Indians know apology

You would be amazed to learn that I got apologies from the big Air India Company today, I mean from someone somewhere working for them! Really! A girl with a nice voice listened to my madness and finally apologized! Really! How do I care? I don’t.

The story began on 18th December 2009, the supposed first happy day of a hardly planned vacation in Kerala, God’s own country! Really? The supposed happy day’s evening started in Mumbai, followed by a happy ending at the airport. Our flight was delayed then delayed again, again and again that after sometime they just stopped informing us about the delays. "They have to wait anyway, why should we tell them?"
In the beginning, you think: "Pff, 2 hours? It happens everywhere. Let's check the Duty free". Then: "2 hours again! Fuck! Let's check if there is a smoking area". Then: "Delay, delay! F***, f***, f***! What is this? What the f***?" The tension in the air becomes almost touchable. And, when the board shows Boarding Time: 3am instead of the initial 6pm time, and when you know that the money spent for the hotel as well as the cab is just going to be lost you say: "?>*&@#$%^!!!"
Some men started blocking the next gate asking for a manager to come. He never came of course. Some people were asking for food and we asked for tea (seriously) it never came of course. We then just asked for a reason, guess what? It never came.

After relaxing on the backwaters planning my revenge, I came back to Pune, and called three offices, wrote 5 e-mails, reply? It never came of course. But what did come, was an apology! As we say in Turkish “a dry apology”. What I wanted as it happens in Europe (I miss it so much now), or even in Turkey (oh God I miss it) is that when a company claims being a number 1, a leader, a national giant, well, it acts consequently. For more than 4 or 5 hours delay, you get compensation, it could be a sandwich, it could be a can of high sugar liquid, and it could be a reduction on your next flight...plus apology. Air India just apologized. Thank you so much!!!

Finally (I am not over) after e-mails to all and each daily, weekly newspaper in Maharashtra, Pune, Delhi, each editor, editor in chief, complaint board…cleaning ladies…I didn’t get any interest in my story neither. Any reply? Never came. All I have is my grief and an apology.

It happens all the time you will say, it happens everywhere, to everyone you will say…But this was one straw that broke the camel’s back. I feel so tired of India, and its laziness, its focus on money, its "you have to know someone", its "yes but you are a foreigner", its "yes sir, yes mam" and its “not possible" when we all know everything here is possible! I want to go back to France. Do you believe it? I am generalizing, I am not objective right now, but I am fed up. Really! As we say in Turkish “When you fall in the sea, you have no choice than to embrace the snake”. France will be my savor.