Return of Air India- back to the Tatas

Once upon a time Air India was one of the best airlines in the world.  It was established by JRD Tata and as long he was around maintained it.

The Government of India acquired it and then...

As long as I remember, Government officials could travel only by Air India/Indian Airlines.  Before the two wings merged, Air India was for International trips and Indian Airlines was for travel within the country.  Of course, being the government managed meant that neither of the two airlines were, well, quite reliable.  Appa was once stuck in Amsterdam because the Air India flight was diverted for Rajiv Gandhi who was at that time Prime Minister of India.  Government officials went out of their way to avoid traveling by Air India.  They would organize their trips/conferences in such a way that Air India was not available on that day.  It meant seeking approval but I do like to think there was a lot of nudge-nudge, wink-wink involved on the part of officials in charge of giving approvals.

Indian Airlines was the de facto airline to travel within the country.  Before the liberalization, there was no choice.  After liberalization, well, government officials had to travel by Indian Airlines.  

It applied to us also for we are employees of Government of India.  I remember we had a meeting in Kolkata.  There was only one flight to Kolkata from Delhi.  So all of us who were attending the meeting from Delhi booked that flight.  I need to point out that we could book tickets only from government approved travel agents or from Air India directly.  If we used Make my Trip or any such website, then we would not be reimbursed.  Government rules are really lovely.

So we all gathered at Delhi Airport for the flight.  Only to realize that it was late.  It was late.  And late.  The airlines did not think it deem to inform us why it was late.  Finally we boarded the flight at 8 pm in the night and landed in Kolkata at 10 pm.  Fortunately, I had so many colleagues with me so traveling to the hotel late at night in a city I had never been to.

Four years back, before the pandemic, I attended a meeting in Mumbai.  Coming back to Delhi, I was stuck in the Mumbai Airport for 6 hours because the flight was late.  One again the airlines did not think it appropriate to tell us what the problem was.  As a sop, they arranged for a meal.  That was it.

As the years went by and debts mounted, Air India simply stopped upgrading its flights. The interiors were in a mess, seats were torn, and the service personnel stopped caring (not that they cared before but it just went up to another level of not caring).  The only good thing about the flight was that there was more leg room even in economy section and they provided good meal in all their flights.

The Airlines has now been sold back to Tatas.

Once the sale became finalized, we had few anxious moments.  How will the government officials travel?  Will we be free to choose what we wanted?

We got the notification few days back.  Yes, we are free to choose but the tickets must be L1 (lowest cost).  It must be purchased only through Government approved travel agent.  But as a friend of mine who travels to meetings from Bubneshwar put it: At least now she is sure of reaching to her destination at a reasonable hour without delays. 

 

Rebel Sultans by Manu S Pillai

There is only one silver lining in the otherwise dismal Chennai Airport- Higginbothams book store.

Whenever I am in Chennai Airport (after dodging the falling ceiling and window panes) I make a beeline to the book store.  It is a tiny store and does not have a very wide collection.  Occasionally I am lucky.  This is where I picked up Tales of Old and New Madras by S. Muthiah and The Courtesan, The Mahatama and the Italian Brahmin by Manu S. Pillai.  I enjoyed both the books tremendously.  One for the rich history of Madras and the other for the quirky tales from the past.

This time when I saw that Higginbothams had Rebel Sultans by Manu S. Pillai I just had to purchase it.

The book paints a very vivid picture of the  Deccan Sultans- the time between Malik Kafur and Malik Ambar.  This was when Bijapur, Golconda, Vijayanagara flourished.  Hyderabad was built. The fanciful might think Vijayanagara was a Hindu kingdom surrounded by Muslim regimes but the truth, as Manu Pillai, points out was far from it.  It was all about politics.  Religion just happened to be there.  So there were Muslim soldiers in the Vijayanagara army and there were Hindus in the administration of the Sultans.  Everything was mixed up and the only thing that mattered was the kingdom. 

Many of the sultans were "characters".  Ibrahim Adil Shah thought of himself as Saraswati's son and tried to rename Bijapur as Vidyapur (distinctly Sanskrit name "City of Learning).  I chuckled my way through the book reading about the idiosyncrasies of many of the Sultans.

At a time when powers to be are trying to polarize India along the lines of religious identities, the book was a balm.  To read about a time when all religions flourished without the menace of long arching hatred. It is not to say that it was wonderful time but it is to say that the present times leave a bitter taste.