hospitality on S Anand

An excellent air hostess

Thu, 18 Jun 2026 10:49:16 +0530

On the Indigo 1163 from Mumbai to Singapore, an air hostess was serving food, which they had to pause just before me because of turbulence.

In such cases, I’ve sometimes been skipped in the past, and I usually stay alert for when service resumes.

This time, I wasn’t paying attention. But the air hostess walked over right on cue and asked, “Mr. Subramanian, have we served you yet?”

She didn’t know. That’s normal.
But she checked. That’s not.\

(These sentences are human written, on a flight. But if Claude had written the above, I would have rewritten it because it sounds too much like AI.)

When she asked for my beverage, I picked “Masala chai”. (The Indigo masala tea is lovely. Or, as my daughter puts it, “Appa, you’re just getting old!”)

“We’re not serving hot beverages now sir, but I can get it after the seat belt signs go off.”

Every time I’ve heard this, I tell them “I’ll have buttermilk, please,” simply because I’m worried they’ll forget.

This time, I said, “I’ll wait.”

Before I finished my sandwich (and even though the seat belt signs weren’t off, but the turbulence subsided), she placed the tea in my hands.

I had my laptop open and was eating my sandwich without the tray table open, so an ultra-thoughtful air hostess might have opened the tray table and placed the tray there, but an ultra-thoughtful neighbor did that for me. (This happened on my onward flight as well. Either air-neighbors are getting friendlier or I’m looking more helpless than I thought.)

I went up to use the toilet, but she suggested that I not use it during turbulence - gently enough that if I felt the need, I could tell her it was urgent.

Fifteen minutes later, the seat belt signs were still on and I walked over again. She didn’t stop me - she remembered. Another air hostess was cleaning inside, so she suggested I use the toilet at the rear. She called them up and let them know to let me use it, though the seat belt signs were on.

Maybe because this was an international flight. But whatever the reason…

Thank you, Sharadha.

Update: 2 Jul 2026. On my flight from Singapore to Bangalore, the air hostess served me a sandwich. I ate it. She came back and offered me a biryani.

“But I already had a sandwich.”

“Oh, sorry sir, I served you wrong. Could you please have the biryani anyway?”

So, yeah, while I preferred the sandwich to biryani and have no complaints, some air hostesses do better than others.

Courtesy

Wed, 04 Sep 2013 14:27:52 +0000

We are often subject to body searches, baggage inspections, and identity verifications. At malls. At airports. At offices.

These are to ensure that no one carries ammunition inside, or goods or secrets outside. In other words, to deter terrorists and thieves.

It’s nothing personal, of course. When someone does not know me, I can choose to accept that (or not; the choice is mine).

When I’m invited somewhere, however, I assume that I am not deemed a security threat. Therefore, I expect that:

My and my belongings will not be searched or scanned
I need not leave behind my personal belongings
I need not carry an identity card

Please afford me this courtesy if you are inviting me.

For some months now, I’ve visited many corporate offices. The reception is comprised of security guards, a metal detector and a register. I’m given a tag and an escort.

I’m not fussy. I’m not worried about being greeted, for example. I’m quite happy to plug into a power socket and work on my laptop until logistics are sorted out. But when that happens at the security outpost with no sitting space, or outside the gate in the rain, it inconveniences me.

A few weeks ago, I was at Singapore, and visited a client’s office in slippers. One of them complemented my choice of footwear, and remarked that he had not yet risen high enough in the corporate ladder to afford this luxury. (There’s a series of stories behind my footwear that I’ll get to later.)

That told me something. After a long time, I now can afford this luxury. Especially if someone knows me well enough to invite me to their office.

I hope to point them to this blog post and request that security be arranged so that I can be afforded this small courtesy; be treated with trust rather than as a terrorist or a thief.

(If their organisation’s practice does not permit this, I’m happy to meet outside. Besides, our office is happy to extend warm hospitality.)

Good restaurant manners

Fri, 28 Jun 2002 12:00:00 +0000

The ABC’s of good restaurant manners.

Comments

ROSH 25 Aug 2008 11:01 pm: We had a debate at the office canteen, and i happened to mention that it was not right to ask the steward tomato sauce while having your meal…..as this may be an insult to the Chef……my question is “how right am i”…can u kindly explain in detail…..thanks mate