Fog & flight give boy a nightmare

<div class="section1"><div align="left" style="position:relative; left: -2"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="left" border="1" width="35.6%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal"><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script><br /><img src="/photo/385326.cms" alt="/photo/385326.cms" border="0" /></div> </td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal"><span style="" font-size:="">Sajeev Gahlawat gets a hug from his mother Anita at the Bangalore airport on Friday.</span></div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal"><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">BANGALORE: Sajeev Gahlawat (13), an eighth standard student of Candy Public School, Jind City, Haryana, stepped into the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi on December 24, dressed in his best jeans and T-shirt. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">He was excited: Christmas vacation; fun-and-fights with sister and shopping with parents. He had a confirmed ticket on a private airliner for the 3:15 pm flight to Bangalore.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">Shock one came as an announcement: Heavy fog had delayed the flight to 7.15 pm, which was again put off to 9.45 pm, and finally, all flights were cancelled. It was a bad start to his holiday.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">Sajeev was driven to a hotel with other passengers. Back in Bangalore, his disappointed parents waited for their son.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">December 25: Sajeev got a wake-up call at the hotel, telling him the flight would leave at 9.30 am. Bags up and back to airport. Fog checked in before them, and a fresh timing of 3.15 pm was announced. Even Santa Claus would have had to stay home, had he booked tickets on this airline!</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">Meanwhile, Sajeev’s parents launched a hunt to trace their son. Aman Gahlawat, with help from his friend Rajesh in Delhi, found the boy at the airport. “I took Sajeev to the airline office and the station manager promised me he would be accommodated on the 7 pm flight. Since I had to rush to Jaipur, I gave Sajeev some money and left him,� Rajesh said. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">Bad luck again chased the boy — he was left out of the remaining two flights, and was back at the hotel for the night.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold=""><formid=367815></formid=367815></span><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">December 26: Panic-struck parents made nearly 100 calls to the airline but none gave a proper reply. On Friday, Sajeev was awoken at 5.30 am for the 7.30 am flight. The pick-up bus arrived late at the hotel and he missed that one too. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">Finally, he was put on to another airline flight, and landed at Bangalore around 1.25 pm.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">The scene at Bangalore airport was moving for all.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">The boy was in no mood to talk. “I cried a lot,� he said. His father says no minor passenger should ever be treated like his son was.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">Joke of the day: When this correspondent called up the Delhi office of the airline asking about Sajeev’s delay, they had not a clue about the boy.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">Sajeev is ready to enjoy his holidays, but there could be a fear lurking in his mind: his return flight on January 5!</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold=""><formid=376815></formid=376815></span></div> </div>