Rajeev's World: March 2014

Friday, March 21, 2014

The Epicure's Delight....

Sometimes, you can't resist yourself... A few days back, I discovered this jar of duck and orange pate in the market. It was a bit expensive, but I couldn't hold myself back.

My mind said don't buy, it's far too expensive.... But heart and more importantly, my tongue, kept saying yes, yes and yes all the way till I reached the billing counter....

Wow, meaty pink....the aroma was well delicious and umami...

We had the pate, slathered on crisp toast, alongwith fried egg and sautéed mushrooms and caramelised onions.... mmmmm

Truly, an Epicure's delight....!

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Up In The Air .... Part 17

The latest edition of Up In The Air are from this week's trip to Bangalore...

And like God's blessings, that come in surely and definitely... the sun's rays also do find a way to reach us down below....

But, from up in the air, these rays looked magical....

But again, Jet Airways was the real spoiler - dirty windows....

Wow... The sun gets reflected in the lake below....

Amazing.... you can practically see that God is sending His blessings down....

And we begin our approach into BLR....

It was a misty morning in BLR...

And now on short finals to Kempe Gowda International Airport....

Well, how unsexy is that name!

Why the hell do we have to name airports after politicians? Bangalore International Airport was good enough...

The earlier editions of Up In The Air can be accessed here on this hyperlink - Up In The Air series!

Up In The Air .... Part 16

And after take off from Mumbai, the lovely view of Mahim Bay and the Bandra Worli Sea Link was there to be seen.... From up in the air, Mumbai does look amazing....

And now we were over Juhu...

We turned northwards and at flight level 350, we set course for Ahmedabad and flew along the western coast...

And that's a lovely view of the western coastline...

Thanks to Mr. Narendra Modi's painstaking effort, with waters from the Narmada coming in, today, Gujarat has turned from an arid state to a green state...

What a transformation in the last few years...

The blue of the sky and greens of Gujarat make for an interesting vista...

Wow!

And now, the approach into AMD.... a bustling city...

The Sabarmati River, which bisects Ahmedabad into two...

The shadow of my plane over the city....

And thanks to the abundant water supply, Ahmedabad is turning green... like the rest of Gujarat...

And finally, on short finals into AMD....

The earlier editions of Up In The Air can be accessed here on this hyperlink - Up In The Air series!

Plane Spotting At BOM -- Part IV

A few weeks back, I traveled to Ahmedabad. I took a mid-morning flight from here, which is usually the best time for plane spotting, the liveries look vibrant.

That was the week when the new terminal, T2, was inaugurated. There was model of the new T2 on display besides the check-in counters....

In a few years, all operations will shift from T1A and T1B to the new T2....

And truly, that'll be something that this city and India truly deserves.... A worthy brother of Delhi's T3....

The Air-India Airbus A320 being pushed back.... The bird looked splendid in the morning sun....

We boarded and in some time we pushed back....

But the windows weren't clean from the outside, a disaster for a spotter like me.... it seems Jet Airways skips washing its planes, saving, well, a few pennies....

IndiGo's Airbus A320 - these days even IndiGo is saving a penny or two and is avoiding keeping their planes clean.... These guys at IndiGo have indeed gone nuts...

A JetKonnect Boeing 737.... an awful livery....

That's SpiceJet - perhaps a flying elaichi....., or a flying oregano?

Air India's Baby Bus .... Airbus A319...

The short lived livery of Indian Airlines.... Wonder if Air India can't afford a repaint today....

A UPS Boeing 747-400 Freighter in the cargo operations area of the airport...

That's Air India's Boeing 777 - a few of these will be sold at throw-away prices to Etihad....

That would complete India's complete selloff of aviation to the Emiratis - James Hogan of Etihad would be laughing all the way after duping Jet Airways into a lousy deal and picking up these long haul jets from Air India for some loose change.... And as though that wasn't enough, the government has sold out bilaterals on the Indian skies to Emirates making it India's de-facto flag carrier.... Well, with polls round the corner, you can safely speculate what could have happened...