The Indian Bus Ride

Who's been on a trip to India? No worries, don't answer that - you know if you've been on one. Indians tend to have the worst airline etiquette in my experience.

I've flown to Hong Kong, Australia, Taiwan, India, all over Western Europe, Japan, North America and Africa. Indians are really lousy passengers.

Now let me make a few clarifications - Indians are really good people. Most Indians are well educated, polite, considerate, often smelly, helpful people. As is always the case, the minority element eventually ends up defining the stereotypes.

When I fly in or out of India, I try, by hook or by crook, to score business or first class seats. This is because Indians are inherently competitive people, looking to win, or atleast, one up the other guy. This is great in the business world but on trivial matters, it can be annoying.

Typically, my experience to and from India can be likened to a third world bus ride, full of drunk rowdy people, fist fights, arguments over who talked to whose girlfriend, injured egos and pride and so on. I'm sorry to say, being Indian, I'm ashamed of it.

I don't think it's a lot to ask of someone to be open minded and forgiving. Maybe I glanced at your hot wife with the nice round C cups, or accidentally sat in your seat instead of mine. A little politeness can go a long way and besides, if you're so incapable of handling other guys staring at your wife, maybe you're not man enough for her ... You think?

Anyway, for 30 years, Indian behavior has worsened in the air. A lot of international carriers fly to India now, but once upon a time, there was only Air India and their service was awesome.

Now, they suck, and their flight attendants are as old as their jets ... The details of which are for a different note, but indicative of how resigned they are to their positive customer service attitude. Let's face it - The foreign airlines have to force smiles on their faces because Indians are not good passengers. They are rude, unkind, unforgiving and on average, try to treat the crew like servants who are beneath themselves.

If Indians expect to retain a class based society, then, certainly, the cost of travel will go up and stay up, at the expense of decency and quality.