Recently I got to travel from
Chennai to Bangalore by the Shatabdi express and as the train moved
north-westwards, I was able to see the sun set behind the sunflower fields from
the large, clean window. They gave us a nice meal and the seats were plush and
comfortable. The TV showed episodes from ‘Just for Laughs’ and a Charlie
Chaplin movie – things that don’t need one to listen or understand the local
language. Why this was very clever was highlighted on that day especially
because everyone else on the coach was from South Korea. The guy sitting next
to me was quite expressive about his holiday in Bangalore and Chennai. And I
mentioned Gangnam style to him when he said he was from South Korea, much to
his annoyance.
And then I travelled from
Bangalore to Bali via Kuala Lumpur by Air Asia. I couldn’t help but compare the
experience of the Shatabdi vs Air Asia. The frustration started even before we
could collect our boarding passes. We had to pay extra for checking in our
baggage. And that was the first time I was hearing that shit in an
International flight. In the Shatabdi, there was no limit on how much baggage
you could carry. You could even do the entire shifting of your house from
Chennai to Bangalore J
The biggest issue of all was when
we were flying – we were given the last row in the plane and as if being forced
to hear the airhostess’ gossip wasn’t enough, we had to pay exorbitant amounts
of money to get meals, the only positive thing about which was the fact that it
was hot. It was then I started understanding how difficult the rest of my trip
was going to be because there was only one vegetarian meal available. Dammit…
The Shatabdi was so much better in terms of food. At least they didn’t charge
me as much as Air Asia and didn’t brag about their “flight merchandise” in
books and journals.
I mean, seriously, why the fuck
would I shell out my hard-earned money to buy t-shirts and watches with “Air
Asia” printed on it and advertise for this shitty shitty airline? If anything,
they should give the shirts to me and pay me (quite a huge amount) to wear it.
Bah :-\
It was the worst four and a half
hours I had spent on a flight and I just wanted to pull my hair out and scream
like a mad woman or at least yell the choicest of swear words (I could do that
in 4 languages) at the flight attendants to let off the pent up frustrations. I
want to ask questions like why don’t you play something on the TV? Why don’t
you include the cost of food in the ticket price itself? After making us pay so
much money, why do you charge us extra for check-in baggage handling?
If you are a major airline in
South East Asia, how does it feel having your facilities being compared to that
of a premium train in India?
