Mission de Kashmir: My Ordeal with Aastha
One fine morning in March while browsing through a local daily (Anandabazar Patrika), we came to know about ‘Aastha’. When contacted, it claimed to be a unit of the reputed ‘Zenith Leisure Holidays Private Limited, which is reported to be a ISO 9001:2000 company, having its offices in all the metro cities of India. Having been pleased, I expressed my desire to tour Kashmir with Aastha, who in turn sent Sudipta Banerjee, one of its marketing executive to my office. He painted a very rosy picture of Aastha and luxurious treatments, they offer in Kashmir tour. Being confident of quality services, I booked the Kashmir tour (with a visit to Mata Vaishno Devi temple at Katra) scheduled on 21.5.2010 with Aastha for my family of three and also even recommended Aastha to Mr. Debasis Chaudhuri and Prasad Chandra Ray who also booked the same tour for their families.
I paid advance of Rs.6000/- on 15.3.2010 (vide receipt no.1228) after meeting Mr. Satyajit, self-claimed In-charge of Aastha at seventh floor, Annapurna Apartment, 68, Ballygung Circular Rd., Kolkata 19. He also promised a lot like Sudipta and even promised to offer better services than any other reputed traveling agencies like Kundu Special, Banerjee Tours, Dolphin Travels etc. Rate for the 15 days tour was quoted at Rs.11, 150/- which is more or less at per, if not higher compared to its peers mentioned above. In our case it was Rs.9, 250-/- as we would meet them in Srinagar (due to our air journey from Kolkata to Srinagar) on 24.05.2010 and leave them at Jammu (due to our rail journey from Jammu to New Delhi and air journey from New Delhi to Kolkata) on 02.06.2010. On 17.5. we paid the rest amount (receipt no. 1264) towards full settlement of our dues.
And here on, started our ordeal which is sketched below. Hope you will find it worthy to spend 5/6 minutes of your precious time on it.
Hotel Accomodation:
Srinagar:
As per tour itinerary, we were supposed to check in Hotel Prime, but we were taken to a guest house named “Afrin Guest House”, at least 20 minutes walk away from the Dal lake main point. This also involved recurring expenditure on auto services. Surprisingly, without any prior intimation, we were again asked to move to another hotel named “Hotel Hyat” in Srinagar on the very next day. The less we should talk about these hotel and guest house, the better it is. One can verify status of these accommodations by simply visiting there. There was no arrangement for hot water for 24 hours (forget about geyser), intercom services, lifts, room services, generator services in day time. Even no complementary soap or towel was given initially.
Pahelgam:
When we got down from the bus on reaching at “Hotel Metro” in Pahelgam, we could not believe our eyes that this could be called a “hotel” and we had to spend two nights there! Barring two front rooms (one of which was mysteriously allotted to Mr. Sanjoy Jha, an Aastha employee traveled with us), all other rooms were very small, devoid of any air passage or natural light. The ambience was not at all hygienic. The ‘reception’ comprised with a single study table and chair with plain cemented flooring, flooded with water. Just behind this chair, there was a dining table with plastic paper on the roof to keep away rainwater. The wash basin was full of dirty water. Moreover, food was not allowed inside the rooms (verbally imposed, no written rule was there) and the behaviour of the hotel manager and boys was very rough. When we were vocal about this, hotel authority threatened to oust us from the hotel at night. The tour manager Ajoy babu did not come to our rescue then. Naturally we could not expect for hot water for 24 hours, intercom services, lifts, room services, soaps, generator services from this sort of accommodation in our happiest dreams.
Patnitop and Katra:
Though as per the tour itinerary, we were supposed to spend one night at Patnitop after sightseeing there, we were compelled to stay at Hotel Sankar at Kud, 7 Km. down from Patnitop. This was done again to cut expenses as hotels in Patnitop may appear costly by Aastha standards. This deviation from the itinerary is totally unwanted and unfortunate. We felt cheated on this count. Because one of the main reason for selecting Aastha over others was to spend a night at Patnitop, full of exotic beauties. Even sight seeing at Patnitop was done after a lot of hot arguments with the Manager, who initially stressed that sightseeing should be done at own expenses. We stayed at Hotel Ishan in Katra. These two hotels can be graded ‘so-so’, going by Zenith’s profile and ‘better’, if compared to other accommodations, arranged by Aastha.
Bus and the road journeys:
The condition of the ‘bus’, hired by Aastha from Jammu for the total tour, was simply miserable. When it rained, we enjoyed it getting drenched, even sitting on our respective seats! It’s really funny!!! Couple of glass windows was missing, thus letting cold air inside to keep us cool while passing areas full of snows in Gulmarg, Sonmarg, Pahelgam, etc. Last but not the least is the floor of the bus which was also high enough to give the senior citizens enough scope to do their daily exercise, whenever they are required to get up or down from the bus. Seats were uncomfortable with ‘push back’ options not playing really. In this situation, no one can expect a little bit of entertainment, like music systems in the bus for long journeys and we are no exception in this regard.
In respect of most of the journeys from Srinagar for sightseeing, we were compelled to be ready by 6.30/7.00 am instead of 8.00/8.30 am time printed in the itinerary, just to cut expenses of Aastha on ferrying us in autos to that famous bus which was required to be parked outside the city (6/7 km away from the hotel) due to some traffic restrictions. We were even told by the Manager that we could start as per itinerary but at our own expenses. This was really unfortunate from an organization named Zenith or its subsidiary Aastha!
Foods:
The only silver lining of the tour was the quality of the meal cooked and served. It was tasty and served in time in most cases. Barring one or two occasions, mineral water was served never, not even when meals were served enroute. It will not be out of place to appreciate the temperament with which Ajoybabu tried to manage the tour.
Under the above circumstances, we have even toyed with the idea to bring this ordeal under the notice of the Court meant for consumer protection, media, Register of Companies and the Ministry of tourism, GOI. We have not yet decided over the next course of action. But at least, I felt my conscience asking me to reveal all these details before you to address these issues so that like us, other customers should not feel cheated by Aastha in future. I think you have gone through feedbacks of other customers in this tour (through your feed back forms), if not done already and found reflection of same opinion there. Above all, M/s Zenith should think over attaching its name with Aastha in future and immediately stop its staff like Satyajit, Sudipta etc. from painting rosy pictures of such tours to the customers, if it is really beyond their capacity to deliver standard amenities.
Subir Kumar Pal
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