Indian National Carriers and Sports

[BSharma]

I love to hear and tell stories, and recently I heard a good one that has a lot of relevance to Harsh.

A farmer owned an old mule and one day it fell into the farmer’s well. The farmer heard the mule “braying” or whatever mules do whenever they fall into wells. The farmer carefully assessed the situation and sympathized with the mule but decided that neither the mule nor the well was worth the trouble of saving. He called his neighbors and enlisted their help in hauling dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery.

The old mule was hysterical when it saw the farmer and his neighbors trying to bury it alive but as the dirt kept hitting his back a thought occurred to him. It dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back….. he should shake it off and step up! This he did, blow after blow.

“Shake it off and step up.….shake it off and step up.….shake it off and step up!” he repeated to encourage himself. No matter how painful the blows or distressing the situation seemed, the old mule fought “panic” and just kept right on.

You are right! It wasn’t long before the old mule, battered and exhausted, STEPPED TRIUMPHANTLY OVER THE WALL OF THAT WELL! What seemed like it would bury him, actually blessed him…all because of the manner in which he handled his adversity.

That’s life. The adversities that come to bury us usually have within them the potential to benefit and bless us.

Harsh has faced his problems and responded to them positively and has refused to give in to bitterness and self-pity. Over the past few years Harsh has lived with the motto, “Shake it off and step up.”

[Indian]

Nice one Bhushan! Guess most of us can take something away from this story one way or another.
Air India customer services at Heathrow! SKS, you needn't bothered. I always wonder how they manage to sell tickets for their flight.

[forpar]

BSharma, that's a great moral story. I heard it long time ago and nice to hear it again.

This should be the attitude of all our sportspersons....lying low....fighting it out somewhere in the obscure corner of the world....just as Harsh here.

Nobody is going to come and rescue them. They got to shake it off and step up. And ofcourse once you become famous or 'sania-like'....every freaking body gathers around you.

The story sadly and aptly depicts the situation of our sportpersons.

[amr090]

true that bhushanji, and the best part is harsh is neither old nor a mule...so he has years of youth left now that is almost out of the well!

[PKBasu]

I have a couple of weird Air India stories. Once I needed to get urgently onto a flight from Mumbai to London, and Air India was the only one that had a flight in the next few hours (very early in the morning). I went to the office and found they only had first class seats left -- and was told that there were two types of first-class tickets, one costing Rs58,000 and the other Rs85,000! They were both first class...Naturally I picked the one that cost Rs58,000 (is it any wonder that Air India rarely breaks even?).
Then, either on that flight or another Air India one (again on first or business class), I asked for Darjeeling tea, and was told, "Sir we only have Indian tea". Their ineptitude seems to scale new heights every year.

[Sandeep]

I agree that Air India is bad but for a such a low price what can you expect? Even if you ask a private plane to run with all the subsidies and all even their management will be equally bad. You can't arrange best of best crew with low salaries. Very few recognize their servcices to remote cities of India. How many private jets carry people from Calcutta to Agartala? They deserve some appreciation too. Often people end up blaming them.

[jayakris]

Air India flies from Kolkata to Agartala? .. Indian airlines does, right? They are different. Jay

[Sandeep]

I know they are different. I mean flights run by government . Actually I don't think Indian airlines also run flights from Calcutta to agartala. I think Alliance does it. But all are one and same though they show it differently to make it look like Indian airlines is in profit. Givernment has some share in deccan airlines too.

[PKBasu]

Air India fares are no cheaper than other international carriers. In fact on most routes I find they are more expensive than their peers (it is always cheaper to buy tickets in India, for both Indian and other airlines).
Indian Airlines flies the obscure routes, but I recently took a Jet Airways flight from Delhi to Bagdogra via Guwahati (very weird, considering that they overflew Bagdogra on the way to Guwahati but didn't land). The private airlines are obliged to do the obscure routes too, but they still manage to be profitable (despite huge start-up costs). IA and AI are simply horribly managed. Nationalising AI was a disaster; before 1970 it was one of the world's premier airlines, and was the model on which SIA was established!!

[jaydeep]

Thanks Samarth ... U and Monisha proved that u r the Best Host ... Harsh definetly miss u guys and trying to find more challengers in UK to meet u ...

Frankly speaking these front desk people r frightened of superiors to breaking any set rule ... So denying upgradation is OK considering their limitations ... I agree AI and IA not the best but atleast they started and continue air travel when other private airliners colsed due to losses ... Now picture is changing after lots many private airliners r joined again ... Hopefully AI will startto give better service after getting fierce competition by Jet and Sahara.

Jaydeep.

[BSharma]

Dhruv,

What did my story about the old mule have to do with Air India that it ended up in this thread?

Oh, I get it....

Air India's service is as slow as a mule.
Or
Is Air India as stubborn as a mule?