ulta pulta
All in the air
Jaspal Bhatti

Recently a near-collision was averted between an Air India plane and helicopter from the President’s convoy at Mumbai. According to news reports, air traffic control (ATC) staff at Mumbai is quite overworked as it has only 160 officials against 330 stipulated.

I asked my nephew, Guggu, why didn’t he try making his career as an air traffic controller. After all he had been always interested in a job in the aviation sector.

"Come off it mamu", he said. "I would rather become a traffic constable." I asked, "What makes you think that a constable is more glamorous than an air traffic controller?"

He said, "On the road, a constable has full authority to stop anybody and get a chance to check the license of beautiful girls, who don’t wear helmets. On the tarmac we can’t ask the pilot and the air hostesses to get down and show their papers."

This explains why many youngsters prefer not to opt for ATC jobs that demand great responsibility and have zero glamour. I tried to persuade my nephew again, "The ATC also has power, especially when he obliges one pilot to land and let the other to hover over the city for half an hour on the pretext of traffic congestion."

Guggu replied, "Mamu, you don’t understand. The real glamour lies in whistling the motorist to stop, pointing out to him a list of offences and then letting him go by taking a on-the-spot bribe."

HOME