My Costly Affair
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose. By any other word would smell as sweet.“ William
Shakespeare wrote in famous ‘Romeo and Juliet’.
Well Well, though calling rose a sunflower does not diminish its smell, but it does cost heavily if
someone pronounces your name weirdly.
So the incident happened during my flight from Delhi to Mumbai. It was an Indigo airlines.
Everything was under control. At least at that point! Yes! I didn’t forget my ticket, took printed
copies , my small backpack was properly packed, reached airport well before time to avoid Delhi
traffic and completed all security checks . Then ticked all points correctly in my checklist as
everything was OK. What a relief! It was a bright sunny day of March. So there was no sign of
weather disturbance. As a practice, I got my tickets stamped. Since there was much more time left
for the flight, I decided to roam around through Beautiful Indira Gandhi Airport. Indeed! The airport
is beautiful.
After sometime, I got bored of roaming. Hence I decided to read a book. I just glanced my watch.
Well there was still time for flight. And yes, all was well by that time.
Time had passed. I received phone call by mum. She called me to check whether I boarded my flight.
Suddenly I felt of waking up and murmured myself about flight. I checked wristwatch and astonished
that why the announcement was not made about flight. I rushed to ticket counter and asked
attendant whether the flight was delay or some problem occurred?
I felt that my heart pumped at the supersonic speed by hearing her answer. Yeah! The Answer was
“THAT FLIGHT HAD TAKEN OFF!”
Oh my god! How is it possible? I just got feared and felt helpless.
I became worried. Having some angry tone in my voice, I asked her “Madam, did you announce my
name before allowing flight to take off?“ She plainly said “Yes, Madam. We have announced your
name thrice. There was no response from your side.” Again I got surprised and told her that I have
never heard that my name is being announced. But she was stuck to her point firmly. On other side, I
was damn sure that I hadn’t heard announcement. We, both defending our points consistently.
And suddenly I realised something. Something that I had faced many times. Yeah! It was my name.
They announced my name but in a very bizarre manner. I got clue from attendant’s intonation. She
was pronouncing my name in an incorrect way. I had faced different version of my name till now and
I was used to it. People utter/write my name as per their convenience. It can be anything
“zhai”/”Jae”/”jayee”/Zai”/Jaiee” to name a few. And I understand it only to feel pity on myself.
But this time, it was different. They called my name in such a wrong way that I myself couldn’t
understand that my name was being announced. Hence, in this way, my missed my flight. How
helpless I felt that day! No one to blame, No one on whom I could be angry. Since there was no use
of arguing with attendant, only option was to book another flight. I followed rituals, boarded next
flight and reached Mumbai by paying return journey fare for single trip. How Costly affair it was!
So I learned 2 lessons in whole Incident. 1. Never read book while waiting. 2. Pay extra attention to
announcement. Huh! I will never forget that incident.
If Shakespeare would have lived today, I would have narrated him above incident and told him that I
strongly object to “what’s in name”. I am sure, he would have agreed to change his statement to
“Yes, All is in name”.
P.S. - I got a prize for this write up in writing competition named as "your bizzare travel experience" .Hence Cost is partly compensated ;)
