Flying high

Sometimes you know in a jiffy how much a person enjoys their work. When they speak of “soaring through the blue skies”, you know that they have been able to fly after a long struggle. Just by the way in which they enunciate those words. With that faraway look in their eyes.

It was one of those tired and grumpy evenings. Learnt that my flight had a  delay of 25 minutes just as I checked in. Exhausted, I kept drifting off into micro-cycles of snooze and snore, until boarding was announced 75 minutes after the scheduled time.

As passenger after passenger trudged on the last flight of the day, one chirpy voice was heard loud and clear. “Good evening Sir! Namaskar Ma’am! Welcome aboard!” And even if you were feeling cranky about the delayed start, you couldn’t ignore the bright smile. You had to respond. It was the leading lady of the cabin crew.

She changed her voice and greeting to amuse the kids. She modified the language depending on the passenger who entered next. And quietly passed on a few cups of water even as passengers made their way to their seats. As there was some semblance of order, she quickly ordered her junior colleagues to pass on three trays filled with water even before take-off. These small gestures mattered when people were feeling tired and sleepy.

When she took the microphone and made announcements that we have heard thousands of times before, they seemed different. Because she made it a point to make eye contact with each passenger with a bright smile. Her accent was vernacular, her English was flawed, but her energy was infectious. She looked genuinely interested in her passengers.

As the food trolleys were trundled into the aisle, the smooth flight that the captain had promised didn’t happen. The turbulence was making the cabin really bumpy, and the crew had a hard time balancing themselves. But she was so different and you could see it in each gesture. Making an elderly lady who wanted to use the washroom sit in the empty seat in the first row till the seat-belt sign was switched off. Gently shaking Ms Saldanha awake so that she could tell her her choice of beverage. And what amazed me was how she remembered the choices of 4 rows of passengers without taking notes. The moment the turbulence ended everybody got their correct drink. As she handed me my masala tea I whispered, ” You really love your job, don’t you, Dipika? It shows!” And she grinned at me.

It wasn’t that she was having an easy time. Since I was seated in one of the front rows, I could see her sigh behind the screen, overwhelmed with the multiple little things that needed to be done. But she kept her eye out, when her not-as-quick juniors did not display the same courtesy or kindness. Gently reminding them to respond to the call lights. My nose was buried in my novel, and I didn’t even notice when she switched on the reading lights as the cabin lights were dimmed.

As we stepped off the flight she thanked me and gave me a small note with a gentle pat on my cheek. To be honest through the flight I didn’t remember the delay, or worry about how I was going to reach my destination by midnight.

Her attitude did not go unnoticed. On the bus to the terminal, I heard several passengers applaud her spirit and call her wonderful. No one was complaining about the delay. Just because one employee was so good, the flaws of her organization seemed negligible that evening. 

Somewhere today, I missed my younger self. I was like this two decades earlier. Eager to be a part of everything. Bursting with energy. The first to reach the department and unlock it, just because it gave me an extra quiet hour to work with concentration. Willing to work till the wee hours of the night. And then something changed drastically. I became a grouch. Was it age, hormones, burnout, cynicism, disappointment with my leadership and the world around me, or too many expectations? Maybe a bit of everything. What would I do to feel as positive and energetic as her today!

But for making me feel that there is still a glimmer of hope in a world filled with frail egos and mindless aggression, thank you Dipika of Indigo’s 6E5036. May there be more of your kind.