About a day I want to forget...

For airport employees around the country, courtesy and empathy has become part of the basic job description. Not just because those are nice traits in workers, but because in these belt-tightening times, airports are hoping better customer service can help shore up the bottom line...
but wait till you meet the Turkish airlines staff at CSIA, Mumbai.

My long awaited and wholesomely enjoyed summer vacation at home finally came to an end on 31st August. And I was going to catch a plane from Nagpur...all the way to Mumbai, from where I had a connection to Moscow with Turkish airlines. So here, in mumbai on 1st Sept. I met a person whom I'm never going to forget....Mr. Vaibhav Gandre, the incharge supervisor of all the flights of Turkish that night.

Just a bit of history before I start to tell my experiance....
My passport was going to expire in Nov. 2010 so ...I renewed it, as a precaution beforehand....and hence my passport no. on my visa was different. So for this I have to pay around 20 Euros at Moscow airport and also carry both passports with me.


So now, there I was, standing in queue waiting for my boarding pass........wen it was my number, the lady at the counter(another super-intelligent employee) was in doubt. So she called her "Sir"...this guy. I explained him ...and we went over all the details again n again. But I dont know why...this guy was adamant (n din obviously know much about this situation)
"No Ma'm u can't board the flight", was is constant line with his eyebrows up and giving me a look as if I'm a suspected terroist!!
...........................I did everything possible (coz his one line was going to cost my Dad a lot of money!)
I even broke out at the airport....coz I missed my flight, coz I din know wat to do, coz it wasn't possible for my brother or parents to be with me there, coz I dont know much about Mumbai....
you know this feeling of being left behind...its a certain kind of fear which grips your heart and your mind goes blank and all you can think of is.....well, cry! (this feeling is worse than anything bigger...say end of the world!) In those early morning hours at the airport where everyone was on their way somewhere...I was sitting, thinking the picture some hours ago....my dad's still look, my mom's smile...convincing herself she isn't going to cry this time, my brother...and his naughty smile and reminding me of recent aircrashes :) in order to frighten me or something :) :)
my caspar..with his chewstick ..dint know I am going...again for a Year! :) ....................God!!! I'm in tears everytime i remember that...

How easy was it for this guy to say.....And the worst part is..he din't even know the rules, he was in some kind of a trance or something...ego-driven. You know, sometimes I meet many people with whom i just can't get along and moreover for some of them I have this unknown agony...I felt the same for him...


It was all over...I went over to my friends' uncle who helped me get to Russian embassy and it was all sorted out...I got my tickets for the next day...came here...met friends....classes...months have passed.But somewhere I still have that feeling, I can't explain....of being alone, being left behind to take my own decisions....I dont like it at all......
With every passing day, I try to forget it :) :)