HYDERABAD-BANGALORE DRIVE

Rahul and I started early at 7 in the morning from Hyderabad to cover this almost 600 km drive to Bangalore. A long 8 hour drive but was quite interesting with

- long, everending 4 lane highway

- interesting scultpures, temples on the way

- the weather was great with cool breeze blowing across

- great interaction on the way with people on roads ( details in next blog post )
- stopping in the middle of highway to eat parathas and as we kept the packet outside the car, the strong wind blew the whole packet away from us ....

we reached outskirts of Bangalore at 3 pm and it took us almost 2 hours to reach Vivanta at ITPL Whitefields Bangalore..

this city has 5 Taj hotels and so much to see and explore if you can get your way out of terrible traffic here ...

i am here for a day to be in all Taj hotels ..

TAJ BANJARA, 6TH JULY 5 PM

the last hotel to visit in Hyderabad and I reached Taj Banjara. Mr Shroff, the general manager along with Hods and staff met me and we had a good discussion on how 26/11 has changed lives across Taj employees as they feel more like a family now.
that is the whole purpose
TO CONNECT SOULS ACROSS 10000 TAJ EMPLOYEES IN 60 HOTELS OF TAJ IN INDIA....

TAJ DECCAN, 6TH JULY 4 PM

It was a pleasure to be at Taj Deccan to be received to a musical welcome with staff standing making a human chain at the gate. Really there is no better way to say that yes WE STAND TOGETHER and evoke the feeling of togetherness amongst the employees. This was followed by an amazing interaction with staff at Cafeteria with Mahesh Aiyer, the General manager taking the lead and motivating staff to speak. And thanks mahesh for the same as we really got people's emotions, support, feelings out in open and freely. Staff was very enthused about the whole purpose of the journey and they asked questions to me on this drive. I could sense a wave of love for Taj and a feeling of unity in the room. Great feeling as you really feel good that after driving and reaching a destination you see associates fully involved.

TAJ KRISHNA, HYDERABAD 6TH JULY 11 30 AM

40 minutes drive through this city of Nawabs and we were at Taj Krishna. and to my surprise as the car enters there is a huge banner of One India One Taj with staff waiting to receive us with an applaude. Mr Sarabjeet Singh and his team supported the drive with lot of zeal and passion. Media too was waiting for us and the next 1 hour was spent talking to staff, media about this whole journey. Mr Singh gave a brief to the media and how Taj Krishna supports this journey for peace. Great to see staff coming up and talking on their own on their feelings after 26/11 and how they love this company.

Some guests too came forward and joined the staff . I was delighted to explain what i am doing and they were connected with the whole cause beautifully giving opinion on the incident.

FALAKUNAMA PALACE 6TH JULY 10 AM

Early morning 300 km drive from Vijayawada and we were at outskirts of Hyderabad looking at Falaknuma Palace on our right. Very eager to see this magnificient palace, we drove up the hill and the project people and Palace staff greeted us . Mr Prabhakar was excited to show us around and we discussed the purpose of the journey with lot of enthusiasm .

A word on this Palace - its heavenely inside!! the art decor, the furniture, the paintings on the walls and ceiling ,the libraray room, the longest dining table, there is so much to talk about. I am sure once Taj opens this beautiful palace for the guests in the coming year, it will be an experience in itself.

THE GATEWAY HOTEL VIJAYAWADA 5TH JULY 2 PM

We left the hotel at 8 in the morning for the next city in Andhra Pradesh, Vijayawada a 400 km drive. The beach at Visakhapatnam opposite our hotel looked amzing and staff dropped us outside the city on the highway with ONEINDIAONETAJ banner moving around the city.

Great man, what a feeling, keeping the Taj Flag flying high..

The drive was good with loads of statues of various Gods on the way welcoming us to this city of temples Vijayawada.

The Gateway Hotel at MG Road looks great and it was nice to share the purpose of the drive with Vishal, the General Manager and his team.

The view from the hotel is amazing with hills, krishna river and the famous Kali temple.

A visit to Vijayawada is not complete without taking blessings from the durga temple and we too did the same..

the next stop is Hyderabad and looking forward to be there .....

time to sleep..

THE GATEWAY HOTEL, VISAKHAPATNAM 4TH JULY 3 PM

chilka lake

on Beach road taking a drive

marine museum - one of its kind in South East Asia.

After a tiring but quite interesting drive around Orrisa we reached this really scenic coastal city of Visakhapatnam. this was around 420 km drive and we started at 8 in the morning with a punctured tyre to mend..

We crossed country side of Orrisa which was very different what we have been seeing all through India and on the way we did stop to admire Chilka lake which is huge looks like a sea.

There were heavy rains on the way but thankfully we were on a 4 lane highway so we could drive at a comfortable speed.

What a memorable welcome at the city, with staff holding banners of One India One Taj on the beach road with people on bikes. You could see the enthusiasm of staff and their support for this drive.

One of my best interaction with staff and thanks Mr Albert Rebello the general manager for making it so special. Mr Rebello motivtaed staff to speak their hearts out in the support of Taj and their feelings on 26/11. What we got was genuine emotions and spirit of Taj from the staff who were there in full attendance. This was followed by a cake cutting, a drive in the car with staff on bikes holding posters all around beach road and a great media interaction.
All your tiring journey changes into memorable experiences with staff when you reach hotel :)