Page 14 - TSB ebook

Govt. Officials and most of the time no accommodation is available. If one intends to visit the

resorts at Bangaram or Agatti, the preferred travel route should be by Air from Kochi. If the option

is to travel to Kavaratti and other islands, then take the sea route and travel by options of 3 ships

starting from Kochi. This will take you to Kavaratti and other islands, with certain packages having
the option of staying on board during night. The sea packages get booked much in advance.

We went to Agatti as the resort there was affordable. Bangaram was costly and later I realized

that it was meant for firangs. Since I had availed of LFC facility, the travel expenses were entirely

on Bank and the leave encashment took care of the resort bill.

Air Travel – The most memorable part

Quiz Q : Which centres were the contenders for hosting TSB ?

Indian Airlines operates a small Dornier service from Kochi. It is a rickety 18-seater and one has

to travel to believe that the toy could actually take off. At the time of Check-in, I requested for at

least one window seat for my son. The man at the counter gave me a stare and declared that all
seats are window seats. After boarding, we realized that the seats were in single column on either

side of aisle, each seat next to a window. With the low height, one had to bend and walk to reach

the seats. There 14 passengers, a family of 4, a newly married couple and 3 from our family, all

headed for Agatti resort on holiday. Apart from us, there were 5 Govt. Officials traveling to
Kavaratti. The Dornier was 18-seater, but onward travel carried 14 passengers only, 4 empty

seats compensating for extra fuel required to be carried for return journey in case the aircraft

was not able to land at the island due to bad weather.

The crew travelled with us in the same bus from the terminal at Kochi, two pilots and a Flight
Steward. Wife was skeptic that the contraption would at all fly. Son was equally inquisitive

whether it was a model only. Similar reactions could be seen from other passengers. The pilots

started the engine and for good 5 minutes did something akin to giving “race” to a bajaj scooter,

during which the aircraft was shaking madly and making all sorts of noises. The air-conditioning
was switched on as part of “race” resulting in cold smoke filling the aircraft. Then we took off.