The last time I checked, Joaquim Alemao was not the IT minister. Yet, between April/May 2006 to October 2007, he made ten trips to Bangalore, known as the Silicon Valley of India. 'Bangalored' is a pejorative usage when someone in the US has seen his job being outsourced to Bangalore. But Joaquim got 'Bangalored' in a different way culminating in him spending a whopping Rs 1,14,261 to-ing and fro-ing to the IT city in just two trips

 

In the case of our intrepid itinerant, I am unable to lay my hands on what must have been his enormous hotel expenses in, for example Kathmandu. Ramrao Desai who belongs to the party of the Gods even had a soft landing in Thailand, which is a melting pot of cultures from India and Asia and whose language has words derived from Sanskrit. Now being in above said party he must have taken in the beautiful temples in Bangkok, even if soldiers fighting in Vietnam in the sixties put it on the map -Pattaya and Phuket, in particular -for, shall we say, other reasons.

Then surely his 13 days (9-21 October 2001) in Bangalore and Mysore City must have cost you a bomb. But Desai seems to have a penchant for Bangalore and Mysore because he went there twice. He seems to love Jaipur more - a fact that the Rajasthan's tourism department will surely applaud -because he visited thrice, once in 2001 and twice in 2003. Actually, Desai clearly loves travel destinations because he's been to God's Own Country twice (2001 and 2004), to Shimla in the summer and Uttaranchal and Kulu in October/November. His travels abroad cost you Rs 3,13,258, that's half the cost of his total travel cost of Rs 6,71,434.

Ramrao Desai

11-15 June 2000, Hyderabad, Rs 12,675; 20-25 April 2000, Kathmandu, Rs 17,258; 13-16 February 2001, Delhi, Rs 14,800; 13-22 May 2001, Udaipur/Mount Abu/Jaipur/Ratma/Delhi, Rs 29,485; 24-27 June 2001, Mumbai/Rajkot, 26 April-3 May 2001, Delhi/Shimla/Kathmandu/Mumbai, Rs 17,409; 31 Jan-12 Feb 2002, New Zealand/Thailand, Rs 72,000; 09-21 Oct 2002, Bangalore/Mysore, Rs 5,491; 19-21 Oct 2001, Mumbai/Delhi, Rs 15,599; 30 Oct-5 Nov 2001, Cochin, Rs 8,470; 23-26 Dec 2001, Delhi, Rs 17,263; 02-07 July 2002, Delhi, Rs 14,181; 30 Oct-03 November 2002, Mumbai/Delhi/Kulu, Rs 16,255; 17-18 December 2002, Mumbai, Rs 6,742; 08-09 March 2003, Delhi, Rs 17,660; 23-25 January 2003, Bangalore/Mumbai, Rs 18,740; 01-02 February 2003 & 04-06 June 2003, Mumbai, Rs 7,802; 12-17 May 2003, Bangalore/Mysore, Rs 10,420; 05-10 May 2003, Jaipur/Mumbai, Rs 17,869; 23-27 July 2003, Jaipur/Mumbai; Rs 20,685; 24 October-02 November 2003, Singapore/Hong Kong & 14-23 October 2003 USA/Canada, Rs 2,24,000; 25-26 September 2004 & 15-16 January 2004, Mumbai, Rs 14,050; 24-26 March 2004, Mumbai/Cochin, Rs 14,960; 27 October-9 November 2004, Delhi/Uttaranchal/Delhi, Rs 23,255; 24-27 November 2004, Delhi, Rs 21,417; 20-23 January 2005, Delhi/Mumbai, Rs 22,188.

Total Rs 6,71,434

The last time I checked, Joaquim Alemao was not the IT minister. Yet, between April/May 2006 to October 2007, he made ten trips to Bangalore, known as the Silicon Valley of India. 'Bangalored' is a pejorative usage when someone in the US has seen his job being outsourced to Bangalore. But Joaquim got 'Bangalored' in a different way culminating in him spending a whopping Rs 1,14,261 to-ing and fro-ing to the IT city in just two trips. All one can say is that hotel rooms don't come cheap in Bangalore. Maybe, as urban minister, he was checking out how Bangalore handled its garbage. But to go there 10 times costing the exchequer Rs 2,71,705 and that does not include a Bangalore trip but whose ticket was clubbed with a Mumbai visit; is over-doing it. Maybe he should be conferred a Ph.d in garbage management.

Speaking of Mumbai, he made 21 trips there. Why? Go figure! And while you are at it figure out what he did in Mumbai between 22 January and 26 December of 2006. Of the three trips he made to Chennai -maybe to check out the bio-methanation plant at Koyambedu, the wholesale fruit, vegetable and flower market where the bio-degradable garbage is converted to energy. As to why he went to Nagapattinam, that's a no-brainer. The Velankanni Church is there, stupid.

Alemao's penchant was definitely for Bangalore, his liking for that destination beginning in April 2006 and the former garden city-turned-IT (crowded) city kind of grew on him. Culminating in him spending a whopping Rs 1,14,261 on two trips in March 2007 itself in a total of Rs 2,71,705 and that does not include one trip whose ticket cost was clubbed together with a trip to Mumbai.

Joaquim Alemao

18-27 July 2005, Mumbai, Rs 9187; 5-7 September 2005, Mumbai, Rs 9602; 21-23 October 2005, Mumbai/Delhi, Rs 24,322; 14-17 September 2005, Mumbai/Chennai, Rs 23,905; 2-4 December 2005, Delhi & 8-10 December, Delhi, Rs 32,948; 18-21 December, Delhi, Rs 38,027; 22 January-26 December 2006, Mumbai, Rs 14,486; 2-4 March 2006, Mumbai, Rs 37,821; 4-5 April 2006, Delhi, Rs 37,672; 28-30 March, Mumbai, Rs 11,741; 2-3 February 2006, Mumbai, Rs 13,440; 26 April-1 May 2006, Bangalore, Rs 17,012; 4-5 May 2006, Mumbai, Rs 13,970; 22-23 May 2006, Bangalore, Rs 11,247; 10-15 June 2006, Bangalore, Rs 27,440; 3-8 August 2006, Pune/Mumbai, Rs 25,964; 20-22 August 2006, Bangalore/Mumbai/Hyderabad, Rs 38,615; 29 September-1 October 2006, Mumbai & 15-18 September 2006, Bangalore/Mumbai, Rs 27,315; 13-14 October 2006, Mumbai, Rs 30,849; 6-9 December 2006, Mumbai & 29-30 December 2006, Bangalore, Rs 31,893; 10-12 January 2006, Mumbai & 20-29 January 2007 Mumbai, Rs 47,760; 3-4 March 2007, Delhi, Rs 33,982; 20-23 February 2007, Mumbai/Bangalore & 12-13 March 2007, Delhi/Bangalore, Rs 82,560; 27-28 March 2007, Bangalore/Chennai, Rs 31,701; 14-16 April 2007, Mumbai, Rs 15,302; 1-5 July 2007, Bangalore/Chennai/Nagapattinam, Rs 35,815; 7-8 August 2007, Mumbai, Rs 15,572; 24-29 October 2007, Mumbai, Rs 17,325.

Total Rs 7,57,473