iXiGems’ Day Out!

“And I don't know how, to slow it down… My mind's racing from chasing pirates.”
Beautiful melody by Norah Jones was playing in the background… But suddenly i woke up, only to realize that it’s my phone that was ringing. “Hello”… “Hey, hope you are reaching office by 8:15 AM” It was the HR manager on the other side. Today was our much awaited Team Outing day for the trip to Manesar. “Gosh, its 7:30 AM.. I’m late!” I quickly got ready and reached office just in time. It was a beautiful morning to have a team outing and soon our convoy started revving up towards Best Western (BW) Resort, Manesar..

Soon we reached our destination - Best Western Country Club Resort. It was quite refreshing to see the sprawling 50 acres BW resort equipped with modern amenities and various indoor-outdoor leisure activities designed to suit all. We were welcomed by a team of external facilitators who had been actively preparing for our team building events planned for the day.

The action began right after breakfast as one of the external facilitators used an innovative way to group us into four teams. He gave us each a slip of paper with a name of an animal mentioned on it. We were asked to find our fellow team members…without talking, and were only allowed to make the sound of the animal mentioned on our slip! Sounds simple, right? Well, it wasn’t… as at the same time the ducks were quacking, the dogs were barking, the cats were meowing, and we the hens were clucking! So Hens were Hancocks, Dogs were Plutos, Ducks were Donalds and Cats were Tom! This interesting team grouping got us all to start anticipating more fun events unfolding through the day.



Well, we didn’t have to anticipate for long as the team outing facilitators were ready with the first game to get us going. Each team was asked to walk together on Skis and do a round. An ultimate team building challenge they said, and we made the mistake of laughingly taking it easy. No wonder, we the Hancocks lost and Donalds & Plutos won but not before we gave all of us a good dose of entertainment with our hilarious bloopers during the round :)



The next game in row was 'Huff and Puff'. The team to move the cup strung on a thread from one end to another in the shortest time by blowing air into it would win. Raring to make up for the last defeat, we huff-ed, we puff-ed and won the task! PHEW… I was almost out of breath after this one.




Now it was time for Marbleo. Team members were supposed to pass a marble through bamboo tubes to each other and with no retakes allowed! And the marble seemed adamant. Adamant to not let us have it easy in this one! It rolled and fell... we started again and it dropped again… We tried again but it fell again… and again... and again… “Grrrrrrrr”, I mumbled... but still we were hanging on… just then, we heard a loud cheer! Apparently, Team Donald and Tom had shown inspiring skills and won it straight! We lost!




The most amusing balloon fight followed next. Balloons were tied to our feet and each team stomped over other's feet to burst them while saving their own balloons. And then, for next 10 mins, everyone was jumping, running, stomping sometimes on one leg then on the other. Hancock Abhishek was proving too good for the rest, “C’mon … Bravo…” we shouted and he survived this madness in what became a game of cat and mouse with Pavitar towards the end.


By lunch time, the score line showed us leading the group with a good margin and Donald and Pluto going neck to neck and Tom was also not far behind.
We enjoyed the sumptuous lunch and got our batteries charged to get going again.

Our ‘Creativity Quotient’ was challenged next for the last activity of the day. We were presented with scrap kept on the table and a task to innovate & create something unique and meaningful out of it. There were cloth, pins, net, straws, cardboard, paper cups, plastic bottles and much more but what was less was the 30 mins time to complete this task! With the start of the timer, everybody started fidgeting with the items kept on their tables to create something different & unique. Tom created a ship, Donald created a windmill to purify water, thinking about 2050- Pluto created a water city and we (Hancock) cracked the secret of “How does God manufacture humans?”




We all had a confident look as if we were always sure we could pull off something unique and meaningful out of anything. And I thought why not, after all that's what we do as iXiGems day in and day out! :)

“Hancocks are the winners”, out came the announcement and we happily took the title of ‘The creative team’ with our most innovative concept of creating a customized human being. Isn’t the concept great? Just imagine, if you could have the option to create a human being with your choice of hair, eye, color, looks, characters or anything that you can think of.

With a couple of hours left for our leisure, we played some cricket and then Dumb Charades. Needless to say, it’s always fun to play Dumb C, some ingenious mime for not only the difficult ones but also for the simple movie titles….and many expected and unexpected laughs!!

After sunset, we started winding up and left the resort. Discussing smiles and stories of the day we were on our way back and reached Gurgaon.

"Today was so refreshing", one said and "Let's plan our next team's day out soon" said another...With such resounding rejuvenation we parted for the day...only to come back on Monday with more energy and better team play to do what we do best together – Keep bringing to all iXiGOers an even better travel search experience!

Cheers :)

P.S.: Thank God, the next day was a Saturday to get better of the body aches from jumping & running after a long time! :)

Because now, we are all Japanese

The Great Wave off Kanagawa, by Katsushita Hokusai, c. 1830

It was just under 10 years ago on the 11th of September, 2001, when the devastation of the twin towers shook the very foundation of the human spirit and became the day we all became Americans, watching the buildings collapse in awe-struck horror, sympathizing with those that lost their loved ones, and expressing our rage against terror through every way we could express ourselves.

Last Friday, it was the 11th of March 2011, and a devastating earthquake (8.9 on Richter Scale) struck off the northeast coast of Japan and triggered a massive Tsunami right after, causing havoc in the country by sweeping far inland and devastating a number of towns and villages.  This highest magnitude quake in the history of Japan unleashed around 8,000 times more energy than the quake that rocked Christchurch last month causing massive devastation, destroying the complete city and hundreds of homes. The situation became worst with the destruction & cooling-system failure at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant followed by 4 blasts in the last 5 days, greatly enhancing the risk of a meltdown and radioactive material being released into the atmosphere a la Chernobyl.

 

We’ve all been through personal tragedies in life, but when the scale of a tragedy is as vast as this one, with over 10,000 lives lost and over 300,000 people displaced, the pain can be felt just as if it were our own. Indeed the far-reaching implications of the catastrophe touch each and every individual's life in one way or the other. But let not this pain and fear overcome the power of hope and survival of the human spirit. These are very testing times for our friends in Japan. We iXiGems express our deepest condolences to all who have lost their loved ones in this most devastating natural disasters in our recorded history and our wishes for strength, courage and good health to the injured and survivors. 

A lot of you are asking, how can we help?  If you want to know more about the status of the crisis, or make a donation, Google has setup a very useful page at http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/japanquake2011.html where you can make donations and also look for missing people. You can leave a thought or a prayer for the people of Japan on our Facebook Fan page wall . Some iXiGOers have shared their prayers with us for the people of Japan:

iXiGO Facebook Fan Page - Tribute to Japan

    1.    Reena Ghose: “At times prayers are not enough. Times like this tells us Nature is the greatest, we'll have no control on its wrath, its fury. We can only ask God to be kind and not to make life any more difficult for those who are already living a difficult time, reeling under the devastation. I pray to almighty to give them strength to withstand this period. And for the peace of the departed soul.”

    2.    Devanshu Morang: “It was not just a disaster. It was a war between human and earthquake... It tried to break the human heart and soul....but it was an unsuccessful attempt because it make 52 country standing together it make billions of people one...those who died i would consider them as a soldier who sacrificed their life to make different part of earth one...just want to say Japan you are not alone we are with you...i know you will rise up again to show every one you never learnt to back down...you never going to give up and you have proved this in history and you will prove it again...go Japan... Please pray for japan. Amen”

    3.    Namita Negi: “What impresses me the most is the fortitude and dignity of the Japanese people even in the face of such a calamity...orderly queues at shelters and checkpoints...calm and efficient rescue operations...stoic forbearance masking the grief etched on the faces.

In the battle between the fates and the human spirit, if the humans are ever likely to triumph then this is that arena.”

    4.    Meenal Jaiswal: “Praying for those who could not do anything in front of nature. Also, praying for those who are in the rubble somewhere still alive may the rescue teams find them and they reunite with their families.”

    5.    Pranav Mohan Srivastava: “It was the most tragic thing that one could ever face... In this hard time one can only pray for those people who are fighting for survival. :( :( Hope everything calms down as soon as possible. Not many years have passed for the Japanese people when the severe nuclear attack happened,, Next is What GOD!!!!!!!!!!! :( ;(“

    6.    Thanushri S Rao: “I pray the almighty to give strength to all who have lost their loved ones!”

    7.    Kavy Biindlish: “Out of Words... Wish had some Power to do sm Miracles using those Magic Wands.. God Bless All..”

Cherry Blossoms in Japan  - The signs of hope!

Let's express our solidarity with the Japanese people and wish that their misfortunes come to an end very soon.

Let's pray that Japan will get the strength to put this calamity behind and to bounce back (as it always has) to growth and glory.

Let’s hope that the nuclear meltdown doesn't lead to more devastation.

And most of all ...

Let's all be together in this, because now, we are all Japanese.

Team iXiGO

iPhones just got smarter!

We have always believed in offering our users the opportunity to search & explore the world with just a few mouse clicks. Now, with the release of the iXiGO app for iPhone, iPad & iPod, a few clicks have become a few taps & users will have the whole world in their hands and can engage with iXiGO with much ease like never before.. With just the swipe of a finger you can choose to fly from New York to Tokyo or Delhi to London or anywhere in between while experiencing the app's unique features on Apple's mobile devices. The app has a cool glossy look and feel that offers the same powerful travel search capabilities as our website, but adapts it to the form factor of the iPhone. Available in 4 languages, iXiGO’s app can be downloaded for free from the Apple iTunes App Store and is compatible with iOS 4 and higher versions of Apple’s devices.

Regardless of where you are, whether in the middle of a boring meeting or on the top of a mountain, the iXiGO Travel App is going to make your travel planning simple, time saving and very importantly – cost effective. So next time, if you have missed your flight and are standing at the airport wondering, when is the next flight and which service provider is offering the cheapest fare, you can avoid the rush from one counter to the other with the new iXiGO iPhone app. Just take out your Apple device with this iXiGO app and a few flicks would ensure that the cheapest fare and flight availability pops up before you, right away

But, we all want more! So here’s what more this app can do to make life easier for our dear iXiGOers:

• Search 100+ travel websites for flights & hotels
• Flight Schedules & Fares from all leading airlines and online travel agencies globally
• The biggest hotels database in the world on your phone. Search from over 250,000 hotels around the world, read descriptions, view photos, see reviews and compare prices from multiple hotel booking sites
• Choice of tracking your flights on the basis of routes, take off / landing timings and flight numbers
• Search results from all four iXiGO associated websites i.e. iXiGO.es, iXiGO.it, iXiGO.co.uk, iXiGO.de
• Choice of localization by country sites, language, currency or metrics (miles or km) - the app is available in English, Spanish, German & Italian
• Handy phone numbers ofall major airline customer service desk, just by tapping on “call airlines”
• Airport Locations on Maps where you can pinch to zoom in or out, or just double tap with one finger to zoom in and two fingers to zoom out.
  

Over a thousand iXiGOers are already proud users of our app. Get your own iXiGO Travel App on your iPhone today!

It’s not always about winning!

“Baar baar haan, bolo yaar haan
Apni jeet ho, unki haar haan”

With these lines from the Movie “Lagaan” playing in the background on an office Mac, team iXiGO was getting ready for the match against Guavus Network Systems on Friday, 11th February. At 2:30 pm, the team of 11 players marched towards the field with all hopes to win the battle of cricket.

Under the able leadership of our enthusiastic all-rounder captain Abhishek, the whole iXiGO team set out and was already in the winning spirit. After the required assessment and choice of the pitch near Leisure Valley Park, the game of cricket started.
The toss ceremony is always a game of chance, even if you lose, you may get what you wanted and winning might land you at the wrong side. We won the toss and elected to bat first. Fingers crossed as this was a good start.
First ball, no run... Second ball... oh, we lost a wicket... Our opening batsman Pavitar was clean bowled by the fiery delivery of the fast bowler ! But hold on, it doesn’t matter, even Sachin gets out on a Duck sometimes and still Team India goes on to win the match. Buoyed by this thought, we again got our hopes high and carried on with the match! Till this time, we were unaware of the opponent’s blizzardy bowling which we were about to witness in the coming overs.

One by one, our wickets kept falling and our star batsmen fell prey to the really fiery bowling & “Jonty Rhodes” style fielding from the opposite side. Thanks to a last-ditch effort batting partnership between Nitin & Amit, we were able to play through the entire inning of 15 overs, setting a competitive target for the opposite team considering the cold conditions and the unpredictable pitch of Leisure Valley ground, Gurgaon.

Rajnish & Abhishek led the bowling attack for iXiGO and ensured that we kept our hopes alive in the first half of the match. However, our failure to field well to contain the damages caused by the fours, a few dropped catches and our inability to keep taking wickets led to a loss of moral in the team. The other team played stupendously and an array of batting firework ensured that they achieve the target in no time with the loss of a single wicket.

A few lessons were learnt in this game:
1. Fitness is important: Their team was a lot fitter than ours, and caused us to introspect on our individual levels of fitness.
2. Never say die: At heart we had lost half the match even when the first inning was over, since our wickets fell consistently and our score seemed too vulnerable.
3. Teamwork: Every individual’s effort sums up to the team’s performance: Certainly we all felt there was room for improvement in each of our individual cricketing performance at batting, bowling or fielding. If we don’t perform to our own expectations, the team definitely won’t.

Success is never ending, failure is never final, and as Aloke had put it right at the start, “Kuch na hoga to tajurba hoga!”. So we are back from the field with a lot of lessons learnt, but with our “Never say die” attitude, we will continue playing more games. Because, it’s not always about winning !

Here is a sneak peek of this event which was full of fun, frolic, and excitement and despite defeat left the entire iXiGO team rejuvenated!

(Photo credit: Subhro Kar, an avid photographer @iXiGO.com)

The Super Hero Revamped !

The time has come to unveil the Superhero. The contest attracted
countless entries and our team had a very tough time choosing the winner. The
various entries we received showcased iXiGO as a paper plane, a travel globe,
a frilly design, even a magnifying lens. Our team had a fun time
reviewing the designs.

But before the announcement of our winner, we would like
to thank all our participants and applaud them for posting their
creative designs.

Few Notable Mentions from the Entries

- Chosen by Team iXiGO

By: Achal Aggarwal

By: Venkat Adduri

By: Bhavesh Dhupar

By: Navonil Sarkar

By: Shaurya Rawat

Our Heartiest Congratulations to the winners!
We look forward to your participation in many more of our exciting contests!

The Lore behind "More" (Tab)

Today we thought we would highlight some of our "swiss-knife" tools for travel which we have aggregated below "More" tab on our home page.


Fare Alerts - It’s like having your own private detective who alerts you whenever the fare drops below a certain threshold specified by you on your chosen sectors, in real time!



Fare Outlook - Makes it really easy to decide when to fly and on which airline by displaying fare trends over the next few months on all airlines on the sectors specified by you!


Fare Mapper - Got some time and a budget for travel but don't know where to look for all the flight options available within your budget? Look no further, our Fare Mapper is meant just for you!


Flight Planner - Aggregation of Planner and Mapper in one place, to help you decide where to fly, when to fly and on which airline!


Flight Status Checker - Check domestic and international flight status in real time. Filter your status by airline, flight # and departure dates or track airlines based on origin, destination over the next two days!


Train PNR Status Check - Check the status of your train ticket right here, right now.

Global Hotel Directory - Want to check out the names and details of all (well nearly all!) the hotels in a specific city worldwide? We have made it easier for you by listing them in one place.

- Yash

iXiGO.com makes it to NASSCOM EMERGE 50 !

We are proud to announce that we have been chosen as one of India's 50 most exciting tech companies in the startup category today by the National Association of Software & Services Companies, NASSCOM.


The NASSCOM EMERGE 50  is a prestigious annual shortlisting of 50 most happening technology companies in India. The EMERGE 50 listing has quickly built credibility as the definitive listing of companies to watch for in India !

A big thanks to all our iXiGems, partners, iXiGOers and evangelists who have supported us and helped us gain this very prestigious recognition. We will keep working hard to make your travel searches easier and more meaningful and to live upto this reputation we have built over the last 3 years.

Aloke