THEY say it is a Bangladeshi airline, but most of the staff are not deshi. They are from a neighbouring country. In London, commands in Hindi surprised me, as if it were the only parlance for a bunch of Bangladeshi expatriates waiting to start a journey to their homeland. I was flabbergasted why a Bangladeshi airline is hiring foreign people, while some of her expatriates are struggling to get a suitable job. Many are performing minor tasks or handling small duties that are much lower than their expertise and experience.
Among the crews, I observed the same, and I had a fair discussion with my co-travellers. I observed an absence of professionalism while a baby was crying for ages for food, and elderly people had trouble moving within the plane, perhaps for the toilet. I felt underserved while I was thinking out loud. I strongly believe that there should be a policy in recruiting staff for an international airline, unless the national flag carrier 鈥楤iman Bangladesh鈥� is a partially owned company. Furthermore, there should not be any discrimination, as the passengers belonged to an underprivileged nation.听
Vexation had a pause as I was welcomed onboard, hearing the tune from Tagore, 鈥筫ktuku choya lage鈥�. The tune created a cadence of love and emotion. I swam through a fountain of joy and happiness that touched my soul, listening to the much familiar tune. On my return journey a lady captain took the flight; needless to say, at the beginning I was a bit apprehensive, as I am part of a misogynistic nation. However, the journey was exceptionally smooth. The taking off and landing were hassle-free, and there was minimum jerking. The air hostesses wore beautiful sarees and spoke in a sweet mother tongue, serving semi-deshi food. The whole environment was made as homely as possible.听
The old advertisement said, 鈥楾he world is becoming smaller; fly with Biman.鈥� The world has changed, and the Biman itself is becoming smaller with minimum leg space and aisle. I think this is a bitter reality about most of the airlines. On the other hand, I must admit that Biman has achieved marks in maintaining on-time flight performance.听
I was satisfied up until a stopover in Sylhet. The transit passengers were not allowed to leave the plane. Boarding took more than an hour, longer than was promised. Promises should not be trusted, as they are made to be broken. The most exasperating part is that during听the waiting time, they do the fuelling and turn off the air conditioning. The scorching heat activates the sympathetic nervous system of the body, making people tired, sweaty, red and annoyed. Sometimes they do the cleaning while a few passengers are on board. Vacuum cleaning and spraying exacerbated my asthma attack, reducing me to using my inhaler. I was more worried about the fuelling. I wonder if the airline had followed the basic safety rules. Fuelling is a dangerous operation with a high risk of fire or explosion. Although they announced to unfasten the seat belt, perhaps for an 鈥榚asy鈥� escape in case of fire. I also note that Biman had successfully passed the IATA Operational Safety Audit.听
The unclean toilets reminded me of my medical college hostel. Although those were the best days of my life. It is not only the people but also the management who had to be made responsible. One of the sinks was overflowing. They closed down the toilet after I complained.
Regular cleaning would have solved the problem. I assume Bangladeshi people who lived in London for years were not as unsanitary as might be thought of. The airline started an educational video on 鈥榟ow to use the toilet鈥� when it was too late. Better late than never. The learning might be useful for their next flight, if ever taken.听
With all impatience, I turned towards listening to Bangla music. My heart found solace with 鈥楨i neel monihar, Ore neel doria鈥�, and so on, while I was flying above the clouds. This is unique in this deshi airline, although I painstakingly noticed that the choice of artists was politicised as much as the whole nation. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the melodies that took me to my childhood. I grew up listening to my elder sisters, along with the continuous radio broadcasts at home. I went back to those days to live those moments again.听
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听Meera Momtaz Sabeka听is a consultant at the NHS, UK.
