I remember the days when I lived in Hyderabad, and had a nasty experience with AI. Those days, there was no direct flight to NY, and one had to fly AI (that too wasn't a direct flight, but had convenient connections at Bombay and London).


I distinctly remember the one time I had to go to get my mother's ticket. 9.45 in the morning, 50 customers waiting for "the door to open", and yet there was no information whether it was a normal "working day". Come 10 am, this guy who is an "attender" comes. He says " Sunoji, aaj Eid hain. Office nahin khulega" (The moon had been cited and it was ramzan (or was it some other "eid"?). Whatever. People mumble, grumble, and go back. No one asks for a supervisor, manager or someone who will listen. End of story, for that day.

Come next day, there is a mad rush, and that includes all those disappointed customers from the previous day. You walk in, write your name, address, destination, blah, blah, blah in a giant register, sit and wait to be called.
Yelliah..... malliah.....ramarao......... kareem...... peter......noorjehan....the names are called. Finally they call out my mother's name. I go to sit before a stern looking woman in her 40's, who asks for my mother's passport, pushes a few buttons on her computer. Does that again... and again. Nothing else happens.

Turns to me, says "Sir, the system is down". You can wait or come tomorrow. I wait for 3 gruelling hours, while the staff gossip, sip chai, and have a great time at the tax payer's expense. During these hours there are two power outages, and they switch on the noisy, smokey (?) generator.

4.00 pm: everything is back to normal. I spend half an hour getting my mother's ticket. I feel triumphant in my heart,go home, mission acccomplished.

That was one of my nasty experiences with AI. That was way back in '85.

Has anything changed with AI in 21 years? I doubt that seriously!

PS: Glaring error: Please read "cited" as "sighted"

Thanks.