was my dadu that named me Abhijit when I was born, it was he who greeted me with the same reassuring "I am well if you are well" every time I asked him about his health, and it was he who has taught me more about living with discipline and dignity than any other human being ever has, and perhaps ever will.

It is far too late tonight to do this post justice and my emotions are still unsettled; there is much that remains to be written about dadu and I look forward to completing this post over the next few days.

Goodbye dadu. You are my inspiration and I shall never forget you. I miss you.

Indian Customer Service -- the Tata Indicom Way

Tata Indicom
Tata Teleservices (M) Ltd
Ispat House, B G Kher Marg
Worli, Mumbai

F

Those of you who have never done business in India may enjoy this quick story. Those of you who have or are doing business in India will empathize. We recently ordered telephone service from Tata Indicom, an Indian provider of wireless telephones. We needed the number quickly since we had people waiting to receive and utilize the phones. We were promised 48 hour turnaround.

Our orders were considered complete over two weeks ago, during the third week of July, and since that time we have been calling several times a day to inquire as to their whereabouts. Every day we are told, in essence, that the phones are to arrive, and every day, there is some reason the phones have not. Last Friday, we were told the phones did not arrive "because the rains were heavy," a few days prior to that we were told that the "go down" (the common Indian term for warehouse or distribution center) was flooded, while today were were informed that additional paperwork needed to be completed. Amitava Das, MK's Vice President for India, Amitabh Devendra, MK's Strategic Advisor for India, and Jacob Purackal, MK's Senior Manager for India have all been involved in the hunt for the Tata phones, consuming nearly a hundred hours of corporate time. As of today, August 6, 2007, no phones.

Earlier today, we were told by Dinesh Yadav, the "Sales Executive" at Tata Indicom that someone needed to be at my residential address to sign and deliver additional paperwork. Having had people waiting at my apartment for Tata in the past, we offered to travel from the office to the apartment on the condition that the phones be ready and waiting for us. Mr. Yadav refused, stating that surely the phones would be delivered after this latest round of document requests and wondering why we doubted his assertions. We decided to speak with Mr. Yadav's supervisor, Sachin Kulekar a "Manager" at Tata Indicom, who informed us that he did not care that we very dissatisfied with Tata and needed help. In effect, we were informed that customer satisfaction and prompt delivery of promised products was no longer part of Tata Indicom's mission.

So, if you are considering telephone service in the Mumbai area, and receiving a phone number and phone equipment is important to you, consider avoiding Tata Indicom. While Tata products and services are still considering reliable in India, Tata Indicom and its Mumbai sales and service operation failed more completely than any other service provider I have dealt with in recent memory. Timely and reliable service remains a scarce commodity here in India -- Tata Indicom's failures, coming from a well respected Indian conglomerate, while perhaps not unexpected, were truly disappointing nonetheless.

We are off to Reliance, a competitor, to see if we fare any better. Stay tuned.

Pet Friendly Hotels - New York City

Bringing the pooch along for a short jaunt to the City can be a challenge. While some hotels are beginning to realize that pets need homes too when they travel with their humans, many hotels still do not allow them. So, to help enable pet travel, I have started compiling a list of hotels that accept dogs in New York. This list is not complete (I will add to it as I verify more hotels) -- it is merely a resource to guide you as you travel to New York with your four legged best friend.

Residence Inn New York Manhattan/Times Square
1033 Avenue of the Americas
New York , NY 10018
Phone: 1-212-768-0007
Fax: 1-212-938-0180

Pets are welcome -- there is a $100 cleaning fee per stay for the pet. Let the front desk know upon check-in that you have a pet. No special reservation is needed. (Based on 7/21/2007 call)

Austrian Airlines - Business Class - Kurt Waldheim's Pride

Austrian Airlines - Service To Make Kurt Waldheim Proud

Business Class – New York – Vienna – Mumbai

John F. Kennedy Airport
Bldg 56 Terminal 1
Jamaica NY 11430

800-843-0002

C+
I started writing this post several months ago. The long overdue death of Austrian President Kurt Waldheim reminded me to finish my tribute to Austrian Airlines Business Class. Kurt Waldheim, you may remember, was the Nazi sympathizer and soldier who hid his past to become UN Secretary General in the 70s. Even after his past as a Nazi soldier was revealed in the 1980s, a willing Austria elected this spectacle of a man to be its President. Austrians apparently had little desire to be told that a Nazi should not be the leader of a modern country.

My earliest memory of business class travel was with my parents when I was a child. I remember that we were traveling to San Francisco to attend a conference a training seminar in Sausalito. At the time, my dad was the President of Das Consulting, Inc., an engineering software company that developed structural engineering software to analyze buildings, bridges and structures of all types. How my father – the man whose inability to program a VCR still baffles me – theorized, calculated, programmed and developed a complex mathematically based computer program that saves engineers hundreds of hours in their quest to develop and design bolder and safer structures remains, to this day, a mystery. My bewilderment notwithstanding, I digress.

My memory of my family’s United Airlines business class experience, though over twenty years ago, reminds me of what the promise of aviation – and that of refined air travel once was. Justin Shull, a dear friend of mine, now himself a pilot for Continental Airlines Express, told me a few years ago that bringing the romanticism of air travel back to the industry was one of his long term career goals. While any romanticism of air travel has left the world of economy or coach class travel quite some time ago, at least in the United States and much of Europe, I held hope that long haul carriers would justify the significant premium that business class travel bears over coach by providing an atmosphere that was welcoming and enticing.

Alas, my hopes of finding that atmosphere on Austrian Airlines were dashed each time I flew the airline over the past few months. I originally decided to fly Austrian because it is part of the Star Alliance, a network of airlines associated with United Airlines and Lufthansa. I had recently switched to the Star Alliance because the hundreds of thousands of Northwest/KLM miles I still have in my account are virtually useless. If you plan to travel on the miles you earn on Northwest and KLM, be prepared to book one year in advance, and even then, be prepared to pay for your flight. Better not to have miles than to not be able to use the ones you earn, I think. My dad has had much better luck redeeming miles on United (Star Alliance), so I decided to make the switch myself. Austrian’s business class to India from the US, was available for around $4,000, a decent price compared to other options at the time. My first flight on Austrian was actually operated by Lauda, an aging affiliate airline which is part of the Austrian family. The seats on my first flight, from New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport, were cramped and old. Proving that even lackluster airlines have some standouts, my first flight on Austrian was actually bearable because of the decent service. Alas, subsequent flights would not be so commendable.

To be honest, it is not that the equipment that Austrian runs between New York and Mumbai is awful. With the exception of the Lauda operated flight (which I was led to believe was an exception), the airline uses mostly reconfigured Boeing 767 planes for the New York – Vienna – Mumbai route. The seats come in two varieties: some are the Austrian “pod” design seats that have a partial cocoon encompassing each seat and good seat adjustment controls and decent room around each seat, while the older design is a more standard seat.

The food, too, was decent. The fare on the New York to Vienna route was European, with an excellent assortment of breads, fruits and cheeses. Being Austrian, an extensive list of coffees is also available on each flight. The flight from Vienna to Mumbai had some Indian fare, which was unspectacular but decent.

The downfall for Austrian, in my opinion, is the service. Service can best be described as arrogant. Hospitality – with the exception of the Lauda flight – was hard to find, and especially hard to find if you weren’t white. On my last flight with Austrian, from Vienna to New York, I remember recalling how bad I was treated compared to other white passengers near me. Alas, a smile and a drink offering to a European passenger in the seat in front of me because a scowl and stern statement when the flight attendant came to me. Those who were not rude were actively indifferent to my needs. I noticed the same treatment being afforded the other person of color a few rows from me.

While I can’t say that Austrian is the worst in any single category, the level of service – and in particular, the disparity in service based on one’s background or race – makes it an unworthy carrier for my travel dollar. Kurt Waldheim would have been proud.

Kingfisher Airlines - Business Class - Puffery in the Skies

Kingfisher Airlines Limited
Kingfisher House,
Western Express Highway. Vile Parle (E)
Mumbai 400057
Tel: 022 2626 2200
Fax: 022 5502 0625

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I have not traditionally written airline reviews. There are many reasons for this, but primarily because most US airlines are some version of awful. Jetblue, in my opinion, now stands out in this regard because it is generally both the low cost carrier on any particular route and the service leader. Last week's meltdown in Jetblue's service levels, on account of severe weather, notwithstanding. Until about a decade ago, the same could have been said about airlines in India. Only one domestic carrier, Indian Airlines, dominated the Indian skies. Old planes, sloppy food and poor service dominated the sector. This changed with the advent of Jet Airways. Jet brought new planes, impeccable service, and on-time performance to a country where bad airplane service had been the norm for years.

The advent of Jet Airways in India ushered in a new era of air transport. Jet Airways changed the current landscape in Indian aviation. More recently, with the explosive growth of the Indian middle class and the large class of young and financial empowered Indian, airlines such as Kingfisher, Go Air, Air Deccan, and SpiceJet have ushered a new era of low cost flight options to the Indian skies. Kingfisher, in economy class, is in the middle of the pack for fares but promises to offer passengers a spectacular flight experience. Dr. Vijay Mallya, the flamboyant chairman of the airline and owner of United Breweries, the company that brews and sells Kingfisher beer, a popular Indian ale, invites passengers to fly the "Good Times" aboard his airline. The reference is unmistakably to enjoying his beers and women (he calls his flight attendants "flying models"). The irony is that Indian civil air regulations prohibit the consumption of alcohol on all domestic flights!

I flew Kingfisher quite a few times when it first launched. The planes were brand new, the generally attractive female flight attendants were well dressed in Kingfisher red skirts and jackets, and the service levels were high, both on the ground and in the air. The seats, on the other hand, were lackluster. To keep rates low, Kingfisher crammed in as many rows as it could. The result was a claustrophobic feel when seated. Reclining one's seat meant causing someone behind a shocking loss of personal space.

Kingfisher recently added a large business class cabin, called Kingfirst. Molinaro Koger's Assistant Vice President for India, Pranav R. Bhakta, and I decided to try this new service. We had booked ourselves in economy (Kingfisher Class, as the airline calls it) but paid personally to upgrade our seats. We flew on flight 309 from Mumbai to Delhi . The seats themselves are spacious and there is substantial room between rows (quite rare and nice on a domestic flight). Most business class features except for lie-flat and massage options were available on the chairs. The video display units were seemingly designed by prison inmates who sought to chuckle at the free world's inability to extract the units from storage. The following short review is excerpted from a letter I wrote to Dr. Mallya, the chairman of the airline. The video clip that plays ad nauseam on the airline, shows Dr. Mallya inviting personal comments on service to which he promises personal responses. Ahh, promises... Dr. Mallya's form response to my letter -- sigh -- is also attached.

Kingfisher gets high marks for the space given to their business class guests. Much else remains (food quality, drink selection, maintenance of equipment, attention to detail), however, before it can truly be called a first-rate business class service.

LETTER EXCERPTS

I must admit some disappointment with our experience on Kingfisher. While I do believe that the airline has done a great job with the airline in general, we were especially disappointed by our experiences in your business class cabin. First, neither my nor my traveling companion's video display units worked. We were offered the option to move to other seats. Upon inspection, we found that some other seats had malfunctioning or non-functioning units as well. Not wanting to be bothered with hunting for an operating display and having work to do, I decided not to move.

Our experience with your meal service was not much better. We recently arrived in Mumbai on Austrian Airways business class. While I have never been a huge fan of Western European airlines' meal services, our experiences on Austrian were quite exemplary for food. The food was well prepared, well presented and generally very palatable. While the lack of wine or beer service while in-flight is disappointing here in India, that is not something Kingfisher or any other carrier can do anything about at the moment. My food experiences on Kingfisher early last year -- prior to the launch of your Kingfisher First service -- were generally positive. When we arrived on board for flight 309, neither Pranav nor I had eaten lunch and were quite ready for a meal. I had told Pranav that my food experienced on Kingfisher had been positive and that we could expect decent fare. However, the meals we ordered and received, a salmon preparation as I recall, was thoroughly unappetizing. It arrived as if it had just been taken out of a frozen food container, reheated, then slathered with a red gravy of some sort. It did not taste different than its appearance would dictate.

I had a few other general comments that I won't your time recounting. I did not email you to list a litany of complaints. Again, I fully support the mission of your airline and your vision in effectuating it. Kingfisher has been part of a revolution in Indian air travel, one that promotes and enhances many aspects of life in India, including the hospitality industry of which I am a part. Rather, I thought I would share the experiences of two fairly seasoned travelers. We are perhaps the more demanding air travelers -- but when we are satisfied, we also become brand apostles who talk about our experiences, experiences that others make purchase decisions based upon.

Thank you for taking the time to review my comments. I hope you will take them in the constructive manner in which they were intended.

KINGFISHER FORM RESPONSE

Dear Abhijeet,

Thank you for your gracious e-mail of 22 February, giving me feedback on your experience of Kingfisher First, when you and your colleague Mr. Bhakta, flew IT 309 from Mumbai to Delhi. I have invited feedback from guests who fly Kingfisher Airlines as I firmly believe that firsthand feedback is the true indicator of the performance of my airline; I therefore appreciate the time and trouble you have taken to send me your inputs and your suggestions.

Abhijeet, I have created Kingfisher First specially for my guests with developed tastes and a desire for the very best in life. I have put in a lot of time and energy to transform an air journey into a superlative flying experience, so that you can enjoy the finest flying experience in the Indian skies. However, I am concerned to learn that your First experience was not all that it could have been and I do regret that you were disappointed.

I also appreciate your suggestions on the areas of our service that need attention.

Please accept my apologies that the video display unit at your seat was inoperative, and you were therefore unable to enjoy this feature of our service. I also note your feedback on the quality of food served on your flight, and regret that we were unable to meet your expectations here as well. We care about the quality of food we serve on our flights, and constantly strive to achieve consistency in this area of our service. We believe that our guests have every right to expect the highest standard of catering at all times; we also pay close attention to what our Guests tell us. I have therefore shared your feedback with our caterers to ensure our guests have a truly gourmet experience when they fly with us.

I agree that consistent levels of service have to be provided to all our guests on Kingfisher First and I apologise that we have been found wanting in this area. I know that there is a need for continuous improvement in the quality of product and service offered at every level, and I welcome your inputs. Please rest assured that I will also put in place the necessary corrective actions to ensure that my guests on Kingfisher First enjoy a truly superlative experience on board as well as on the ground.

Once again, thank you for your good wishes, and for your genuine interest in the success of Kingfisher Airlines. I look forward to welcoming you on board the “Good Times” again.

Cheers !

Dr. Vijay Mallya, MP
Chairman & CEO
Kingfisher Airlines Ltd.,
A UB Group Company

A revised history: Otto Frank and the Dixie Chicks

A friend of mine recently sent me a copy of a New York Times editorial, dated February 13, 2007 entitled "The Courage of Others’ Convictions." (Incidentally, I attended a Dixie Chicks concert with this friend, Ellen Downes, at her request, last year). The editorial discussed how the music industry's Grammy awards to the Dixie Chicks came several years late. I share the editors beliefs that the Dixie Chicks faced an unusually un-American barrage of hatred for exercising their rights to free speech and expression. The industry's award makes me think of another period in our collective history that bears remembering: the Holocaust and the revision of history that followed.

It has always been clear that history is written by the victors. These victors are often those who never had the courage to be leaders, but rather rode waves of convenience and popularity. I was reading a New York Times article about the recent discovery of a file containing Otto Frank's increasingly desperate letters to his American friends trying to get his family out of Amsterdam during the Nazi occupation. Otto Frank, of course, was the father of Anne Frank, whose diary has informed generations of the individual and personal tragedies that formed together to form the tragedy of the Holocaust. The file, owned by the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research remained buried in a warehouse in Jersey until a recent clerical error led to its discovery.

In the file, Frank writes to Nathan Straus, the director of the federal housing authority at the time, and a personal friend of Eleanor Roosevelt and son of the co-owner of the Macy’s department store asking for any possible assistance to help his family reach America. If there was anyone in the world who should have been able to help, it would have been someone like Straus. He was, after all, an American, and a well connected one at that. We Americans, of course, are proud to take credit as the victors in WWII. Yet, as Frank's letters painfully demonstrate, Americans were rather complicit in failing to prevent the deaths of so many Jews during that period. Getting into the United States -- because of the State Department's polices at the time -- became a insurmountable hurdle for the people who most needed the lifeline that America might have provided. The State Department regulations changed constantly, often contradicting policies promulgated only days before. It seems clear that all of the obstacles were designed towards stemming the flow of refugees from Europe during that period.

The story, as we all know, did not end well. Near the end of the file, there was a note that “Mrs. Edith Frank died; daughters are still missing.” In the last entry in the file, a letter from a friend of Otto Frank informs that “Otto Frank said he wants to stay in Amsterdam” and no longer wants to come to the United States. Of course, after the war ended, Americans were pronounced the benevolent victors who wiped the scourge of Nazi terror from Europe. No doubt Americans deserved the praise, but the history is not that simple.

The Dixie Chicks have now received delayed recognition of the ordeal they faced after criticizing President Bush and his misguided Iraq war policy. The music industry will surely now claim the courage that the Dixie Chicks displayed for themselves, and perhaps, even belatedly, they should. But, much like Americans after WWII, the story is not a simple one. Had the United States been more open to the plight of European Jews during WWII, our history may in fact have been much different. Perhaps, even, millions of lives saved. Similarly, had the music industry -- and even our country -- been more receptive to dissent during our rush into Iraq, our history may well have been different. The horrors of WWII and the Holocaust are slowly beginning to fade from our collective memories, those from Iraq are now just beginning.

Both Otto Frank and the Dixie Chicks should remind us all that sticking to our principles and values, while seemingly impossible at times, remains the surest way to protect those ideals we cherish the most. Alas, the history that is written is never that simple.

P.S. As I write this, the genocide in Darfur continues. Please consider joining me in making a generous contribution to the effort to save lives there. You can contribute by clicking on the link below. Please consider doing so. http://www.SaveDarfur.org/Donate

Golden Parnassus Hotel - Cancun, Mexico

Blvd. Kukulkán Km. 14.5 Retorno
San Miguelito No. 37 Zona Hotelera
Cancún Q.Roo 77500
Tel: 52 (998) 848-7550

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Have you ever been stuck doing something that you can't believe you are still stuck doing? I recently returned from a seven night trip to Cancun Mexico that felt a bit like that. While the weather was nice and the company was engaging, the all-inclusive hotel we had chosen was a bust. I had never stayed at an all-inclusive resort. At such places, one need do very little except get up at some point in the day, eat, and sleep. All activities, food, and drinks are included in the package price.

At first blush, this all-inclusive concept seems appealing. Our total package was approximately $1,400 a person for checking in December 29th and staying for seven nights. We chose the Golden Parnassus through Costco Travel (which botched part of the reservation) partly because the reviews of the resort on tripadvisor.com were overwhelmingly positive. I quickly realized that while tripadvisor may provide fairly up to date information, you never really know who the reviewers are and what their tastes may dictate.

We arrived at the Golden Parnassus using the airport transfers provided by Costco Travel as part of our package. Upon arrival, we learned that the hotel had been overbooked by approximately 50 rooms. We were seated at the lobby bar and given tropical tasting drinks as we waited for a hotel reception staff member to check us in -- or tell us that our rooms were not available. As we waited, we watched other would-be guests be told that their rooms were not available and that they would be accommodated elsewhere. One accommodation which was provided to some was at the Great Parnassus Hotel, a new sister property for the Golden Parnassus which is not yet complete.

As a side note, a friend of ours who booked directly at the Great Parnassus through orbitz arrived there the same day we arrived at the Golden Parnassus to find rooms with incomplete bathrooms, non-working toilets, no air conditioning and other maladies. After switching rooms four times, he gave up. On the morning of his departure from Cancun, the shower in his fifth room failed to produce any water, a downgrade from the cold-only showers he had been taking for most of his trip.

While we did not learn of our friend's plight at the time of check-in, I was in no mood to be redirected to another property and I informed a somewhat frazzled front desk agent of that feeling. After all was settled, we did indeed have three rooms available. We were given all-inclusive bracelets to wear for the duration of our stay. Anyone wearing the bracelets we were given were subject to the same malaise that would confront us during our stay.

Say Cheese! The cheeseburger is the best meal option at the Golden Parnassus.

For food, the Golden Parnassus has several restaurants. They are, in no particular order: Pier 12, an awful seafood restaurant where the fish tastes much like meat from a four legged creature, simulating a strange hybrid which I shall from now on term "mish"; Sumo, a Japanese style restaurant which did its best to simulate the feel of a sushi joint; Old Barn, a steak house which served decent cuts of meat but chose to deep fry each and every appetizer; Paradise, the buffet style restaurant which served breakfast and lunch and offered some respite from the other restaurants by offering cook-to-order stations where one can direct cooks to prepare a variety of items; Shangri-La, the "internationally inspired" restaurant with a rotating menu picked from around the world; and The Breeze Snack Shack which was open from 11am to 6am every day and offered steak sandwiches, burgers, fries, wings, and plenty of cheese sauce only a bored cardiologist could love. Room service is 24 hours and offers choices from all of the restaurants.

We ate most our our meals at Breeze and Paradise. We ate at all of the the other restaurants once, with the exception of Shangri-La, which we visited twice having noted that the menu was supposed to change daily; alas, it did not. The chef at Shangri-La was the only one that really took the time to decorate dishes with garnishes and flavors that could be described as somehwta interesting. While food and cuisine remain items of personal taste, I can't help but bemoan the lack of any tasty or creative food options at the entire resort (with perhaps the slight exception for the Shangri-La). The best items were were able to find were the cheese burgers from the grill. We ate plenty of them. If you consider restaurants like Cracker Barrel, Denny's, and Ruby Tuesdays good and fine cuisine, the Golden Parnassus will not disappoint you. If you aspire for more, you would be better off dining elsewhere. Burger King may indeed be an upgrade.

If you think that unlimited drinks might be the redemption for all-inclusive, think again. The resort advertises "domestic and international" drinks. While the meaning of that is still unclear, as best I can discern it means that the alcohol utilizes was produced in Mexico (domestic) and a factory in, let's say, East Timor (international). The only "recognizable" and branded alcohols were Smirnoff Vodka and Bacardi Anejo dark rum. Forget about Grey Goose, which may only show up as an appetizer on the menu at Shangri-La. A week of all-inclusive alcohol may convince the somewhat discerning consumer to give Mormonism a go. Of course, if you go for quantity over quality and find your medicine cabinet an acceptable source for alcohol, you may not be disappointed at this resort.

If only the view was everything... A view of the ocean from one of our rooms.

Our rooms were acceptable but unexceptional. The Golden Room had a four person hot tub and an ocean view. The ocean view was stunning -- the waves off the Atlantic provided soothing comfort and the beautiful beaches were a sight for sore eyes. The standard rooms faced the lagoon and did not fare nearly as well. The hotel is an interior corridor set-up but because of the many openings throughout the building, there is a occasional musty feel that is hard to shake. Housekeeping only performed a very cursory cleaning evidenced by the ants that appeared in one of our rooms to feast on the drops of soda and beer that had been spilled the night before. Housekeeping was much more thorough at throwing away many of the covers from my toiletries and shaver; a most unwelcome surprise when I was packing to come home.

Amenities were equally lackluster. The hot tub alongside the pool is broken, and even a conversation with the General Manager yielded only a vague commitment that the repairs would be completed within a month or so. A resort without a large hot tub is a novelty, and we were the luckless recipients of it.

Perhaps if a brand that cared about its reputation were to offer an all-inclusive product, I would consider it again. A Westin all-inclusive, I would predict, may have a chance at glory. The Golden Parnassus, nestled between the attractive Le Meridien hotel and the Ritz Carlton Cancun (both not all inclusive resorts), should be torn down and redeveloped as a proper resort. Anything else runs roughshod over the beautiful ocean views and makes a mockery of all of the living creatures that cease their existence to provide ingredients for the various "restaurants" located within.

Save yourself the grief: pay for your food and drink and avoid the all-inclusive headache that is the Golden Parnassus.