The wonderful world of Apps

I was in Mumbai over the last three days attending a family wedding and thanks to wonderful apps had a grand old time that was seamless and perfect. Of course the airline tickets were booked through an app as well as our first night’s stay at a hotel with a gorgeous view of Marine Drive. Once at the airport we used the priority pass app to find a lounge and had a great breakfast before boarding the flight. We hired a car through a friend to go out on the first day, to our old haunts and residence in Colaba and Cuffe Parade, respectively. We reconnected with friends. We then took Uber everywhere and located restaurants to eat at, through apps. All these are pretty run of the mill and have become part of life in any metropolis now. So it’s not about these but about 2 special uses that I made of them that I want to talk about.

So after checking out of Marine Plaza in South Mumbai we headed to Powai close to where the wedding festivities were being held. It was at least an hour’s drive with low traffic volume. Meanwhile, the city’s pollution had aggravated my cough and I was struggling, and preoccupied with restoring my health to fully partake of the celebrations over the next two days. Naturally I forgot what I needed most, at the Marine Plaza. What else? My iPhone charger. But wait. I did not discover this till later that night! A lot happened before then, for which I made use of the first app worth mention.

So we arrived at the hotel where we had been booked by our relatives. We decided we needed to change to one closer to the venue and which was more spacious, with amenities and breakfast options. We arrived at the hotel where the Mehendi was being held, followed by lunch, and found out that the Sangeeth, later that night, was being held there. It was five star and pretty impressive so what better place, especially given my elderly mom and my persistent and annoying cough. A cousin who was already staying there vouched for the rooms, service and breakfast, so it appeared to be the logical choice. He had booked it through an app called Agoda. I had no clue how much the rooms would set me back by?! The hotel appeared quite fancy, and therefore would be, I thought, pretty pricey. I got on the Agoda app right away, and right there in the lobby of the hotel attempted to book two rooms for the first night. They were the last ones for that night, but were not available for another night. So I booked a second one, for three person occupancy for the next night, since one of our party of 4 was leaving that evening . Wonder of wonders the app gave me a 60% discounted rate, compared to if I had booked it there at the hotel, making it all very reasonable and affordable. All I had to do was pull up the app rate, and the hotel matched it, vitiating the need to go through Agoda to make the booking . Five star quality with amazing amenities and adjoining rooms with interconnecting doors and even special free upgrades, we smugly settled and rested before the Sangeeth. The air purifiers in the rooms, the luxurious hot showers, the bathrobes and slippers, an array of utility kits, coffee and tea, comfortable beds and pillows, helped restore me somewhat. I enjoyed the evening performances and dinner, in the company of family and friends.

Alas, when I got to the room and tried to plug in my phone, I discovered my charger was missing. I promptly got on Amazon and ordered a generic one to be delivered to our Chennai home on Monday. I went to bed wondering how I would get by the following day, since I needed my phone to take pictures, order Uber, make calls or do the million things I rely on my phone for. Early the next morning, my young genius nephew told me about Dunzo, a courier app. However, he found out that it was not available in Mumbai. But, he said, there was a substitute there, offering a similar service, called Wefast. He then asked for pick up and delivery of charger with cash to be paid on delivery. I had a courier pick up the charger from Marine Plaza and deliver it to Hotel Meluha Fern for less than the cost of travel to said destination one way! I was overjoyed. I promptly charged the phone and took pictures to my heart’s content. Life’s cinch with apps! Why not make the best use of them?!