Being an airhostess...

Night outs, movies, hotels, parties...all this and morefascinated 23-year-old Patna-based Rachna Pandey when she came to Mumbai onholiday in 1989. Despite her parents’ disapproval (they wanted to marryher off), Rachna joined a foreign airline. She began earning somewhere around Rs50,000 per month, and suddenly there were frequent foreign trips, stays atfive-star hotels, trendy clothes, hobnobbing with the rich and the famous,bogeying late nights. Rachna’s marriage to her pilot boyfriend lasted justone-and-a-half years. She accepts, “An independent lifestyle,fatigue, erratic sleeping patterns, numerous temptations, meeting new andinteresting people made it difficult for me to share space with anyone.”She is now happily living on her own. “I have a boyfriend, we live inseparate flats and I don’t intend to make it official,” she saysfirmly. Rachna took control of her life, but not everybody is as fortunate. Suicides among airhostesses in the recent past could be attributed to thecombination of several socio and socio-economic factors. Disturbed due to the ‘differences’ with her pilot boyfriend, 24-year-old Anupama Acharya committed suicide by jumping off a five-storey building in Mumbai. A ‘troubled marriage’ pushed 25-year-old Sucheta Anand to suicide. Erratic work hours, family pressures and adjustments as a homemaker and domestic violence could be responsible for an airhostess’s life going awry. There are chances of girls from small towns succumbing to temptations more easily than the girls from big metros who must have seen it all. Says Perizad Irani, a flight attendant on British Airways, “I know of a colleague who fell for a captain, who was seeing half the world for the longest time. She came to her senses and married a sensible guy.”Reveals DeirdreSampayo, director, Wings Airline Academy, “At times, they are not able toreport to work and are found bogeying in a nightclub. Divorce is rising. Combinethat with no job, which leads to frustration and they hit the bottle.”Strangely enough, there are many instances of airhostessess’s spouses notearning well enough. Says Seema Rawat, assistant general secretary, Cabin CrewAssociation, “There is a clash in values. They want her to wear Indianclothes and be there for every festival.” In the other extreme, saysRachna, “They are so desperate for her money that they don’t mindgiving total freedom.” With domestic carriers flying almost100 hours every week as compared to 25 to 30 hours in the past, most flightattendants are flying back to back flights. Besides fatigue, it leaves them withvery little time for their families. Hence, 70 per cent of airhostesses quittheir jobs within five years of working. Says Seema, “In the West,airhostesses don’t spend nights outside the country after maternity.Unlike the West, the companies here are not willing to put them onground.” Adds Perizad, “In a foreign airline, women have the optionof working part-time after maternity.”The other incidents thatcould diminish the aura of glamour and excitement, is a deluge of molestationcases on board in the last few weeks. A leading Bollywood star was witnessedhurling abuses in Hindi at a white airhostess when he did not get his choice ofliquor. “Heavy drinkers and smokers are agitated when they don’t getfree booze and are not allowed to smoke. Some passengers even lodge falsecomplaints when we don’t reciprocate their advances. They think they havebought a girl in a skirt along with the ticket. Some men take the aisle seat toget close,” says Preeti Raikar, a flight attendant on AirIndia.Says Sabina Khan, an airhostess who has moved to BritishAirways, “Indian mannerisms are far from international standards. Iremember an old man whistling and singing throughout the journey. In a foreignairline, you can’t mess with the crew. The passenger is warned, he caneven be hand-cuffed and arrested.” Says Seema, “Our laws need to bemore stringent. Ninety per cent of the time no FIR is filed. The offence isbailable. The passenger is told to apologise and that is the end of thematter.”The dream job that promises money and glamour willremain a dream unless the authorities step in before the flight angels put downtheir wings. And it is much more than beauty and glamour. As a flight attendantrightly puts it, “I am much more than a pretty face, and don't you forgetit. I might save your life one day.”