Safe so far

The travel industry in India is going through a kind of phase never seen before. Nothing has hit us so badly since 9/11...and this downturn is by far worse than that one. Bookings are down, scores of cancellations have come in from every market, programs are being re-priced at wafer-thin margins or even nett cost, just to bring in some numbers. The world changed this year, and may never be the same again. I know scores of people who lost their jobs in this industry, and rumours of pay-cuts and downsizing have been flying around for some time now.
So when the boss announced that for the moment there are no job or pay cuts happening, everybody heaved a sigh of relief. Safe for now.

To the moon and back...

They've finally done it. Mr Nair and his talented bunch of unassuming men (and women) have fulfilled their promise of landing the Indian tricolour on the Moon with the the first unmanned Lunar mission - the Chandrayaan 1. An entire nation had been following its journey to the moon with their hearts in their mouths and a prayer on their lips. With the success of this mission, India enters an elite club of a handful of nations and hopefully will be able to send a manned mission within the next 10 years.

At a time when the economic downturn and slowdown in growth is affecting so many of us for the worse, the Chandrayaan success also acts as a much-needed ray of hope, a major confidence-booster in our abilities and our future.