All New Swanky Shamshabad Airport

On 22nd March midnight, much awaited Shamshabad airport was inaugurated in Hyderabad. And luckily I was traveling from Jaipur to Hyderabad on 23rd March and got to see the all new swanky Shamshabad International Airport. Believe me, it's as good as an airport can be and exceptional when you compare it with its other Indian peers. And it has got the longest runway of 4.6 Km as well.

I shall be uploading the pics on this blog later which I took last night.

Well, here is my brief experience of last night.

On 22nd March I was in Jaipur and was enjoying Holi with my family and friends. In evening, I got a SMS from the airlines with whom I booked my flight to Hyderabad. It said, "All to and fro flights to Hyderabad will be operating from Shamshabad w.e.f. 23rd March, 0001 hours". I came in tension as soon as I read it and the reason was, the new airport is around 35 Kms from my home in city and my flight was supposed to land around 11 PM on 23rd March. On top of that, one of my friend told me that he inquired from a cab service that no autos or buses will be operating from Shamshabad and cabs/taxis will charge a minimum of Rs. 800/- from airport to city center.

I was very disappointed till I landed in Hyderabad. Honestly speaking the idea of paying 800/- just for reaching home from airport was horrifying to me. Anyway, when the flight was about to land in Hyderabad, I got a glimpse of the runway and I forgot to blink my eyes for a good long 30 secs. The sight of runway glittering with colorful lights was so beautiful that for one instance I forgot it's a real sight. It was looking no lesser than the scene of a hi-fi Hollywood flick (If you guys are laughing assuming that this was my first sight of any runway in night and all runway will look like that that only then i would like to tell that I have seen many Indian airports (runways to be specific) in night like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Jaipur etc.) Unfortunately I couldn't take pics of the runway as my camera was in a checked-in suitcase.

In a few minutes, we landed on the airport and I heard someone sitting on my backseat that the airport was looking like Dubai's airport. Though I have never been to Dubai myself so I can't comment on that but when I saw in the direction that guy was referring to my jaws fell. It was a mind blowing sight of the airport building. As soon as we deplaned and came out through a hi-fi looking aero-bridge, a FREE snacks & juices buffet was waiting for us at arrivals lounge (Unfortunately you may not get a chance to experience this as I guess that was arranged only for a few first flights landing at Shamshabad airport). And we were welcomed by a few beautiful ladies in traditional Indian manner with a rose and "tilak". I was feeling like I was part of 20-20 cricket team and we just arrived back in India after winning :-)

Well, after entering the airport building whatever I saw was far more superior and refined than that of any other Indian and many of the foreign airports. The baggage collection lounge was world-class and there were at least 7-8 conveyor belts spread in a huge hall. Most of the airport construction is in glass, fiber and steel and gives the airport a next generation look and feel. Though the staff was not sufficient to assist the passengers as when I reached it was hardly 24 hours after inauguration but staff was very friendly and seemed to enjoy helping passengers with any information they needed.

It was feeling so good that I almost forgot that I would have to pay at least 800/- for reaching home now. As soon as I came out I saw stalls of many cab services and a fellow passenger said it shouldn't take more than 500/- for me to reach home with one of those cab services. I felt a bit relieved but the biggest & happiest surprise came when I heard a security person telling a passenger that GMR (GMR is the company that developed the airport. Remember that "Getting India Ready" advertisement) has arranged an every 30 mins A/C bus service to some prominent points in city at just Rs. 95/-. Things couldn't have gone more right that this. I got the shuttle pass easily and while going back to my home in that A/S shuttle, I was just saying one thing - "Thanks to GMR for building such a world class and user friendly airport in Hyderabad!"

Back to work !

After a long holiday of 10 days I am now back in Hyderabad after attending my brother's marriage in Jaipur. Would love to show you the snaps once I have them ...

Feeling a bit homesick and office seems to be running after me to bite me ...

Within a couple of days, things will be back to "normal" and I'll start slogging for doing this junk work.

For now that's all...will talk to you soon guys.

Check this out!

Have a look guyz .. I have been listed as an expert author on EzineArticles.com :-)

http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Shishir_Singh

Cheers !!!

First Post!

It looks weird to me that even after using Internet daily from the past 7-8 years I am not having a personal blog. Though I have some other blogs related to my websites and some fun blogs but idea of creating a pure personal blog never came to my lazy mind :-)

Even now I am not sure why I have created this blog and who is going to read it :-)

Well, for those who know me already I need not tell anything about me. For others(if at all someone come across this blog accidentally :P), I am shishir .. which you could have guessed by now already. I prefer referring to myself as a webmaster than a software engineer. Every other person I come across nowadays is a software engineer and people say there are no resources available ... and companies always on a never stopping full swing hiring spree ... looks weird .. isn't it?

Well, after writing a few lines above .. some ideas have started coming to my head on how I am going to use this blog. I never saw anyone having his/her personal blog URL on their visiting/business cards :-)

Most of the time I access Internet from office and even now I am writing this blog from office .. I call it optimum utilization of resources :P

I aspire to become webmaster of a website which is as popular as Google, Yahoo, Orkut, Myspace or Ebay. But at the same time I know it's almost an impossible talk for a person like me who feels sooooo lazy to get up from chair to get a glass of water when thirsty :D

As of now, I am having a website .. http://www.affiliateplugin.com .. I call it "The Most Structured Online Resource on Affiliate Marketing". If you are wondering what the hell is this then I will just tell you that my website is a resource on how to make money online through Affiliate Marketing. If you are interested then you can visit the website. But let's not divert from the topic, which is ME :-)

Well I guess this is enough for today and anyway not sure how many people are going to read this so I'll stop for the day :D

Cheers
Shishir