Autorickshaws of the sky

We finally realized we were getting nowhere trying to acquire this one piece of paper we needed from the local police office for Hamid's visa application to the States. Every official had the same air of indifference as we were sent from one office to the next - the whole process winding us up in a hopeless maze. Nearly a month later we still have nothing to show for it, are tired of begging and bribing for any attention to the matter, and in a fit of desperation called the U.S. Consulate to announce our defeat.
U.S. government to the rescue: they seemed to take it in stride and told us to go ahead and present what we did have. And so we're on our way...almost.
We still need one last paper from Iran, but that will be a piece of cake, although it does mean flying yet again to Hyderabad where the Iranian Consulate is located.
In anticipation, I've packed my scarf, booked our hotel, and purchased our flight.

Airline travel inside India is extremely affordable - my favorite airline to fly is Kingfisher; their planes are new and look like little toys sitting shiny on the runway, their service is wonderful, and their food is suprisingly delicious. One time they even gave Hamid a perfect little metal replica of the airplane we were flying on when the stewardess noticed his quietly coveting eyes follow her to the seat of a child who was being gifted the same.
My least favorite airline is Air Deccan; their planes are old (rickety in the sky like an autorickshaw on a badly paved road), their service virtually nonexistent, and their food is prepackaged bleached-bread snacks and powdered coffee mix sold at exhorbitant prices on board the plane.
Given a choice, it seems natural to opt for Kingfisher to get us where we need to go. Except for one thing - the price of the ticket.
Kingfisher may get you there in a gleaming new red and white plane and feed you delectable Indian goodies along the way, but they charge for it. A round trip ticket with Air Deccan for the one and a half hours each way between Bangalore and Hyderabad costs the same, or less, as a one way ticket with Kingfisher.
In any case, the price of a flight is worth not taking the bus.