As I settle in on an evening when Jet Airways operates its last flight (for now) from Amritsar to Mumbai, one glance on my phone to keep a track of the flight on Flightradar24 has me glued. Not to the movement of the aircraft but to my wallpaper. It's the VT-JXC, a 737 MAX 8 of Jet Airways, window view, seeing into the dawn as we took off from Mumbai on an early morning departure to Delhi. I stare away and my eyes catch my 1/400 scaled Jet Airways VT-JET, a B777 model standing handsomely on the mantle. Guess what, it still smiles on me. It brings back nineteen years of my life, years where Jet Airways has been more than just an airline carrying me and millions like me from point A to point B.
My journey with Jet Airways started out of sheer curiosity. Born and raised in a small town of Punjab, airplanes were not so within reach for an average middle-class household. So when the opportunity came to move to Bangalore in early 2000, I only had one demand for my father, who would travel for work a lot. I would collect his boarding passes, his leaf tickets and it was always the ticket of Jet, the wet tissue pack, the mint that fascinated me. More than ModiLuft, Alliance Air and the likes then. Back to the demand. It was simple, we had to fly Jet Airways from Delhi to Mumbai.
Like any father, who did not want his 10-year-old son to sob into eternity, he agreed and we were to fly Jet Airways. I have vivid memories, even though this was almost 19 years ago. Window seat, 24A, next to my father sitting in the middle seat, who said, 'this is a Boeing 737. See that engine? GE makes them, my company'. Proudly. He was joining GE and I was impressed. For the first time, I liked GE. I resented them till that very point because I did not want to leave my small town and move to Bangalore and the uncertainty a new city brings.
In came the wet towels, the warm hospitality of the cabin crew and a butter smooth flight. For a young 10-year-old, a turbulence-free flight meant, good airline, so the mind was made up, Jet it was and always will be. The beautiful blue interior, lovely yellow lights, a clean plane and window, and that smell. The smell that I still can sense. Fascination and love are irrational.
