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2.56 

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Rajasthan Tour with Kundu Special, Kolkata
Feb 23, 2009 03:51 PM 94769 Views
(Updated Feb 23, 2009 08:51 PM)

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My experience with Kundu Special1) The clientele of KS mainly comprises middle class Bongs from Kolkata and nearby places.The Rajasthan package cost the two of us Rs 21, 225 (Rs 10, 613 per head).


2) The package included train tickets from Howrah to Jodhpur and back by sleeper class, 11 days sightseeing / travel all over Rajasthan by 41 seater bus (2x2 seating, non-AC), 10 nights hotel stay at different places on twin-sharing basis (economy hotels -- the kind that cost roughly between Rs 800 to Rs 2000 per night), guide fees and complete food (even on board train -- so food was provided for 13 days). The only exclusions from the package were entry fees / camera fees / rides (camel / elephant / horse).


3) We were a group of 35 tourists (all Bongs) + 8 KS staff (2 managers + 6 cooks / waiters / baggage handlers). KS staff carried kerosene stoves, essential utensils / tableware and some groceries from Kolkata.


4) Food was typically Bong fare and lunches and dinners usually had one non-veg dish. Even in the hotels, food was cooked and served by KS staff using their own utensils and tableware (recessed rectangular stainless steel plates). During travel by bus, pre-cooked food was carried and served on the way (usually in some wayside dhabas with whom KS have arrangements) after heating. On board train, KS serve food through some arrangements with railway catering staff.


6) Every person was permitted 2 no.s 'check-in baggage’ -- these were tagged by KS during the onward train journey and were handled throughout by KS staff. Before leaving a hotel KS staff would collect the baggage from our room about 45 mins before departure and deliver it to our room in the next hotel. This was a big comfort.


7) Service was quite decent throughout. There were thoughtful touches like serving candies and packaged juices during long bus trips. Professional guides were provided as required. Wherever shoes, cameras, mobiles, bags, etc., had to be left outside (like at some temples), KS staff looked after them.


8) Adherence to timings / schedules was pretty good. Whenever we had to leave a hotel early in the morning (usually for a long bus trip), adherence to the scheduled departure time by all tourists was ensured by serving bed tea well in time, serving breakfast in the room and collecting check-in baggage at least 45 mins before departure.Some things I didn’t like with Kundu Special:1) The 41-seater bus (2x2 seating in 9 rows for 36 tourists + one last aisle-less row with 5 seats used by KS staff) is built on an elongated truck chassis where the rear part of the bus sticks out about 10 feet behind the rear axle.


Therefore passengers sitting on the last few rows experience excessive jerks even when the road has minor undulations. On bad roads (they are everywhere in India) the ride is horrible.KS has a rule according to which the person who books his tour ticket first gets to sit on the first row of the bus, and so on. Since I booked last, my wife and I got to sit on the last (9th ) row. This same seating plan is followed throughout the tour. Needless to say, Jaya and I used to dread our long distance rides. Why should some tourists be subjected to this punishment when they are paying the same tariff? There is no such illogic in the seating plans of any airline or train.


I feel that KS should modify the rule whereby those who book first get to sit on the front row on Day 1 and everyday passengers move back by one row (with the last row coming to the front row). Alternatively, seating in the bus should on a first-come-first-served basis everyday so that the latecomers get the rear seats. Some venues (usually roadside dhabas) for tea / lunch breaks during bus journeys were quite bad. At one dhaba we were required to sit on charpoys and have our lunch with some of the adjacent charpoys occupied by truckwallahs.


At another dhaba, where we stopped for a breakfast of oily luchis, the water (for washing our hands) was freezing cold, had to be drawn from an earthen pot by an empty Mobil (engine oil) can and there was no soap. Surely, a kettle of hot water could have been poured in that pot of chilled water. KS could have easily provided a mug and liquid soap.


Since our tour was during relatively cold part of the year, availability of hot water was very important in the hotels. However, most of the hotels did not have round-the-clock hot water. Some hotels had wood-fired water heaters and unless one timed one’s bath very precisely with the once-in-a-day heating cycle, one missed out on hot water altogether.


The worst incident during the tour took place on the very second day of sightseeing at Sam sand dune point near Jaisalmer on 26.01.09 when Mrs. Sabita Mitra (w/o Mr. Sudip Mitra) fell down from a camel and suffered a serious injury (shoulder dislocation and fracture). Mr. and Mrs. Mitra had to abandon the tour and fly back to Kolkata after preliminary treatment at Jaisalmer.


In my opinion, KS are at least 70% responsible for this accident by forcing all tourists to take this camel ride. On the way to Sam sand dune point, the bus disgorged all the tourists at a point a couple of kilometres short of the Oasis India camp.


KS managers told the tourists that they HAVE TO hire camels (at extra cost) to go to the Sunset Point and Oasis India camp. Jaya and I were not too keen on the camel ride and I specifically asked Mr. Parimal Das of KS whether I could reach the sunset point by any alternative means. He told me that only a camel could take us there because it was impossible for a man to walk on the sand dunes.


Subsequently I found that he had misinformed us – our bus was parked right outside Oasis India camp and anyone could comfortably walk from the camp to the sunset point in the sand dunes in less than 10 minutes. In other words, any tourist could have easily reached the sunset point by our bus itself without taking the camel ride.


The disinformation by the KS manager forced even tourists in their 70s to take a camel ride or use a camel cart (same cost as camel ride) to see the much-touted ‘sunset’ which was, in reality, nothing special. Mr. Ganguly, a gentleman from Kalyani who is almost 80 years old also took a camel ride but fortunately soon realised that it was more than what he could handle and got off the camel with the help of the camel handler and slowly walked to the sunset point! The KS manager could have had a vested interest in sending everyone for a camel ride (with an empty bus going to the sunset point).


There is no feedback mechanism for KS higher management to know the problems faced by tourists and their grievances. If KS management are serious about customer satisfaction and improvement of their services (which should be a continuous process) they should institutionalise some simple feedback mechanism like providing a suggestion book or feedback form / questionnaire to the tourists during the return journey to Kolkata.


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