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Democracy In Action :
Flying
Around The World To Vote
by Sean
Mendis
Ah,
"democracy".... The much
bandied about word has a different personal meaning to everybody. To some
it means the right to launch wars in the Middle East, to others it
signifies the right to protest against your government. To me,
democracy means a duty to be involved in selecting the future direction of
your country. So when Prime Minister Vajpayee scheduled elections for late
April, I knew that my duty required me to caste my vote. Alas reforms to
the Elections Act mandated that absentee ballots are no longer permitted
for Indian citizens resident abroad. No matter, time for a quick trip
halfway across the world. After all, its not every day that one is
priviledged enough to participate in the largest democratic exercise that
the world has ever seen..... I arrived
very early at Terminal 3 for my KLM flight and was one of the first
passengers to checkin. The flight was horribly oversold and I was offered
US$300 plus the value of my flight coupon if I was willing to wait 2 days.
No matter how tempting that seemed, I hate a greater calling this time so
I declined the bump. Sacrilige, I know. After a
leisurely Heineken at the KLM lounge with a friend, I caught the shuttle
across to the new Terminal 1 for a quick tour of the facility. It was
impressive overall, but considering that it cost as much as Kansai did I
expected far more from it. Still, for a Louis Turpen project what else
could one expect. Back to
Terminal 3 since boarding was about to commence, but I was flagged down by
the KLM staffer who had checked me in earlier. "Mr. Mendis, as a valued
Platinum Elite member would you be so kind as to accept this complimentary
upgrade to World Business Class?". Score! This also meant that I was
maintaining my streak of operational upgrades on the Toronto - Amsterdam
route - the fourth consecutive time this has happened to me! In the
end, boarding was delayed almost an hour as the cleaners worked on our
aircraft. Today's ride was to be PH-BFA aka "City of Atlanta" - KLM's
first Boeing 747-400. With seat 1B assigned, I made sure I was one of the
first aboard, allowing me to down two glasses of champagne while the
masses shoehorned themselves into proletariat class behind me.
Dinner was quite a disappointment after
the wonderful Air Canada ExecutiveFirst meals I had gotten used to in recent
months. Overall the meal was adequate, but a big fall from what I've usually
had with KLM. After
laughing my way through "Love Actually", I slept for a few hours,
awakening as breakfast was being served. Then it was time to freshen up
before we made our approach to the Polderbaan. For those unfamiliar with
Schiphol, the Polderbaan is the new runway 18R and is located literally
miles away from the terminals. It was a good 20 minute taxi by the time we
disembarked at gate F1 and I had a long hike to my Frankfurt connection on
C concourse to follow. A quick
detour to the lounge to freshen up and it was time to board the bus taking
us out to our remote bay where our F70 awaited. Often referred to as a
Dirty Little Motor Fokker (say it out loud to get the joke), this aircraft
was a regional jet before RJs were cool. The 43-minute flight over to
Frankfurt was also packed and featured a ham sandwich service. Again,
thanks to the morning rush hour, we had to park at a remote bay and ride
the bus into the terminal. With two
Air India flights to Mumbai leaving within hours of each other, I decided
to try my luck as a nonrev on the earlier one which was the 744 service in
transit from Chicago. With 160 of the 297 passengers boarded at Chicago
alighting at Frankfurt and only 34 replacing them, the lady at the counter
didn't even hesitate before checking me directly in to Business Class. After a
quick detour to the airport supermarket to fulfil my mother's shopping
list, I headed back through passport control towards gate D1 around 11am
for an 1145am departure time. To my complete surprise, the gate area was
completely deserted save for one agent who was frantically gesturing for
me to hurry up. Turns out that since everyone was already aboard, they had
decided to send the flight off early and I was the last straggler at
T-minus 45!! There are
few more embarassing things than to be greeted by a crewmember when
boarding an aircraft with "Oh my God Sean, you've put on so much
weight!!!" Still, it was good to be recognized and I shook hands warmly
with Derek, the brother of a very old family friend who escorted me up to
my seat. We pushed back almost immediately and taxied out to runway 18. As
we headed past the Lufthansa Technik building I was able to snap an
awesome self-portrait of the aircraft reflected in the mirrored windows
there. There was a minimal wait for the runway at this hour and we were
actually airborne at 1138am, seven minutes ahead of schedule. The cabin
crew upstairs featured one of Air India's brand new hires, so everything
was done fancy-schmancy and by the book. The poor girl forgot to set a
coaster down for my preflight orange juice and was very flustered when I
pointed out the omission to her. Still, she redeemed herself nicely with a
well mixed Bacardi and 7-Up cocktail after takeoff. Lunch was
somewhat disappointing. Against the reccomendation of the Purser, I went
with the Roast stuffed shoulder of lamb with Charcutiere sauce, Duchess
Potates, Asparagus and Sauteed Vegetables instead of the Goa Prawn Curry
with Steam Rice and Spiced Vegetable. The lamb itself was excellent, but
the sauce and the vegetables weren't quite up to my high expectations for
Air India catering. Still, it was better than the KLM dinner and the
excellent Black Forest gateaux was a fine choice for dessert. A fresh
fruit basket was a nice touch at the end of it all. Our
aircraft today was "Khajuraho", a ten year old veteran of Air India's
fleet that had recently been retrofitted with the fabulous new Executive
Class seats upstairs. To be quite honest, I'd heard good reviews about the
seats but actually sampling them for an 8 hour flight far exceeded my
expectations. In the 160-degree inclined flat sleeping position, these
were significantly more comfortable than the KLM seats I had just stepped
out of and definitely among the most comfortable 3-class Business Class
seats out there. The seats feature in-seat Empower ports (standard 110V
AC), electronic controls with three presets and a very cool drinks table
that was initially intended for personal DVD-players - but in the absence
of that IFE system have found a new utility! After a
very restful sleep of almost 4 hours, I headed downstairs to chat with
Derek and some of the other crew. Time passed quickly as we flew over Iran
and Pakistan and the first indication that we were about to arrive was
when Derek started hunting for the destination video to play on the
antiquated IFE system. I took my leave and went back upstairs where the
new girl had thoughtfully kept a pre-landing snack tray aside and warm for
me, even though I was not in my seat when they had conducted the service.
Two thumbs up for her! We
touched down on runway 27 just before 10pm, almost 90 minutes ahead of
schedule. I was one of the first through immigration and customs barely
gave me a second glance as I headed out to be greeted by my parents.
Traffic wasn't too bad and I was in my bedroom at home by 11pm, a good 15
minutes before we were even due to arrive! So much for the fallacy that
Air India is always late.... The week
that I spend in India was honestly quite surreal. The entire country was
caught up in election fever, so naturally the various news outlets were
lapping up every angle on an election-related story that they could get
their hands on. Thanks to a friend of mine who happened to mention my
democratic pilgrimage to a newspaper editor, the spotlight just happened
to fall on me for a while. I was
extremely surprised to be disturbed at lunch one day by a call from a
reporter named Priscilla with Sunday Mid-Day. She explained that she was
doing an election-related article about what motivates people to vote and
her editor had suggested she get in touch with me for a quote. We chatted
for a few minutes and she thanked me for my time and I expected that to be
all. It was just the beginning... About an hour later, she called back.
Evidently the editor was so taken up by the story that she had authorized
a longer feature about me, to be completed by the 8pm deadline for
publication the next day! Would I be willing to answer some more
questions? And would I mind if they sent a photographer over? Oh boy.
Still, its all in a good cause. The
article in the next day's paper surprised even me. It was the lead story
on page 3 with a box on the front page alerting readers to it. The
newspaper web site even had it as their banner headline. Whoa. The
phonecalls started pouring in from folks I hadn't spoken to in years.
"Great job", "Damn, you've put on weight" and "Why didn't you tell me you
were coming down?" were the three most common themes. Ah well, everyone
gets their 15 minutes of fame. Well, my
15 minutes was about to stretch itself into an hour. I was at lunch with
my cousins that afternoon when my cellphone rang. It was "Aaj Tak",
India's largest all-news cable TV channel. Their bureau chief had spotted
the article in the morning paper and wanted to know if I would be willing
to film a piece for them. Uh, I guess so. Great, we'll have a camera crew
over at 5pm. I had
expected this to be a short 1-2 minute standup shot with a quote or two
for inclusion in a larger story, but again I was surprised. We shot about
15 minutes of conversation in Hindi on topics as diverse as democratic
responsibility, issues facing non-resident citizens and election apathy
among urban youth, followed by another 15 minutes in English on the same
subjects. It was quite strange to sit back at the end of it and watch the
reporter shoot her closing in my living room! The next
day was election day, and I expected that this would be the end of it. Not
likely. Three radio stations called before 9am to invite me to go LIVE on
air during their morning shows. One particularly ebullient host even
introduced me as "a shining example to India's youth". Jeez, talk about
stoking my ego! The two
major candidates in my constituency (Mumbai North-West) were the incumbent
Sunil Dutt of the INC and Sanjay Nirupam of the ShivSena. With Dutt a
virtual shoe-in for his 5th term, he didn't bother too much with
campaigning in our locality, while his opponent virtually blanketed us
with flyers, speeches and negative ads. There were also about a dozen
independant candidates running, but nobody really gave them even half a
chance. This was
the first election in India to be entirely electronic. The voting process
was quite interesting as a result, a typically Indian fusion of hi-tech
and lo-tech. All eligible voters received their registration card in the
mail giving details of the polling station and other information. If you
didn't receive your card, you could check the voter lists online at
http://www.eci.gov.in to
ensure you were
registered. At the
polling station, you enter and present your voter card along with your
photo-ID. Your name is then crossed off the master list as having voted
and your left index finger is marked with indelible ink to prevent fraud.
Some may laugh at this seemingly primitive modus operandi, but a month
later I still haven't been able to get the damn thing off! With your
finger suitably marked, you walk behind a screen constructed out of a
beaten-out cardboard box where the voting machine awaits. You simply press
the big blue button next to the candidate you want to vote for. A "beep"
sound indicates that your vote has been recorded and you are now free to
move on with your life, your democratic responsibility complete for
another 5 years. As is my
custom, I got the captain to authorize my jumpseat all the way through to
Heathrow on the off-chance that the aircraft filled up beyond capacity at
the transit stop. I was very amused that the pilot recognized me from the
newspaper article the previous week as he was signing off on the jumpseat!
A quick pitstop at the Maharaja Lounge for some coffee and I was boarding
today's ride, the baby of the fleet named "Velhagoa" and one of my
personal favorite Air India aircraft.
After being instructed to pick any open seat upstairs for the first leg,
I relaxed with a glass of watermelon juice and a nice cold
towel as we taxied out for runway 27. Breakfast was served on the short 45
minute flight. Soon
enough we touched down on runway 31 at Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai
Patel International Airport. To call it an "airport" is highly optimistic
though. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Aviation Services Shack
would be far more appropriate. To be fair, the domestic terminal is pretty
nice but the international facilities are non-existant. How this airport
handles a daily flight to Paris/Newark, plus nonstops to Heathrow and soon
Dubai and Singapore too is beyond me. I guess they must be setting out
folding tables on the lawn for customs! Still,
Ahmedabad had managed to provide 404 passengers for London today, with 384
of those in Economy however. With only 3 revenue passengers up front plus
a deadheading pilot, the new crew invited me to take a seat in one of the
fabulous new First Class flat bed seats. Next to me was another nonrev,
the son of a retired pilot who was working on his PhD at UC - Santa
Barbara. We kept to ourselves in seats 3HK right at the back of the cabin
so as to not disturb the revenue passengers. Air India
was having a Gujarati food festival on the Ahmedabad to Heathrow route, so
there was an unbelievable ridiculously huge breakfast spread available - a
3 course service all dished out and manually plated from silver platters
on the service cart. The full menu included Watermelon or Mango appetizer,
choice of a half dozen Kelloggs cereals, Papdi, Jalebi, Kaccha Kela Nu
Shaak, Bateta Ni Sukhi Bhaji, Khatta Dhokla, Gujarati Kachori, Farali
Pattice, Masala Poori, Methi Na Thepla, Rye Ni Mirchi, Nimbu Chutni,
Pudina Chutni, Cheese Omelette, Egg Hubert with Mustard Cream Sauce,
Grilled Fish with Lemon Parsley Butter, Chicken Nuggets, Rosemary Lamb
Croquette, Duchess Potatoes, Tomato stuffed with Spinach and Grilled
Mushrooms. Yes, this was breakfast. I was absolutely stuffed by the end of
the meal and took the opportunity to put the seat into its flat sleeping
position (complete with soft down duvet) and nod off for almost 5
hours. Awake in
time for lunch, which was an event in itself. Air India has always been
generous with the liquor and a nice bar had been set up for the use of
First Class passengers while the crew prepped for the meal. We started off
with green salad garnished with watermelon seeds, cottage cheese,
yellow/green peppers and Thousand Island dressing. Other options from the
food festival menu were Khandvi, Patra and Dahi Wada. Next up was my
favorite course - Malassol Caviar with garnish, smoked salmon, jumbo prawn
with lemon and Melba toast - served with a shot of Russian Vodka of
course. This was followed by a choice of Cream of Asparagus soup with
Crostini (which I picked) or Lamb Consomme. And then
they rolled out the cart with the main course. It was almost wasteful to
see the sheer amount of food and options available. The main course
service cart featured Lobster Benedictine, Dill Potatoes, Steamed
Vegetables, Chicken Tikka Lababdar, Bhuna Gosht, Bhinda Ni Kadhi, Bharela
Ringna Bateta, Sev Tamata, Turia Vatana, Fansi Dokhli, Vatana Nu Pulao,
Khichdi, Doodhi Chana Ni Dal, Yoghurt, Roti, Papadum, Keri Nu Chundo,
Pickles and Chutney. I started off with some of the Lobster with potatoes,
but the Purser insisted that I sample virtually everything, making sure
that he topped up my plate three times during the meal. As if
this wasn't enough, they then rolled out the dessert cart. Today this
featured a Fresh Fruit platter on banana leaf with Watermelon, Melon,
Papaya, Mango, Strawberry, Pineapple and Grapes; Orange Gateau; Malai
Kulfi with Falooda; Aamrakhand and a Selection of Cheeses. I tried to
stick with just some cake, but the Purser made sure that I sampled the
kulfi (Indian whole-cream icecream) too. Following
this, the Purser came around to offer us a selection of very elegant
Indian mithai sweetmeats and then handed out individual boxes of Saunf
Aftermint and even Calcutta Paan! Maybe its just me, but somehow the
concept of eating paan in First Class at 35000 feet had me collapsing in
uncontrollable laughter. Still, the entire meal was out of this world. Now
I truly knew how the lavish old Maharajas used to live! After 8.5 hours of
this pampering, we touched down at Heathrow - far too soon if you ask
me. I made
the most of my short layover in London, heading out for drinks with
friends at the Green Man pub near Hatton Cross. Around 8pm, it was time to
head back to Terminal 2 for my Olympic Airways flight to
Athens. Due to
Alitalia going on one of its periodic strikes earlier in the day, the
"wide open" redeye to Athens had now filled up to the point that it was no
longer an absolute shoo-in for an interline nonrev. I spoke to the duty
manager and she told me not to worry and that she would ask the captain to
release the jumpseat if they wound up with no cabin seats. Fortunately it
didn't come to that and they managed to find space for both myself and an
Alitalia employee. We were
delayed almost an hour from Heathrow due to traffic congestion and were
only airborne at 11pm. The crew did an incredible job handing out meals to
a packed cabin in only 15 minutes so that we could salvage as much sleep
as we could. While the chicken breast served was rather dry, the
taramosalata appetizer was absolutely out of this world. Still, I was able
to grab about 2 hours of sleep before we touched down at Athens just
before 5am. I really
can't think of a better airport to spend a morning at than the new one at
Athens. There are plenty of distractions to pass the time, including a
museum of artifacts excavated from the airport site, an exhibit of
environmental factors at the airport and another museum on the life of
Eleftherios Venizelos after who the airport is named. There are plenty of
food options, including a McDonald's that features an amazing view of the
runway and aircraft on approach. There are also free internet kiosks
located all around the terminal if you simply cannot live without being
online. Of
course, I could hardly go to Athens without visiting the Olympic store. I
spent a good hour there browsing through overpriced "Officially Licensed
Merchandise". By then it was time to freshen up and get myself on the
standby list for the flight to Toronto. This
flight was also pretty full, but they managed to find space for me - even
though it was in the absolute last row of the Airbus 340 named "Olympia".
We were quickly airborne for the almost 10 hour flight and the crew came
around first with the drink and then the lunch service. I was absolutely
blown away by the appetizer on the lunch tray. It consisted of a HUGE heap
of smoked salmon, a generous mound of taramosalata and a nice succulent
dolma. Very impressive. The main course was salmon steak with cauliflower
and rice, and it was also quite delicious. Definitely two thumbs up to
Olympic's catering. Two
thumbs down to them for IFE though. The sheer ridiculousness of the
situation still makes me laugh. Despite having a 12-channel PTV
system installed in every seat of the economy class cabin (including the
dreadful underseat box that eats into the legroom), when they screen
a movie they screen the same movie on all 12 channels. And
when it is done, they rewind the tape and show the same movie
again. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Today's screening was "I am Sam" with Sean Penn and Dakota
Fanning, a wonderful movie the first two times... At least the repetitive
IFE encouraged sleep. A second meal was served before we landed in Montreal,
although the open sandwich it featured wasn't much to write home
about.
The 45 minute transit stop
went by very quickly as we discharged half our passengers and took on some
fuel for the quick hop to Toronto. The customs officer asked which country
I had visited on my 10 days away and looked at me rather strangely when I
rattled off the list, but I was waved through without any delays. My
cousin was waiting to drive me home and I finally collapsed into a real
bed after 43 hours continuously on the road. What an incredible 10 days it
had been!
All good things must come to an end, but my
whistlestop journey to India seemed to end far too soon. With three 744s
due to leave for Heathrow within hours of each other, I decided to pick
the latest departure even though it involved a stop en route at Ahmedabad.
My itinerary to Toronto involved a lengthy detour via Greece anyway, so
one more stop didn't really make a difference.
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