Nandagopal Rajan
I was returning to the skies after 15 long years, almost a lifetime as far as Indian aviation is considered. The last time I flew was much before the bright-tied Damania tried his bit to bring the Indian skies to the middle-class below. Then flying was anything but low cost, the reason why my grandfather decided that the best way to give me a trip of the airways was by taking a flight from Thiruvananthapuram to Bangalore. The flight was so short that by the time I'd overcome the bitterness of the welcome drink, we were circling over the Garden City.
But, things have changed this millennium, mainly because of Air Deccan – the very carrier I opted for to break my rather long interlude from the skies. I was flying Kolkata-New Delhi, all of two hours.
The first few hurdles, right from getting the boarding pass to the security clearance–yes, I too had to get my wallet x-rayed–passed without a glitch. Hmm, the Deccan experience wasn't as bad I thought it would be.
"Be the first off the bus and first on the plane to get the best seats," we'd been warned by frequent fliers, reminding of the daily jostling for seats on the college bus. I was hoping to be greeted by the colour-coded saris of the airhostesses, but was instead ushered in T-shirt clad contemporaries touting the latest deals on offer.
The flight soon filled up and we were in air within a few minutes, just five minutes late…this was getting better. Soon, it was time for snacks and coffee. Our eyes lit up on seeing the Café Coffee Day on the paper cups, time for an early morning cappuccino, I thought. A couple of minutes and Rs 25 later, I got to know that it was going to be a make your-own-coffee experience at 25,000 ft. The rest of the coffee break isn't much to write about.
Hovering over Delhi I tried to locate my colony, saw the Qutub Minar and spotted our office building nearby, and yes it was much better than Google Earth. I glanced at my watch as soon as we landed. 8 am: we were dot on time. No wait for the luggage either. We were on the road by 8.25. I had made up my mind, Deccan it will be from now on, after all it costs just a few hundred rupees more that the regular AC III-tier.
But the euphoria lasted only till I reached home and opened my suitcase to find the LCD of my digital camera smashed. Maybe Deccan did some cost cutting with the baggage handlers. A week on I'm waiting for a reply from the company. The repairs will ensure that my trip to Kolkata is billed first class…so much for low cost.
Posts
