Copyright@shravancharitymission
By Kamlesh Tripathi
By Kamlesh Tripathi
At an era, when there used to be long queues for domestic
flights in India, my boss, who had once come visiting me, got a sudden call from
the HR Head at Head Office, asking him to report back immediately for an urgent
and important meeting.
And as luck would
have it there was no chance of getting a confirmed flight ticket before three
days in which case he would have missed his meeting, and so we decided to take
a chance at the airport. Those days nothing was computerised, personal relations
with airport staff and their whims and fancies mattered a lot. He was carrying
an open ticket though.
And in the middle of
all the din and rush, the counter clerk had asked us to wait, just in case of a
last moment cancellation or a no show.
We were waiting
patiently when I saw the captain of the aircraft hovering near the check-in counter
puffing a cigarette. Those days we didn’t have smoking zones like today.
Suddenly, the counter clerk called for my
boss ‘Mr Datta.’ We walked up and stood close to him. When he politely said, ‘Sorry
Datta sahib, there is just no seat as the flight is jam-packed, please take a
chance tomorrow morning.’
I pleaded,
citing an urgent meeting, as I could see the tension rising on my boss’s face,
is when the captain of the aircraft who was standing close to the counter
walked up and said to the counter clerk. ‘Please issue him a boarding pass, if he
has only cabin baggage, as I will take him in the cockpit since he has an
urgent meeting.’
And with that I guess Mr Datta’s day was
made when he happily said to me, ‘bye, and see you soon.’
And after a month when I was in the Head
Office, on a visit, I congratulated my boss on his well deserved promotion and
casually asked about the flight, that day. He remembered the captain in a nice
way and this is what he had to say,
‘I was lucky that the captain took me along
with him in the cockpit, otherwise I would have missed my appraisal meeting
with the Marketing Director. And as the flight took off the captain asked in
Bengali,
“Kaimon
achain Dutto babu. Apni comfortable?”
And, before he could load on, some more Bengali,
I replied, ‘sorry captain I am a Punjabi Datta, and not a Bengali Dutto.’
‘Oh-oh-oh sorry, but I thought I heard the
counter clerk calling you as Mr Dutto and not Mr Datta. Anyway, sorry, very
sorry, once again.’
And by then the flight was more than airborne.
And after that we didn’t have any exchange of conversation in the flight,
though on landing I said goodbye to him to which he didn’t respond warmly; but
in his own subtle way he had ensured my promotion.
In life you just don’t know who lends you a
helping hand where, and who comes to your rescue.
***
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