This is the first NO when you want to go with a tour guide. In the USA, we would have put him in jail for fraud. In India, people just seem to make big noise and it ends there. What did they do or did not do?
They promised in a typed flyer a tentative program of Amarnath yatra for 15 days including train travel and rest. The meeting place was Delhi. People could join them from Hyderabad, Rajahmundry, Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada. We three opted to travel and pay our fare separately from Tirupathi to Delhi and join the rest there. This was not only economical for us but also we wanted to see Mathura (Brindavan) on the way (it was not included in their program). When we were approaching Delhi, Nirmala called the agency and they gave three names of contact. Two were from the group and the third one was a local tourist agency by name Birla. The first two were not available and the owner Rama Rao of Visakhapatnam would not answer phone calls. Finally, we called Birla and he instructed us to walk over to his office located accross from the station.
When we met Birla, he told us that others in the group were taking a city tour and once they returned, we would be put in a local hotel nearby and we all leave for Jammu/Kashmir area by a bus the next early morning. Imagine traveling 750 km in a bus on Indian roads. Later on, as it turned out, it was a horrible experience. More to come......................................
