BKK-DEL-ORD (roundtrip) USD 2752 a.i. J-fare on AI !!

I think this fare only works for long stays...not quick turnarounds.

Posted just in case someone is interested in this...

Thanks for this - might be worth switching to Airtel then! (However, I now simply don't answer calls when roaming any longer, and use VoIP all the time to call back or make calls)

Edited to Add: Btw, does the CallerID come through properly for Indian numbers when abroad??

Indian numbers come out correctly on my phone caller ID here (USA).

caller id comes properly on my orange indian sim when roaming abroad..

Chepauk stadium wall falls down:

http://www.rediff.com/cricket/report...s/20110202.htm

could have been a lot worse....glad no one was seriously injured....

yes, thank goodness.
my hometown cricket stadium:eek:

weird thing happened to me today... so I procrastinate booking rooms for the one week hop we are doing to CCU and the rooms at the Tolly are gone :mad:

Mea culpa, my fault. So I work the phone to get our corporate rate at the Taj & Oberoi (aprox 1/2 rack rate), checking availability online first. Taj has availability on Amex Travel but not on their website, Oberoi on both. On the phone, both insist no rooms, they are fully booked. So I book and hold a booking via the Oberoi website (of course now nearly at the rack rate of 12k/night :mad:)

:mad::mad::td:
btw, any reason for u to book tak or oberoi specifically if its not available on corp rate ??
I guess u r well aware of CCU and there are many other decent hotels at lower price ranges and even around the vicinity of oberoi.. (something like golden park, hhi, the park)..

New PF norms leave expats in lurch..
 

Now, this is something good IMHO from the point of view of Indians..
We need to treat foreigners the same way their country treats our qualified folks..
And as usual, we have the media I believe showing more emphatic towards their concerns that ours !! We have atleast 30-40 times more indians on temporary visas ( L1 / H1) in US than they have in India ..

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/b...ow/7439380.cms

We are just in CCU for 7-8 days, out of which we have 6 nights in the city. I'm travelling with Wife and two kids... the HHI and Park (other southside alternatives) are no places to be with small kids. Oberoi and Taj are sort of no hassle places, the few days will be stressful enough. Tolly would have been ideal. :(

He he... I'm sure there are more than 7000 indians working in Germany and US who kiss the social security line item goodbye each month. For non immigrants its basically a tax. In my 4 years in the US I paid quite a bit into SS without any hope of getting it back ever. Why should expats on fat contracts for 3-4 years be treated any different? The company pays it anyways...

This is exactly my point..
There are easily atleast 30 times ( i.e abt 200000) Indians in US at any time on H1 or L1 and most of them have to kiss their SS contributions good bye.. so why should India allow these expats to withdraw their ocntributions or treat them differently.. IIRC, Indian IT companies have been asking for this refunds or credit for long long time now.. and unless we get the credit for the same or refunds, we need to give them back with similar regulations..^

problem for me is the way the media projects it (since I believe the indian media is not the most objective :mad:) and hence easily get influenced by some vested parties..They r projecting it as if its such a big loss for these expats etc .. c'mon, they need to see how the citizens of India are treated elsewhere 1st..
Something different but related.. I remember abt 2 yrs back reports in the media about India making it difficult for spouses of expats to work here .. and the tone of the article was so sympathetic to them.. I am not aware of many countries in EU which allow spouses of Wp holders to work in the intial years and that is never raised or somehow not in the mainline news anyways :mad:

Well, I have paid (and continue to pay) plenty of this "social security tax" and "medicare tax"... None of which I will ever get back.

Keep in mind that, if you are an employee, your employer pays only 7.5% of the social security + Medicare taxes. You pay the rest of the 7.5% out of your gross income in the US.

I cannot believe expats working in INdia complain that they have to pay some taxes.

At this moment, I would like to say a bunch of expletives.....:mad::mad::mad:

Yes, the stupid media always has to favor the foreigners. India is one of the few countries where they dont look after the best interests of their own immediately, but always worry about what "others will think/do, etc".