Height of Service

"Its delayed by 2 hrs, Ma'm"

"This flight is cancelled,Ma'm. We can put you on the one at 2:30PM".

"I am sorry,Ma'm.But the flight from Mumbai has not arrived yet. Your flight will be delayed till it arrives from Mumbai....""No, I cannot tell you how long its going to be delayed".


I found , much to my dismay, that things have not changed much in the past years in the airline industry.

8 years ago.....

I was travelling from Banglore to Vizag , via Chennai...My plane from Banglore to Chennai got delayed, no cancellation luckily and it took me one full day to reach vizag....
On my way back....I was at the vizag airport in the morning at 10:00AM ,wondering how I was going to pass time at Chennai , where I had 6 hours stop over before catching my evening flight ,by Jet Airways at 7:00 PM to BLR. My IA flight got cancelled from vizag, and my BIL had to control my panic as I wanted to reach BLR very badly due to some health conditions. Finally, got into a flight going to hyderabad around 2:00PM, with my little,beloved niece staring at my plane from the terminus .On to hyderabad, where I caught another plane to chennai.By now, I was having a nervous breakdown as I had to catch the last plane from chennai to BLR ,was not sure if I could make it. It was 6:50PM, when the plane was taxing..and I had asked the captain to relay a message to the other aircraft regarding my arrival..Luckily, I had only a cabin baggage, and was in full panic when I saw my JA in the runway. I was standing near the door, ready to get down and hop into my other plane.....6:55PM..sprinted to the JA, realised I didnt have a boarding pass, ( found out its not like a bus where u can just hop in whenever possible:-))..But, atleast I could hold the plane till I got my boarding pass...WHEW !! That was a long day...

Last week...

Was travelling to chennai from banglore...Flight got delayed from 6:30PM to 8:15PM...I had a confirmed ticket in my hand, but was told at the counter that my ticket has got cancelled , due to some time limit from my travel agent...I had a ticket in my hand that said it was confirmed...Finally, got onto the plane after some negotiations with the check-in person ....On my return flight to banglore by kingfisher ,supposedly a very good airlines...I guess they thought it will be a disgrace to start ontime and delayed the flight by 15 minutes....

Do I call this good service 'coz they somehow found a seat for me and made sure I reach my destination finally or do I call this bad service 'coz things were not in time .

Thats Indian

I was walking with my sister the other day ,on our way to 4th block , for some clothes shopping. On looking at the bridge connecting the 4thblock bus-stand with the shopping complex , I was really thrilled. Trying to cross that intersection needs a special skill ...You need to be in a ready state for a sprint as soon as you find a space among the vehicles. It was an intersection that I really hated crossing on my numerous trips to 4th block. On seeing the bridge, I jumped with excitement. My sister, who is a master of contradictions, mentioned how people rarely use it and showed me the empty bridge. We were both, as usual, talking about why people in India cannot follow even some simple rules , inspite of having such nice facilities. My sister is a person who talks with lot of emphasis even while making simple statements. After telling me about how people should try to change in India, my sister started crossing the road among the vehicles......:-) ( Rules always apply only to others...:-)

A feeling of envy,pride and loss

Walked into the "FORUM" the other day with my parents. For those who are out of date, FORUM is one of the malls in banglore. Walking into the mall, I realised how much India has changed. It had a theatre with seven screens, 3 levels of shopping full of all brand name shops, including Tommy Hilfiger,Ralph Lauren etc etc..There were candy shops with gummy bears which I saw for the first time in India. We hit upon the food court in tht 2nd level and I was nonplussed on seeing Subway,mexican grill,chinese cuisine. Obviously, that was the last thing my parents wanted , especially my mom who had returned from US just two weeks back. We finally found a Chat place , much to our glee ,assured that "abhi bhi kuch bacha hai" .
Walking amongst youngsters, all dressed up in hep fashion ,did make me feel odd and out of place. The whole crowd has changed. I really found it very interesting when I saw a few foreigners walking around with their families in tow.THAT WAS A BIG CHANGE. It was a mixture of pride and loss , on seeing the foreigners on one hand and an abrupt change in the culture on the other. But, looking at the crowd, loitering around, enjoying the comforts, I think it was more of the green eyed monster lurking inside me that was overpowering. I always consider my bachelor days in TI,India as those of fun and excitement. Wonder how it would have been if we had all these luxuries 10 years back.....