Politillectual

India’s transportation giants: Lost In transit In the early days after India’s Independence, a middle-aged Indian man was flying on an Air India flight. When his meal was served, the man realized that the lights above his head were too dim for him to see the food properly. After fiddling with the lights above his head for some time, the man gave up, took out a small notebook and scribbled down some notes. The next day, at Bombay House, the man, JRD Tata convened a meeting of Air India officials and asked them to improve the lighting above the passengers in their aircraft. The executives were a bit surprised by this odd suggestion, to which he said, “We serve such great food, shouldn’t our passengers be able to see it? All the aspects of our airline are critical. We are not merely a transport service; we are perfecting the art of passenger service in the airline industry.” This anecdote might hardly seem to be a story from Air India, considering the intractable mess it is now ...