Air travel in India, a crucible experience

Air travel has taught me what motherhood is supposed to, but failed to teach me- patience! That’s right, patience!!

In last 2+ years that I have been shuttling between Mumbai and Hyderabad, and to several other cities to add spice.. I have imbibed unbelievable doses of patience. While flight delays remains the major contributor to this learning, inconsiderate co-passengers – jumping queues, stepping on toes, jostling over each other, screaming, playing loud music – have added a fair share.

Few years back, I would get hassled when a delay was announced. I would silently curse the airlines and get angry. I would end up building stress for myself. Now, I just take couple of deep breaths and tell myself, “OK, find something interesting to do” – walk around and get some exercise (I know every nook and corner of Mumbai Terminal 2), talk to friends or relatives, watch movies… I have come up with a repertoire of things to be done when travelling. I am always prepared for the delays. So much so that couple of weeks back, when the flight was on time, it upset few plans that I had made.

When it comes to the co-passengers, I have developed the ability to calmly deal with them. Don’t let your imagination go wild, all that I do is politely, but firmly speak to them, and get them to do what they were supposed to do. Ah.. at last I learnt assertiveness skills on the fly. However, on few other occasions, specially when I am depleted of my energy or fear to lose self-control, I have learnt to turn a blind eye. Patience, you see…oh dear Lord, forgive those who do not realise what they are doing 🙂

Lastly, I have developed doles of empathy towards the airline staff. If I am tired of going through this just couple of days in a week, imagine their plight day after day, throughout their careers. Honestly, I don’t envy them.

So, dear friends, if you want to create crucible experience for someone (or yourself), I recommend that you seriously consider frequent air travel in India.