What goes up, will come down, and will go back up again…!

Live celebrating the suchness of Life! 

Here’s an interesting anecdote and a learning from my Life and from Jet Airways’ journey from glory to bankruptcy…

I used to be a Platinum Card member of the Jet Privilege Program of Jet Airways. And on the sheer quantum of JP Miles I had with them, I always flew free on Jet Premiere (Business Class); and all our family vacations for several years were got free on JP Miles!! Those were the days when Jet held the Gold Standard in Service Quality. They were truly world-class!!!

In November 2006, I made a significant complaint on a series of slips that I had begun to notice in their Service Quality standards. A gentleman called Vijay Sethi (an expert and Master in Service Quality/Customer Service/Relationships in his own right), who was heading Service Quality for Jet Ariways then, reached out to me. He said that their records revealed that I was one of their most frequent fliers – among the top Jet fliers in India! So, he requested me if I would be open to sharing my feedback live, at a meeting of their top management team in Mumbai.

I gladly agreed.

So, I was flown to Mumbai on Business Class and I met their 25+ top management, leadership team, including then CEO Wolfgang Prockshauer and COO Peter Leuthi.

It was a two-hour session and the team was amazed with my insights on how I felt Jet was beginning to lose focus of the very core of their existence – the Jet flier, their God, their guest! I pointed out, with relevant details, why the famed Jet Gold Standard was slipping and how their Yellow Rose (a branding device they had used through the first 10~15 years of their operations) was beginning to wither! Wolfgang, Peter and Vijay thanked me profusely for my feedback and perspectives and committed to revive the soul of the airline. Sadly, all three of them left Jet Airways, in different circumstances, in the next few years…and…we all know what happened with the Sahara acquisition and where Jet is today…

Interestingly, while searching for something else in my archives today, I stumbled upon these images, on a day when Jet has suspended operations.

AVIS making a point in conversation with Wolfgang Prockshauer

From Left to Right: Vijay Sethi, Wolfgang Prockshauer, AVIS and Peter Leuthi

But let me tell you…its perfectly okay to be down. Such is the process of Life. I talk from personal experience.

I, who flew so many air miles monthly, have been grounded for the past several years – including 2016, which was my flightless year (read my Blogpost here.); and Jet which was India’s premier airline is out of cash and grounded now….

But such is Life…what goes up will come down, and go up again, to come down again…Being down is a great humbling, learning, awakening experience…

There’s no point in grieving or losing sleep over the turn of the wheel of Life…instead celebrate Life’s suchness…

1 C doesn’t matter anymore…23 D is just fine!

Growing up, with age and experience, is a personal, intelligent, choice.

A friend we were sitting with the other day remarked that “men mellow down over a period of time”. She was referring to my choice – and her husband’s too – to cut down on our alcohol consumption. I didn’t mind her gender bias. What she really meant was that all of us evolve over time.

And that it is so true.

Yesterday at the airport, a prominent person (a.k.a VIP in India) we know greeted us at the kerbside. And his personal assistant whisked all of us past the long, winding security line at the entry gate and at check-in. This VIP took seat 1 C on the plane while we trudged up to our seats at the rear of the aircraft, 23 D & E. Once we settled in, I told Vaani: “Once upon a time, not very long ago, I would have insisted we too sat in those front row seats. 1 C was my favorite whenever I managed business class upgrades. But now these things don’t even matter.” She agreed with me. She pointed out that she was very embarrassed jumping the security and check-in queues at the airport. I conceded that I too was very uncomfortable with the way our VIP friend’s assistant had broken the rules for his boss – and for us!

Just 15 years ago, I was so different. I believed in protocol. I insisted my secretary checked me in on first row economy seats on domestic flights, I fiercely fought for upgrades and I always demanded that a Jet Airways porter greeted me at the entry gate at airports with my boarding card and helped me “jump queues” – this was a privileged service that Jet accorded to frequent fliers. I was often told by the Jet Airways team in Chennai that I was among their “most frequent” fliers and so they always gave me “VIP status and attention”. I reveled in such recognition. I thought I was special. And I loved being treated as someone special.

And then, with the bankruptcy (Read more here: Fall Like A Rose Petal) everything changed. I believe I have now awakened to understanding the true nature of Life. I have realized that everything that we cling on to, everything that we demand, all that we fight for and think belongs us, well, everything is eventually going to get taken away from us. We came with nothing. And we will go with nothing. So, as Osho, the Master, asks, I too have concluded – “why all this drama?” Yes, personal comfort is relevant and important. But why confuse personal comfort with thinking you are special and that you deserve being treated as special? Growing up, when growing old, I realize now, is a personal, intelligent, choice. This clarity has come to me now. Perhaps, just maybe, I too have evolved over time?

Surely, 1 C or front row economy doesn’t matter to me anymore…23 D is just as fine…for ultimately when your time comes, when your number is called, whoever you are, wherever you are seated, you will end up as dust! As they say in Tamizh, you will end up as “verum thoosi”!  

What goes around comes around

In today’s Podcast I share two episodes from my Life, almost two decades apart, to tell us why I believe compassion works.

Listen time: 6:12 minutes

What I learnt from my forgettable Ravindra Gaikwad moment

Can you fight the good fight while being untouched and unmoved?

I have been following with interest the episode involving Shiv Sena MP, Ravindra Gaikwad, slapping an Air India official for being denied a business class seat on an all-economy flight! The MP has since been banned from flying. I don’t wish to comment on what led to the MP’s apparently irrational behavior. But the incident brought back memories of a forgettable day in my Life.

There was a time, up until a decade ago, when I would travel 21 days in a month. And I flew only Jet Airways – both because of their superior service back then and because I was a Platinum Jet Privilege member. I had perfected a process of tele-checkin, 48 hours prior to departure, which ensured I always sat either on seats 10A or 10F – both were window seats in the first row of economy on most of Jet’s Boeing 777-800 series domestic fleet! On a Mumbai-Bengaluru flight one morning, I found another passenger sitting on 10A, the seat that I had chosen and had been allotted. I requested a flight attendant, a young man called Malvinder, to help me reclaim my seat. He tried talking to my co-passenger but that gentleman would not budge. Malvinder requested me to “adjust” and sit in 10B, the middle seat. I hate middle seats. So, I told Malvinder, “Either get me my allotted seat 10A or bump me up to business class,  as I am a frequent flier with many thousand air miles to my credit.” For whatever reason, which I could never comprehend, Malvinder blurted this reply out: “Sirjee, ki pharakh penda hai…what’s the big difference, it is a 90m flight and surely you can adjust.” I lost my cool and told Malvinder that I was going to report him. To which, he replied, “Please do. But this is the best that can be done at the moment.”

As you can see the Jet Airways staffer was clearly lacking empathy and tact in dealing with the situation. Clearly, a non-issue became a big one. I fumed all through that flight. I was angry and hurt. And I wanted “revenge”. So, upon landing in Bengaluru, I called up Jet Airways’ Mumbai headquarters and got myself connected to their head of service quality, a gentleman named VS. He heard me out. He was able to grasp quickly where my angst came from – I was upset that I was denied the seat of my choice; but I was protesting the lack of dignity with which I was treated. VS apologized profusely. He said he will “look into the matter”. I was gratified that I was heard. And I thought that it was the end of the story. But it was not!

That evening I flew from Bengaluru to Chennai – I had tele-checkedin and had been allotted 10A. But I got a business class upgrade because the flight was overbooked. When I landed in Chennai, and exited through the aerobridge, I found Malvinder at the door of the aircraft, looking at me sheepishly. Though I saw him, I pretended not to and kept walking. But he quickly ran up to me and said, “Sir I am very sorry for this morning’s episode and my behavior. I have been grounded. Mr.VS also spoke to me. I feel ashamed. If you can forgive me, and inform Mr.VS, I can get back on duty.” I didn’t say a word till we reached the baggage carousel. I then looked at the young man and told him tersely, “Never repeat this another time with any other passenger. We are the reason why you get your salary.” Malvinder promised he would keep my “advice” in mind, thanked me profusely, apologized unconditionally and saw me off at the kerbside.

When I think back to that day, to that episode and to my whole attitude, I feel yes, as a customer, I had every right to behave the way I did. But I had so much vanity in me, so much ego, as a human. My whole trip in Life that day was to “teach Malvinder a lesson”. It wasn’t quite about giving Jet Airways feedback or perspective. The Gaikwad-Air India drama brought back all those haunting memories. Mercifully, I was not so full of myself, so I “got even” with Malvinder in a very corporate sense. But, now, I feel even this reaction of mine was avoidable.

When you are denied what you expect, most of all dignity, your mind will unfailingly scream within you: “How dare he or she or they do this to me?” Now, if you let your mind direct you, you will behave the Gaikwad way at one extreme or even possibly the AVIS-way! Or you may sulk and file a law suit at someone. Or you may simply feel hurt and think you are worthless – which is, pine in self-pity! What I have learnt from that experience, and from Life, is to not dramatize any situation. Particularly, don’t allow your mind to paint, dark, gory versions of what is just another event. In my case, I was denied a seat of my choice. Just as it was in Gaikwad’s case. Everything else, what or how Malvinder spoke or how the Air India team purportedly treated Gaikwad, all that, is just drama. In any context, there’s a forum for appeal to take up any issue. Stay with the issue and deal with the forum. Don’t fume, don’t demand revenge. In the long term, spewing venom at someone or something is never worth your while; it only pollutes your inner being!

I am not saying you must not fight the good fight. Of course, you must. But don’t lose your sanity, your equilibrium, your sleep, trying to fight, or wanting to get even with someone. The best way to fight any battle is to never appear to have fought it at all! Which really means, can you fight it while you remain untouched and unmoved?

How I celebrated a flightless year in 2016

Be ready and willing to go through any situation, experience everything, in Life!

“How do you console yourself when you don’t get what you want; when your Life doesn’t go the way you planned it?” This question came to me yesterday from a lady I met at the Help Yourself to Happiness Talk I delivered at a Rotary Club.

The answer I gave the lady is that you must not try to console yourself. Consolation has an air of mourning, of grief, inherent to it – that you tried for something, you did not get it, so it is ‘okay’! There is no ‘okay’ status that works in Life. The best state to be in is to be unmoved. There is no need to either exult in Life nor is there a need to brood or mourn. You must taste, you must experience, everything in Life – success and failure, victory and defeat, joy and sorrow – and eventually you will realize that they are all imposters. You will discover that neither the state when you are exulting nor the one when you are brooding is permanent. So, don’t credit yourself for creating contexts where you exult at your achievements and don’t discredit yourself just because the context is one where grief is gnawing at you, over what you lost or what you didn’t get. Just learn to be unmoved. If you can be unmoved, then everything, every event, calls for a celebration! Then every moment is a celebration!

The lady urged me to explain my point with an example. I shared this story from my Life that I had also recounted to Vaani on New Year’s eve.

I took my first flight in my Life at the age of 10, in 1977, from New Delhi to Madras. I loved the experience. And resolved that I would only fly when I grew up; also I because I find train journeys very boring, very uninspiring. To date, I prefer a flight over a train! My second flight was the one I took at the age of 23, in 1990, from Madras to Bangalore. I was flying on work for India Today magazine and was on an assignment to report on Veerappan, the dreaded sandalwood smuggler. It was a big moment for a young, ambitious lad – flying on company expense. I saved the Indian Airlines (now called Air India) boarding passes of both my onward and return journeys from that trip. I reckoned that when I became ‘very famous, very rich, very successful’ I would display these boarding passing proudly in my office or home, as a trophy of where my ‘high Life’ had truly begun. Soon, I was traveling more and most of my trips were by flight too. And I started collecting my boarding passes. I extended my idea of the saved boarding passes to reflect the number of air miles I had logged in all my active Life. For the longest time, I had this vision of me sitting in my private study and bar, smoking a cigar, and having an entire wall done up with boarding passes from all my flights in my Life. Soon the collection grew. I now have a whole mound of boarding passes saved up – I don’t really think I have lost a boarding pass or missed saving one in my Life. At one time I was taking even three or four flights a week, and traveling 21 days each month. So the boarding pass collection really swelled in good time. Within India I was loyal to Jet Airways and was their Platinum Card holder for several years – in all those years, our family of four, always took vacations on free tickets purchased with my miles! My boarding passes collection reflected the Life I led – busy and flying around! For someone who came from a middle-class background, this was exciting stuff, a sign that you had arrived, in style!

My Mound of Boarding Passes: 1990~2015

 

And then, as I recounted to Vaani on New Year’s eve, 2016 has turned out to be the year of no flights for me. No flights taken in an entire year. Even in the past decade, owing to our bankruptcy (read more here: Fall Like A Rose Petal) my flying has shrunk considerably. But I never bargained for a flightless year, that too in what should have been the 28^th year of an active, professional Life!

So, that’s my example, a story from my Life, I told the lady, who asked me to explain my point about being unmoved. Surely, I am not citing that I have traveled more than anyone else in the world. In fact, my story showcases how such a personal collection of boarding passes appears so vain now in the wake of Life’s larger design and Purpose. I am not even suggesting that I will not fly again or that I will not have that wall in my private study and bar. All I am saying is that I am no longer impacted by whether I am flying or not. It has ceased to mean anything beyond a data point to me. In the last quarter of a century, I flew a lot, then I flew less and last year, I did not fly at all! Simple!

The essence of intelligent living is that you must experience everything in Life. You must be ready and willing to go through any situation. Don’t ever expect Life to only be a particular way. Recognize that what goes up comes down. And what goes around comes around. Life is always flowing and you must learn to go with Life’s flow. This is the way to be unmoved, to celebrate Life’s every moment, no matter what you are faced with or are going through! This is how I celebrated my flightless year – 2016!

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