Indigo flight from Delhi to Patna (in picture).
Ravi Speaks:
A rare sight to see a sitting MP as your pilot of Private Airlines.
Just around a year and a half ago, I was traveling on my normal tour to Bihar and Jharkhand, and the flight was from Delhi to Patna. Early in the morning, at around 6.50 AM, I boarded the flight as usual and luckily got my seat in the front row as 1-E. which came in the middle of three seats on the right side. After the usual formalities were over and the non-boarding staff was off the plane and then
The air hostess announced the flight was ready for takeoff. This being an early morning hour-normally all the passengers would come and take their respective seats and start taking their naps immediately after the take-off. On my right side was this gentleman, who in those days was the state-level minister and was recently promoted to cabinet rank, Mr. R. K. Singh. He was busy reading a book, and I immediately slept. After only about a half-hour, my sleep was interrupted by a heavy voice that sounded very familiar. When I opened my eyes, I found Mr. Pratap Singh Rudy in the full captain’s uniform, talking to Mr. R. K. Singh and welcoming him on board. He had come out of the cockpit for the toilet, and meanwhile, after seeing his fellow MP and the Minister of State in the front row-he came down to him. Both of them seemed to be very close since they belonged to Bihar, and their conversation lasted for a few minutes. And finally, he went back to the cockpit.
After yet another half hour, the captain’s voice was heard clearly in the announcement. He was the same Mr. Rudy, giving the details of the flight speed and weather report before informing everyone about Mr. R. K. Singh and welcoming him on board. It was a very rare sight to see that one MP was actively taking part in his pilot duty, praising and welcoming his fellow MP from the same state.
I suddenly realized something: since he was a sitting MP at the time, why did he need to pilot private airline plans, especially in full uniform and with all that decorum? He was the state minister for aviation at the time, but he was fired after only a few months. But his MP status was not at all affected.
Now you see the connection. Today, while I was going through the paper, I again found Mr. Rudy piloting the same airline flight from Delhi to Chennai, and this time welcoming happily yet another MP, Mr. Dayanidhi Maran, son of the late Mr. Murasoli Maran, who was also traveling in the same flight. He too had the same question in his mind-which was clarified in the paper, about the need for an MP of Mr. Rudy’s stature to continue the pilot service of the private airlines. The reply to him by Rajiv Pratap Rudy was, “I fly as an honorary pilot to fulfill my license obligations.” Thus, it cleared the earlier query as well.
I have been to Chhapra often and have seen the enormous banners of Rajiv Singh Rudy. which proved his popularity there in Chhapra where he hails. He was very popular earlier on as well, when he was a pilot only and had taken an active role in politics.
Whenever I travel to Patna from Delhi, that moment puts some sure-shot memories back in my mind. The reason for this is that something happens on some visits. On a similar tour to Bihar earlier in the above episode, I was traveling by the same private airline, Indigo, and the flight was the evening flight. It was around 8:00 p.m. when my flight had just touched the runway, and, as always, we, the passengers, were expecting a smooth landing. Suddenly, what happened was that the flight, instead of touching the ground, took off in an ascending direction back into the sky. All of the passengers began to complain about what had happened. There was a chaotic situation inside the plane, and the announcement also did not happen. We were flying back at higher altitudes. Suddenly, the pilot of the plane announced that we would reach Patna around one hour and thirty minutes late, but he did not mention the reason other than announcing that for unavoidable reasons they had to take off again. That time, we arrived safely in the late evening, around ten o’clock.
When I opened my hotel newspaper the next morning, there was a picture of the indigo plane taking off instead of landing exactly in front of a large dog who had come amid the runway. Thus, it was the newspaper that gave the exact reason-which the pilot should have announced.
Another time, I had to travel to Patna from Muzaffarpur and got stuck at the Gandhi Setu for nearly two hours on my way to the airport. This I shall not forget since I had to purchase a fresh ticket for the next flight, and Private Airlines did not give any special consideration for my missing the flight because I got late by almost half an hour. Although I had kept a margin of over two hours to reach there in Patna, the Gandhi Bridge, which is under repair for I don’t know how many years, has been doing this mischief with almost all the passengers from that end, and people are very smart to keep at least a three- to four-hour margin whenever they have to come from the Hajipur side of North Bihar.
So certain memorable events remain with us forever, and we cherish them later, when we have the time to discuss them and enjoy the fun of them with our friends.
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