 The International Civil Aviation Organization (IACO) has mandated for phasing out the manually written passports (not readable by Machine) w.e.f. 24th November 2015. Therefore, please check if your passport does not have your details written by hand. As per one estimate there are approximately 2.50 Lakhs of such passports with the individuals, which were issued prior to the year 2001 with 20 years validity period.Indian citizens residing in India and Abroad and holding such passports with validity beyond the 24th November 2015 should apply for re-issue of their passports well before the deadline in order to avoid any inconvenience in obtaining valid visa or international travel. |
  M. Manohar |
Indian Railway has changed tatkal ticket booking timings effective from 15th June 2015. Now, AC Class Tatkal Tickets Booking shall be available from 10:00 AM onwards on one day prior to departure of the train from originating station. Booking for Non-AC Class ticket booking will start at 11:00 AM (in place of 10:00 AM earlier). The above change has been effected to facilitate hassle-free booking by reducing the load on the servers (currently about 10,000 to 12,000 tickets are booked at IRCTC Site during peak hours). Moreover, all types of ticketing agents including IRCTC agents will now be debarred from booking non-Tatkal tickets for 30 minutes from the opening of bookings, that is from 8am to 8.30am for general classes, from 10am to 10.30am for Tatkal AC classes, and from 11am to 11.30am for Tatkal non-AC classes. The above arrangement is going to change the perception of travelers about probability of getting confirm tatkal tickets, if they try to book themselves. |
 Pooja Sharma |
The 139-hectare area of Mughal Gardens which is also a part of Rastrapati Bhavan in New Delhi has 120 varieties of roses, large varieties of Tulips (only seen in Kashmir), 70 varieties of seasonal flowers, 2,500 dahlias, 250 bonsai plants, 80 varieties of cactus along with flowers like Calendula, Gerbera, Linaria, Larkspur, Gaznia, Verbena, Viola, Pansy Carnation, Chrysanthemum, Marigold and Salvia which line the symmetric pavements of the gardens.Every year in the mid of February, the Garden is open to the public when it is in full bloom. The floral event is extremely popular (also known as Udyanotsav) and had recorded 5.84 lakh footfall in one month in 2014. The special roses include Green Rose and Angelique. Nearly 40 fragrant varieties include Belami, Black Lady, Double Delight, Eiffel Tower, Granada, Jadis, Mr Lincoln, Sadabahar and Taj Mahal. The Gardens include roses named Mother Teresa, Arjun, Bhim, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Jawahar and Dr BP Pal besides those christened after international celebrities like John F Kennedy, Queen Elizabeth, Mr Lincoln and Montezuma. The entry and exit for the general public will be from Gate No 35 of the President's Estate, close to where North Avenue meets Rashtrapati Bhavan. |
Pooja Sharma |
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Taxi Services to the Airports and Railway Stations are making a deep hole into the pockets of commuters on account of the following reasons:
Most of the railways stations and airports, one may find taxi operators negotiating the price for dropping the passengers. Even after hard bargain, no one can really leave the airports/ railway stations without agreeing to pay more than what normally is chargeable. Most of places the legitimate charges for taxi are almost double if traveling to/ from airport compared to any other places. If you happen to travel from Bangalore Airport to about 50 KMs towards Bangalore City (generally you have to) in taxi, be prepared to pay the following charges: Toll Tax: Rs. 115/- Fare: Rs. Rs. 1035/- Service Charges: 100/- Total : 1250/- If you choose to travel in an economic transport then pay Rs. 280/- by a bus. There is no other option available. |
 Arvind Sharma |
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Not at all. But, do we have a choice? Often it is believed that organized service provider such as OLA, Uber, Mega Cabs etc. are providing service with a lot of care, but when you go through their terms and conditions, they are not willing to take responsibility of the associated service providers (very often the Drivers). Please take a look on to the part of Terms and Conditions which are required to be accepted while booking of the taxi through an App: (Name of the Taxi Service Provider,later referred as TSP) DOES NOT GUARANTEE THE SUITABILITY, SAFETY OR ABILITY OF THIRD PARTY PROVIDERS. IT IS SOLELY YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO DETERMINE IF A THIRD PARTY PROVIDER WILL MEET YOUR NEEDS AND EXPECTATIONS. ( TSP ) WILL NOT PARTICIPATE IN DISPUTES BETWEEN YOU AND A THIRD PARTY PROVIDER. BY USING THE SERVICES, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU MAY BE EXPOSED TO SITUATIONS INVOLVING THIRD PARTY PROVIDERS THAT ARE POTENTIALLY UNSAFE, OFFENSIVE, HARMFUL TO MINORS, OR OTHERWISE OBJECTIONABLE, AND THAT USE OF THIRD PARTY PROVIDERS ARRANGED OR SCHEDULED USING THE SERVICES IS AT YOUR OWN RISK AND JUDGMENT. ( TSP ) SHALL NOT HAVE ANY LIABILITY ARISING FROM OR IN ANY WAY RELATED TO YOUR TRANSACTIONS OR RELATIONSHIP WITH THIRD PARTY PROVIDERS. All should be careful. |
 Raginee |
If you are planning to go for trekking in the night near Bangalore, please check if the forest/ hill area is not banned for night outs. Although it is difficult to find if the area chosen by you is either banned or not at a single source as some areas are banned by Forest Department and some others are banned by local police. Some of the know areas which are banned for nights are:
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M. Manohar |
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Bangalore Rajdhani Express has only 6 seats for Jhansi and 8 seats for Bhopal. Most of the passengers are denied reservation from these two stations, even if tickets are booked two months in advance. However, seats from Delhi are in excess of 400 and generally available upto last few days. Why the qouta for intermediate stations is not adjusted according to the demand, is a question some body to answer. Often passengers are forced to book ticket from Delhi and board the train at intermediate stations. This causes additional financial burden on them but atleast a confirmed seat. |
 Rahul Gupta |
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Lane Driving as the name suggest is driving in a dedicated pathway and not jumping over the marked line with or without a reason. |
M. Manohar |
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Keep your bags light because some times you have to take along to heights (too tiring). Pack woolen or protective cloths for entire body. Do keep moisturizer and lip cream to take care of drying of skin and lips. Not to forget zoom lenses to the Camera for taking a few nice pictures from a distance. |
M. Manohar |
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Jet Airways is offering 10% cut in the economy class on its international network for booking during 24 to 26 January 2014.
The discounted fares are applicable for travel between 1 February and 15 April 2014. |
M. Manohar |
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Often a relief from frustration. Frustration arising out mainly from the 10 times efforts put-in from going through number of pages and finally almost snatching the ticket from IRCTC only if luck favours you. |
 Rajeev Gupta |
 IRCTC Website is not working on 1st April 2014 in Bangalore. A New Year Gift from IRCTC and all the Ticketing Agents. |
Reena Gaur |
