Flying high...or low ??

You smile, you glow you are fastidious about every single detail, you wear a comfortable yet stylish outfit, make sure that everything is in order, reach the airport early while your entire family comes down to see you off and your mom repeating 1000th time to call her - Yes..! that's how it is pretty much if you are flying abroad for the first time all by yourself, and I was no exception to this. My mom's instructions have taken in the forms of telephone messages, e mails, through Dad, brother, friends etc etc etc. My dad was glued to the internet through out the week checking every detail in London and instructing me on everything, especially the weight issue for  my baggage. I was super excited as it was my first journey abroad accompanied by a friend (Geetanjali), where we were going for a 3 week summer school at the University of Exeter, fully funded by our institute in India. How better it can be! From London I was to travel to Stockholm for a week to see my cousin, and finally to return after a month. Nervousness coupled with anxiety, we both reached Bangalore International Airport at the crack of dawn, giggling and bustling with energy. Yes, it was happening. Facebook was there through out (common, it's a must). Everything was going pretty well until I was about to board my Air India AI 111 from Delhi to London. Nothing can't go perfectly right, after all. We were quite enthralled by the look of the Delhi International Airport and all those duty free shops. Even the immigration officers were so cute, to wish us happy journey, and was done super quickly. Our flight was at 2:30 pm and around 2 pm we were called to get ready. We called up our friends, parents and told them that we were boarding. My mother again or the 2000th times told me what to do and what not to, but I realized that even that was not irritating anymore. Common, I am off to London, all by myself and all those off shoulder and mini dresses will surely see the days sunlight. I was loving it. But then I saw him...yes! The devil in the paradise. The person I am talking about was an air stewart in the flight and he was standing right in front of my seat. They are suppose to smile, always. That's what they are paid for. No matter what happens, their Colgate brushed teeth should always be out. But god has some other wishes, and I was not to experience his gallant smile - reason known to him only. After taking my seat I asked him for a glass of water, but the look that he gave me as if I asked for a glass of Ganga jal, and I shall be hanged till death. By the way, I received that water after some one hour in the flight. My irritation was already boiling. But however my co - passenger who happens to be a blonde babe, did not have the privileged to receive the same kind of treatment at all. People, I am not passing any judgement yet...but just saying! She was graciously welcomed with a big grin and was escorted to her seat. Oh ! All these drama was happening in the economic section (honestly, business class??...in my dreams).
                God, I hate this guy soooo much, I shall probably punch him if I see him any day. I remember his face, like I would remember Sharukh Khan. Since I obviously don't remember his name, lets just call him 'DEEP SHIT.' Anyways, there is more to go. So, the flight took off, and I was super happy and excited. Like a kid, I kept on looking through the windows, hoping to enjoy my coming 7 hrs more. The main problem started when after quite sometime, Mr. Deep shit and his friends came to serve us drinks. I, with a sweet smile, asked him for vodka, in which again he reacted as if, I asked him to climb up the Everest in just one go. I clearly told him...one vodka with orange juice and a glass of water. And given that I am blessed with quite a loud voice, I do not think there was any chance of mistake. He gave me a blank stare, behaved as if he din't hear the vodka part and just gave me a glass of ice chilled water. I waited for a 2 secs and asked for my drink. He again gave me a deaf ear, in which case I had to tug his shirt and ask him again, after which my majesty graced me with a small bottle of Finlandia. I was relieved for sometime at least, but irritated to the brim. I started to enjoy my drink with The Dirty Picture in front of me, only to realize that the orange juice that he gave wasn't enough. I pinged, and as my luck would say, he arrived, with a boring look, and I dare ask him for my juice and the answer he gave me was quite interesting. He said, "but the cart at the end of the plane.." I was dumbstruck. You know, sometimes in life you come to those situations, where you don't know whether to be angry or just amused. It was one of them. I simply din't know what to say. Should I just say, oopss I am so so sorry, that I asked for a glass of orange juice or oh my majesty, I apologize for my behavior, or should I just say, just get me my fucking orange juice. I chose none of the above, and i guessed that was my mistake. I just said, I would appreciate if you could just get me that. He did not. Actually he chose not to. Aren't they given job to serve the passenger no matter what? Am I asking for something which is like a huge deal or was the plane too long enough for him to walk? Mind it, I am still not judgmental.
                     My patience lost in the last minute. Out of the thousand instructions that my father has given me, one of them being that if I am hungry in the plane, if I ask for an extra platter they generally serve you, in most cases. My father has wide experiences in traveling abroad, so this piece of instruction was obviously genuine. The lunch or whatever that was given was so small, that it would not have served a child also, and I was super hungry, in which case I dared again to ask for another platter. For that I had to call him 6 times, which was unanswered and then I had to seek my friend's help. She called the guy for another 3 times, looked at us and as rude as possible. Probably he wanted to say, "you hungry Indians, there are no food to feed," but obviously he omitted the former and simply said, in the rudest way possible that we won't be getting any more food whatsoever. But how surprisingly, his smile came back when an Indian British asked for some fruits, in which case his smile came back, and with all the manners she was given a platter of fruits. As if this wasn't enough, my screen was not working properly, I asked one of the 'pammi ki mummy,' I mean the air hostesses (you understand that if you have traveled in Air India), to help me, where she was as irritated as possible, only to tell me to fix it by myself. I was scared even to ask for a tissue paper and the rest o the journey I chose to sleep only.
                       I don't know whether all of you who have traveled in Air India, will agree with me but this what I went through. There was just this one punjabi fellow, who was mild and welcoming, but otherwise each of the flight attendants behaved as if it was our fault that we chose to fly with them. Even now I do not want to pass on any judgement or say that Air India is bad, but this was something which was not expected. My fault was that I kept mum. I should have said, but I just did not want to spoil my journey as there were far more better things waiting for me. I do not remember this guy's name neither the aunty's, but I surely remember their faces. The problem is that we talk about discrimination from the outsiders, but in my case it was the very Indians who were discriminating the Indian passengers from the rest. May be the others who were traveling in that flight, had a wonderful time, but I did not. Being so hot headed, I simply mumbled some galis, but as my father later said, I should have spoken up. May be each of them had different stories and each had different tensions, but this was their job, and they were not being asked to do something different. Government jobs twists  everybody's mind. They think them to be from some different world. Be that as it may. My request is not to encourage these types of behavior at any cost. They are not the worth. I would still say Air India was magnificent to travel. Their seats and movie selections are the best.While coming back I had a wonderful time, both in terms of services and timings. Do travel through Air India, but don't let yourself to be humiliated.