Shobhaa De | Is It Time To Change Branding of IndiGo to ‘Indi: GoToHell’?

Never ever in the history of travel and aviation has the Indian airline passenger vented as vociferously or openly displayed the level of frustration, murderous rage and retaliation, as on December 3, when a pampered, privileged and monopolistic airline perversely took advantage of the situation to hold millions of fliers to ransom. It’s a wonder there wasn’t blood on the floor at airports across India as horrified citizens witnessed the torment and helplessness of customers who had zero options but to lump it, while flight after flight got cancelled, without any convincing explanations. It was an unplanned mutiny. Anarchy. Without an identifiable “monarch” to spew one’s seething anger on. Where were the top bosses during this unprecedented chaos? Why were they absent from their posts? How cowardly to let juniors face the brunt of passenger wrath, stomach curses, insults, abuse, while the top dogs remained shielded and silent during the most turbulent period of the breakdown.

We still don’t know enough. Someone up there is blatantly lying. But who? It is not possible that the so-called rejig of time tables and schedules came out of the blue. Or that the top management was unaware of the terrible repercussions the chaos would create. Did anybody at that level apologise or show that they cared? Nope. This is called despicable corporate arrogance and high-handedness of the shabbiest kind. While so many fellow citizens suffered on account of cancelled flights, the mighty executives at IndiGo chose to hide behind flimsy explanations and pass the buck. Shameful, As stories of passengers faced with the worst travel traumas surfaced, airports were turned into ugly battlegrounds with hysterical passengers facing bizarre dilemmas, like the couple who missed their own wedding reception and attended virtually (there’s a movie script in their insane experience), to victims forced to skip key job interviews, legal cases, medical emergencies and more.

IndiGo’s shameful attitude was defined by callousness, indifference and complacency.

Who can condone the absence of basics like drinking water and snacks to passengers stuck -- rather -- trapped -- for hours at airports across the country? What explanation does the IndiGo board have for this and countless other lapses?

Inexcusable! It is really the highest level of resilience and tolerance shown by citizens that prevented a far bigger disaster on the ground, given how unconscionably passengers were treated. Far more damage could have occurred -- not that destruction of public property would get passengers a boarding card. One felt sorry for the physical assaults on hapless IndiGo staffers, who had to stoically bear the brunt of passenger rage. The thing is, now that the crisis is behind us… what do we know that can possibly justify the mayhem? Those of us who were caught in the turbulence could do nothing but scramble for crazily priced seats on other airlines. There again -- isn’t it cold blooded, extortionist, and horribly hard hearted for major IndiGo competitors to automatically hike fares, often doubling and trebling the cost -- imagine paying a lakh and more to travel from Mumbai to Delhi? Should there not be a more humane approach to a crisis of this kind? Is everything about making a quick buck at the expense of decency? How opportunistic and ugly all this makes us look as a people.

But for every ugly outburst, there was a feel-good story as well.

Take, for example, two feisty ladies who almost single-handedly run Literature Festivals in their respective cities -- Dr Manjiri Prabhu and her Pune International Lit Fest, Shinie Abraham and the Bengaluru Lit Fest. Both lit fests overlapped over the same disastrous IndiGo weekend. Which meant last-minute cancellations, stranded authors, non=arrival of books -- any organiser’s worst nightmare.

But, with their inimitable never say die spirit, the two ladies soldiered on, rejigged schedules, called in friends to help conduct sessions, assured attendees that the show would go on! It brought out the best in them, as also in some of the writers who sportingly took alternative flights, waiting for hours at distant airports, but turning up to make their announced sessions. It took me eight hours to get from Pune to the Bengaluru venue -- the city’s old Central Jail. No escape!

The IndiGo conundrum continues to baffle with conspiracy theories galore. Forget the theories, boss… Just answer one simple question -- Yeh Rahul Bhatia kaisa aadmi hai? The managing director of the rogue airline was gayab during the crisis! Like… MIA! The founder promoter with a jumbo-sized ego was invisible while the nation was shaken. It was worse than the “paan ki dukaan” taunt of the co-promoter. In this scenario, there was no paan (not even bottled water) and the dukaan had rudely pulled the shutters down. This was flagrant, blatant, and, dare I say it, criminal. No punitive action? No questioning by the DGCA? It’s been called a chhota gamble that led to a massive mess. A cascading effect that started with one cancelled flight. Even when the pilots were willing to fly. Yeah. Sure. Exhausted, bleary eyed, overworked pilots willing to fly is small comfort to passengers and crew entrusting their precious lives to fatigued captains.

Chalo ji… I was once an IndiGo loyalist, true and faithful. Now, I have turned into a promiscuous flier -- ready to hop on to any airplane willing to fly me to my destination in one piece, and hopefully on time.

Till my next flight, I am working on the viral Akshay Khanna hook step from the movie Dhurander, and pretending I am Balochi. I will be watching the Ranveer Singh starrer over the weekend, inshallah... But what has interested me far more is the strident backlash faced by a few, prominent film critics audacious enough to state they have not exactly adored the movie or the track that has become the movie’s signature. Kyunki, only paid reviews rule. Everyone knows. But lips are sealed. With the number of heads rolling, the film industry is playing ostrich. In an environment where gush is everything, even a single critical line is taken as a personal attack. Critics for hire?

Yup. Most “influencers” are no better than pimps parading as experts -- on any and every subject. Show them the money and they will endorse just about anything -- even if it is packaged horse dung.