Be Indian, Buy Indian, Fly Indian. Review on Air India

Being an Indian, you have never travelled by AIR INDIA, ” quipped the guy in our group which was on to visit Business fairs in China & Hong Kong. I told him that after all I am going to try it this time. But in reality, I did not get a good deal in any of the airlines for travelling from Mumbai-Hong Kong-Beijing and back in spite of some help from Sarva through makemytrip.com.

Due to the stopover at Shenzhen for 3 days, I made up my mind for a great group deal on AIR INDIA for a to and fro trip of Mumbai-HK ferrying myself to Shenzhen and taking cheaper flights from Shenzhen to Beijing and back. The result was 26400 Indian rupees+ 60 HK dollars+ 12000 rupees for Mainland china sector with a saving of Rs 19000.Add to that exclusive Indian Hospitality and companionship.

The moment I landed at Mumbai International airport, check in was smooth in seconds and I thought chalo, it should be a smooth ride. To my wonder, I found that there was no Gate number on the Boarding pass. As the time came close to boarding, there was no announcement as to the Gates and after few enquiries; we wrestled out to find the gate with more Indians and only Indians. There we were at the nick of time with many around with family and lots of kids in holiday mood having got hot deals of duniya dekho.

Namaste greeted us as we entered the flight and the Hostess in mid fifties gave a wry smile. As I entered in, I felt an odour quite familiar and was like that of Neeta Volvo Mumbai Pune service with unlaundered seat covers and curtains. Just a look around and I felt that I was very much in Little India with no sight of  Mongoloids, Caucasoid or Negroid.

The flight resembled crowd in T 20 IPL League and there was enough rumblings apart from that of the crafts’. There was a big screen which blurred on and off and the cabin attendees had turned into Engineers opening the basket above one of the displays. She gave a thump and the display slid down in front of us. But fortunately there was no picture on the screen. She did not know how the close the stove back and the electronic boards behind were left for free fall in case of turbulence(unlike our baggage)

There were lots of companions of the insectivore’s kind and the Air hostess came to deliver Appy Fizz, I asked her whether they supply Mosquitoes as well. She ingeniously replied, ’ they are frequent travelers with us. I quizzed her back, ” Are they frequent or free travelers. With no further answer, they went about hitting them down with spray, not the fairest way to treat frequents.

I did a bit of loitering to catch up with other guys and asked one of them in the group how he was feeling. He told it was great and he always travelled in Air India because they serve excellent Indian food.(I understood that this frog had never seen outside the well) That made me at least to wait eagerly for packed dinner. Wine was good but not the food, hot and spicy and I wondered, okay its pfff great with eyes watering more than mouth.

For rest of the Journey, I dozed off in a three seater faintly disturbed by the yelling of head phones of Indy pop from young lad at the other end.

When I got down the flight, I was just wondering when I will be back on board the return flight; it was 14 days more to go.

I arrived back from Kowloon three hours before the revised Air India Time(1.45 PM from 4.30 PM) from HK to Mumbai, which I luckily came to know from someone who was travelling to India. Indian being Indian did not have the courtesy to inform by mail/sms the change and it was only another Indian who helped. The check in time this time was all the sweeter because I was asked not to pay for gained excess baggage of 13 kgs(from materials and stuff) which more than compensated for the internal loss of 2 kgs from excessive traveling without Indian cereals( I knew Bush was going to warn) The Chinese woman at the Counter was all smiles and shared few lighter moments and gave us the Priority Customer tag. I was mighty impressed as to the treatment meted out. This time the Gate no on the boarding pass was as clear as a Big FM ad.  As we entered the flight, another Air Hostess with grizzly hair dried and left for the birds to perch in welcomed us with another wry smile and Namaste and I felt I was entering a scary house.

As I entered I was taken aback to see only 10 passengers on board and I thought we were early birds. As the flight took off there was just 25 on board the 260 seat AIRBUS.( reason for priority customer tag). For a change there were more on board announcements as to Do’s and Don’ts in the flight and wash room, The next time, I went to the wash room, I could understand why there was special announcements. The Commode was blocked with tissues, the tap casket full and the wash room was like a waste room. You can never teach us Indians how to use wash room as they are made never usable.

I took liberty to change my seat to a five seater and waited for another snack and the lunch was much better or may be when you are little starved in China for Indian food, anything Indian will sound delicious. Three hours of sleep, muted on board Video display showing Indian gazelles documentary in Black & white sepia tone, some mandarin music while filling my travel accts on my Notebook and we were ready for descent. As the flight was ready for touchdown, few of the overhead oxygen masks rolled out on their own though there was no fall in cabin pressure. The crew was in no pressure to put them back. I was ready for the end of my sojourn to Hong Kong and China and the our special Indian Hospitality the only way Air India can provide to linger on.

Be Indian, Buy Indian, Fly Indian

Thanks for reading.