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Safar Katha..

While waiting for check in at Heathrow, a middle aged lady carrying a smart Coach bag, clad from head to toe in black abaya and hijab, her shimmering face showing came to me and asked if I would carry her extra luggage for her! Shocked that she could even ask me such a question I tried to politely tell her that I didn't have any space, she blatantly lied and said she would have returned her extra luggage with her family but they had already left, whereas I could see them standing in a corner and waiting for the outcome of her adventure. This was a prelude to stranger things to come. On the plane, nothing less than a PIA, one out of two economy class toilets went 'out of order' ten minutes into our flight, causing at least half an hour waiting queues. Steward on duty to serve our aisle was too macho to serve us even water, let alone ask if we needed anything. My request for a blanket was ignored with not even a return 'sorry we don't have any more' note. We felt this deprivation even more because the stewardess in the opposite lane came every fifteen minutes bringing either newspapers, water, blankets etc. On a seven and a half hour journey we were subjected to a manually operated in flight entertainment system: One small screen in the front showing Hitchcock kind of a movie, the title of which was never given. At the airport while we waited in the queue for passport check we saw some of our fellow passengers jumping lines or altogether by passing passport check and leave. I guess those of us who were waiting had to have not just our passports but our heads checked as well for braving a return home journey!

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