Theres nothing I hate more than Travelling
You know the drill. Book the tickets, pack your bag, go to the airport, board the flight and reach your destination. While some find it simple and easy, for me it causes severe anxiety and depression since I find travelling highly uncomfortable.
I hail from a small town, so travelling to home is tricky for me. My flight takes me to the closest metropolis i.e. Kolkata from where I need to board a train to hometown which involves hours of cab/bus, waiting in the heat and hunger. So by the time I reach home, I am dehydrated, starved, sun burnt, stinky with sweat and from the most recent experience- ill.
Few days back I came back from a horrible event at home- that would be my sister's wedding. Why horrible you ask?? Will let you know in another article. Same drill except that when you travel TO home, your excitement and joy of meeting your family masks most of your pain. Its going back to everyday life from a vacation like event that causes real pain. The synergy of unhappiness and bad travel experience hits your body hard.
Both To and From journey was cursed this time. Going home, hours of waiting in a really hot, crowded and super uncomfortable Howrah Railway Station, with too much of baggage that had to be carried to the washroom 500 meters away every 20 minutes, thanks to the massive size of the railway station, my teeny-tiny bladder and constant water consumption to keep me hydrated. While coming back from home I had an awful experience with an ola cab and I have written to them regarding that. following is the transcript of the email I sent them.
Few days back I came back from a horrible event at home- that would be my sister's wedding. Why horrible you ask?? Will let you know in another article. Same drill except that when you travel TO home, your excitement and joy of meeting your family masks most of your pain. Its going back to everyday life from a vacation like event that causes real pain. The synergy of unhappiness and bad travel experience hits your body hard.
Both To and From journey was cursed this time. Going home, hours of waiting in a really hot, crowded and super uncomfortable Howrah Railway Station, with too much of baggage that had to be carried to the washroom 500 meters away every 20 minutes, thanks to the massive size of the railway station, my teeny-tiny bladder and constant water consumption to keep me hydrated. While coming back from home I had an awful experience with an ola cab and I have written to them regarding that. following is the transcript of the email I sent them.
Hello
I am Abhishek Kumar Jha, a medical student from
Pune, Maharashtra and a resident of Dhanbad, Jharkhand. I recently had my
sisters wedding and I travelled for that to my home. Anybody who knows me knows
that I absolutely adore ola and use your services any opportunity I get. And
every time its an absolute delight to be serviced by you. Up until now.
On the night of 7th of May,
when I was returning to Pune, I needed a cab from Howrah railway station to the
International airport. As soon as my train arrived, I opened the app and booked
an ola immediately. It took a lot of time to book me a ride and with each
passing minute I became more anxious as I only had 2.5 hours before my flight.
When I finally managed to book one, the cab driver sat casually in his car and
kept giving me directions to an “ola stand” which I failed to find. It was only
after half an hour and rigorous requesting and complaining that he decided to
come find me. Half an hour wasted in vain, while my anxiety about missing my
flight reaching a pathological level. Then I requested him to drive me
immediately to the airport so that I don’t miss my flight.
Now the crude distance between Howrah
railway station and the airport is 17 kms, but this driver managed to take me
through a route which was 30 kms long, at a time where I am trying to save
every single second of my time. It took him 64 minutes and driving through the
roads of Kolkata like a mad man. The drive was so incredibly bad, I felt
extremely ill and vomited all over some flyover somewhere in Kolkata. It was
like a roller coaster, except that it lead to hell, literally. After 64 minutes
of this reckless driving and me complaining, while I’m trying to keep the food
I ate in my stomach, I was met with a bill of Rs 580. I was incredibly
mad but didn’t had a single ounce of energy left in me to argue with the
person. By the time I checked in and reached the boarding gate, I realised the
boarding was about to end and I just caught my flight by a few seconds. I
reached pune but I felt like I’m in intense hangover, fully dehydrated, tired
and fell ill.
Now it calls upon the question, what
benefit did I drive from booking an ola cab over taking a regular cab, millions
of which stand outside the railway station. It did not save my time, it took
half an hours for the driver to just find me, and another over an hour to get
me there. It was not comfortable, I threw up badly, felt like I’m moving in the
bowels of hell and felt so weak that I could hardly argue with the driver after
reaching the airport, I did complain to him while riding though. Third, after all this horrible experience, I was met with a bill much higher than what I would have incurred in a regular cab ride. All in all it was an
absolute disappointment on all parameters, not just that, I could have landed
up in an accident because of ur drivers reckless behaviour. Also I did fell ill
after coming to Pune, thanks to the multiple puking session ur driver got me in.
So now that I can wake up and walk and go
to my hospital, I am writing to you. I am probably not taking a cab for some time
out of my fear and apprehension. I
would like to push my complains to higher authorities so that it can be used to
further improve ur services and that no other customer of urs would face the
horror I faced.
Thanking you,
Abhishek Kumar Jha
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