Leaving on a jet plane

In the front, confabulations started between some passengers led by Sahib Singh Verma. It seemed as if we would spend almost three hours in the bay and so the air-conditioning was shut off and doors opened. For almost two hours everybody sat or walked in the aisles of the aircraft, eavesdropping on Virender Sehwag’s conversations about South Africa. Some soft drinks were served although there was no announcement about food. Around 1 pm, the cabin crew told us that we could deplane and go to the lounge and have lunch after taking a fresh boarding pass. Almost all of us did. While alighting I could see Sahib Singh Verma arguing with the Jet staff standing in the galley, saying that food should be served in the plane to avoid further delay. But mind you I never heard any foul words from him.

At 2.30 pm most of us were back in the aircraft and our flight took off at 3 pm, four hours behind schedule, quite unusual for Jet Airways who are world class in terms of service and punctuality. I could see almost all the celebrities in place but no cabinet ministers. After two hours we landed in Delhi to find a huge number of fans thronging the airport to welcome the cricketers.

But the next morning’s newspaper surprised me. The behaviour of the minister was the focus of the report and many people asked me if I had witnessed the incident. Well I had not, I replied but I wondered how I missed all the drama. In fact, Verma’s anger should have been directed at his colleague’s ministry rather than the employees of the airlines. Jet Airways is not at fault. It seems as if one yardstick applies to politicians and another to the airlines, the private sector and the general public. This double standard has made politicians a hated and an unpopular lot. Many of us have punctual flights on Jet Airways precisely because few politicians travel by that airline.