Hamari Duniya Main Yeh Hai!
Well I am back writing but unfortunately still not a 100%. 
In fact I still have a runny nose and now having wisdom tooth pain on my left side. So I can only eat on one side of my mouth…. aargh. 
So much is going on — in the world and in our world. 
Here’s an update in NP’s world:
Our Dance Performance: So we had our big performance on Saturday, 4th March at the Scottish Rites Cathedral in Peoria. Let me tell you that we stole the show:!: 
What a great performance!!! Bilkul flawless! It was really great that everything worked out so well. The show in entirety was okay; we started off with technical difficulties. The American running the audio/visual messed up the first two acts’ music. Then the main event was suppose to be this professional 15 person Bhangra troupe from Chicago. Par hamare Indian society ko dhokha deh diya. Do you know who showed up from this troupe? 6 little 12 year old boys. Yes, little boys performed when we were told that there would be a professional group coming. They didn’t even perform that well:!: 
Very disappointing.
I haven’t had time to put the photos in our photo place, so you can check it out here for the time being.
Bridal Shower: My cousin is throwing me a bridal shower this Saturday, so we are traveling to Chicago. Many of you may not know what happens at a bridal shower, so let me tell you all about it. Its when all of the girls get together and play different type of games and just enjoy. What do the guys do? They get together to do their own thing — like in our family the guys are going to some arcade place to play video/virtual reality games.
NRI Easy Rupee Account: Neeraj and I have been discussing on how we will be taking money over to India for the wedding. So we have thought that one of the best ways is to open an NRI account through ICICI Bank or Citibank. So we started off trying to apply online through ICICI Bank. Their website and the application form is very poorly made. Once we filled the form, we didn’t receive any information on what we needed to do next; no one even contacted us once. Then we thought it might be better to do Citibank. Neeraj filled out the form so that you can get more information regarding the account, and they have since been in touch with us via phone. Really great service so far. So we have decided to go with Citibank.
Buying Air Tickets for within India: So Mumma leaves for India on 8th April. She will be traveling from Chicago to Delhi, and then needs to go with all of her luggage to Mumbai the next day (10th April). At first I was trying to see what flights I can get her on. On Jet Airways website, I can’t even get a quote in rupees because they detect where you are located, so the quote is only in dollars. Air Sahara and Kingfisher was too expensive, so now going with Indian Airlines. What I have noticed is that there is no benefit of getting tickets earlier than a month — the prices are the same. Would you agree? 
So that’s that. Otherwise the bomb in Varanasi is quite sad. 
What has caused this? I hope that whatever it is they are able to find out about it soon.
Lastly — Happy Women’s Day!!!!! I am not sure what should be done on this day, but hope that all of the women are proud of their special day today.
Alvida. Jai Mata Di.
March 9th, 2006 at 2:41 am
Lovely photographs Poonam!! :)
BTW, why have u booked on Indian? It’s expensive, and service is bad as well… I don’t think it offers you cheaper tickets than any of the other airlines. Kingfisher, Spicejet, GoAir, Jet, Sahara.. are all better than IA as per my experience.
Yes, even if you book early, you might not get cheap tickets ‘coz they would have already been bought by somebody else.
March 9th, 2006 at 4:27 am
wah… the fotos were nice… seems u had a great time.. :)
yeah.. i agree what Manpreet said.. Indian Airlines is not tht gud.. compared to the others…. their service is very poor as far as I heard…
Hope u guys r having a great time planning for the wedding.. :)
March 9th, 2006 at 4:38 am
Congrats Neeraj for the job :)
And will see the photos soon; seems u had a gala time. Nice fun these Indian shows abroad, whatever the technical glitches be!
Tickets are cheaper in the budget airlines like Spicejet et al. But for service, nothing to beat Jet Airways. Indian is okayish, u never know what surprise they might throw up - from good to the pathetic!
Plus, i m sure, ur mother wudnt be too worried about the looks and figure of the airhostessess ;P ha ha … a consideration that we all keep in mind while avoiding IA ha ha
March 9th, 2006 at 7:44 am
You also didn’t like the service of Indian Prasad?
Hmm..we have always traveled Indian from Mumbai-Bhavnagar and never had any troubles. I guess it must be dependent on routes.
Thanks DJ.
One of the main concerns for my Mumma was the baggage allowance. Unfortunately I don’t have a quote from Jet Airways because they give me the quote in dollars. So from what I was able to gather, Indian had the cheapest price.
Now — I still have to buy atleast 8 more tickets…so we will see what airlines I try next.
Will explain more in the next post.
March 9th, 2006 at 7:50 am
Why don’t you check out makemytrip.com and travelguru.com?
you can get quotes for tickets over there… kingfisher 7500 bucks!! i have travelled 3-4 times on kingfisher… and ticket costed me just about 3500 bucks!!! even for jet and sahara, you can get ticket for about 4-5k … should’nt more than that unless u are booking ticket just about a week before!!
yes baggage allowance on budget airlines is quite less.. just about 20-25kgs.. whereas jet/indian/kingisher/sahara’s baggage limit is more than that!!
March 9th, 2006 at 7:56 am
Nice pics :)
wishin’ u a speedy recovery
Good you didn’t open a branch with ICICI Bank… see what the latest comment # 89 at that website says:
“….. by sending us a credit card with a limit of 40k to my grandmother. Now one might say that is perfectly alright - but it does become a problem as my grandmother passed away 22 years ago!!!! I wonder if there is branch in heaven”.
March 9th, 2006 at 7:58 am
OOPS
In the above comments “Branch” need to be read as “Bank Account”
March 9th, 2006 at 9:13 am
wow! im so hoping i too get married sooooooooooooon! cant wait! :D
March 9th, 2006 at 1:49 pm
very nice pictures…seems like u guys danced ur way to glory :)
March 9th, 2006 at 7:13 pm
US limit is around 30 kg…so that is why it is important that we get the airline that allows that so we don’t have to pay extra. I know that Spicejet is definitely less than that.
Thanks Ankur.
Very interesting about ICICI; I can’t believe they don’t even konw who is alive and who is dead:!: 
When are you getting married Harry??
Thanks Indu.
March 9th, 2006 at 9:10 pm
oooh nice pics.. made me want to dance. and good choice going with Citibank. You know I have noticed this with websites back home..a lot of them are very poorly maintained. I guess, most transactions are still being done in person or over the phone. Have fun at the bridal shower..and bahot saare pictures bhi laana :)
March 10th, 2006 at 8:47 pm