MAM
Cleartrip and Flipkart launch ‘Darshan Destinations’ for Ram Mandir inauguration
Mumbai: Amid the flourishing rise of spiritual tourism in India, Cleartrip, a Flipkart company, announces the launch of ‘Darshan Destinations’. With the unprecedented travel boom ahead of the temple opening at Ayodhya and the flurry of dignitaries & celebrities heading to the temple town, Cleartrip is doing its bit to help devotees seek the Lord’s blessings by offering 1008 complimentary flight tickets to senior citizens to visit Ayodhya. This offer will also be available on the Flipkart Travel platforms.
As an ongoing initiative under “Darshan Destinations”, Cleartrip and Flipkart Travel are also launching special fares on flights, hotels & buses to various religious destinations. Travelers can avail of a 20 per cent discount on bus, hotel, and flight bookings to some of India’s revered spiritual destinations including Ayodhya, Madurai, Tirupati, Amritsar, Bhopal, Shirdi, Bodhgaya, Kochi, Katra (Jammu). This initiative will be an evolving proposition to offer devotees discounted fares across flights, hotels & buses.
The recent surge in spiritual tourism, propelled by Ayodhya, indicates a significant shift in traveller preferences. Cleartrip and Flipkart Travel have observed an overall 1500% increase in searches for Ayodhya across the platform.
Speaking on this Cleartrip CEO Ayyappan Rajagopal said, “As a customer-centric company, Cleartrip caters to the evolving needs of our user base. We understand that spiritual journeys are central to our culture, embodying centuries-old traditions. With more people seeking out these meaningful travels, we wished to make these experiences more accessible and affordable. We are excited to kick off the offering with the upcoming opening of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. Our offering, specially tailored for senior citizens who desire to soak in the country’s rich heritage, reflects our commitment to meeting the diverse needs of our customers. We hope to inspire and enable other individuals as well to experience the Divine Destinations and easily fulfil their travel aspirations.”
Through customer-centric initiatives like Darshan Destinations, Cleartrip, and Flipkart Travel will continue to seamlessly blend affordability, accessibility, and a superior travel experience that users across the board desire.
Brands
Apple bites back: the $599 MacBook Neo is the cheapest Mac ever made
The tech giant unveils a budget laptop that packs a punch — and a lot of cheek
CALIFORNIA: Apple has never been shy about charging a premium. So when Cupertino rolls out a MacBook at $599 (approx. Rs 55,000) , it’s worth sitting up straight.
The MacBook Neo, unveiled Tuesday, is Apple’s most affordable laptop to date — undercutting its own MacBook Air and taking a sharp swipe at the budget PC market in one fell swoop. It starts at $499 for students, which, for a machine with Apple silicon inside, is frankly a steal.
At the heart of the Neo is the A18 Pro chip — the same muscle that powers the latest iPhones. Apple claims it is up to 50 per cent faster for everyday tasks than a rival PC running Intel’s Core Ultra 5, and three times quicker on on-device AI workloads. Fanless and featherweight at 2.7 pounds, it runs silently and promises up to 16 hours of battery life. Try doing that on a Chromebook.
The 13-inch liquid retina display clocks in at 2408-by-1506 resolution with 500 nits of brightness and support for billion colours — sharper and brighter, Apple says, than most rivals in this price band. It comes dressed in four colours: blush, indigo, silver, and a zesty new citrus, with matching keyboard shades to boot.
Connectivity is modest — two USB-C ports, a headphone jack, Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 6 — but this is a budget machine, not a pro workstation. The 1080p FaceTime camera, dual mics with directional beamforming, and Spatial Audio speakers round out a package that punches well above its weight class.
Apple senior vice-president of hardware engineering John Ternus alled it “a laptop only Apple could create.” That’s the kind of line that makes rivals wince — because, annoyingly, he might be right.
The Neo runs macOS Tahoe, with Apple Intelligence baked in for AI writing tools, live translation, and the sort of on-device smarts that keep user data away from the cloud. It also boasts 60 per cent recycled content — the highest of any Apple product — for those who like their bargains with a side of conscience.
For $599, Apple isn’t just selling a laptop. It’s selling an argument — that good design and real performance needn’t cost the earth. The PC industry had better have a decent comeback ready.
