You could call the action that unfolded on August 10, 1991, a milestone moment for Indian aviation all right — but with a difference. Aviation played a big part in it although the event itself was not directly related to aviation.
The person behind the developments on that day was Amrita Ahluwalia, an air-hostess with Indian Airlines, who saved a 10-year-old child from marriage with an elderly Arab. The child was being taken from Hyderabad to Delhi by an Indian Airlines flight, for onward journey to the Gulf.
Ah, yes, of course, you might say, as you recall the Ameena Begum incident. Almost 28 years after the event that jolted the nation’s conscience, what is this former air-hostess busy with?
BusinessLine caught up with Amrita for a chat.
Post-retirement, Amrita comes across as the same bubbly person who greeted passengers on Indian Airlines flights with her pleasing Namaskar and smile. Settling down, but not before plying us with some fresh home-made biscuits, Amrita relives the highs and lows of her 38-year-long career with Indian Airlines.
There are happy moments, there is also the pain and angst that she had to go through, be it when she broke the child bride racket, better known as the Ameena case, or during some rough phases in her career. There were also health issues, her battle with cancer, and going through chemo and radiation sessions, which left her speech with a slur.
We seek to know a little about her early years, how did she get into aviation? “I was born into a middle-class family in Haryana, my father, a farmer, hailed from Sialkot in Pakistan, so I have one leg there,” she says. “My mother, a teacher, had a strong influence on my life. My elder brother, who was in the Air Force, was my inspiration. If there was one thing I wanted to do from childhood, it was to become an air-hostess.”
In 1977, Amrita saw an advertisement for recruitment of air-hostesses. Those days, the recruitment was region-wise. “I got selected and, after training, inducted into Indian Airlines”.
20/03/19 V Rishi Kumar/Business Line
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The person behind the developments on that day was Amrita Ahluwalia, an air-hostess with Indian Airlines, who saved a 10-year-old child from marriage with an elderly Arab. The child was being taken from Hyderabad to Delhi by an Indian Airlines flight, for onward journey to the Gulf.
Ah, yes, of course, you might say, as you recall the Ameena Begum incident. Almost 28 years after the event that jolted the nation’s conscience, what is this former air-hostess busy with?
BusinessLine caught up with Amrita for a chat.
Post-retirement, Amrita comes across as the same bubbly person who greeted passengers on Indian Airlines flights with her pleasing Namaskar and smile. Settling down, but not before plying us with some fresh home-made biscuits, Amrita relives the highs and lows of her 38-year-long career with Indian Airlines.
There are happy moments, there is also the pain and angst that she had to go through, be it when she broke the child bride racket, better known as the Ameena case, or during some rough phases in her career. There were also health issues, her battle with cancer, and going through chemo and radiation sessions, which left her speech with a slur.
We seek to know a little about her early years, how did she get into aviation? “I was born into a middle-class family in Haryana, my father, a farmer, hailed from Sialkot in Pakistan, so I have one leg there,” she says. “My mother, a teacher, had a strong influence on my life. My elder brother, who was in the Air Force, was my inspiration. If there was one thing I wanted to do from childhood, it was to become an air-hostess.”
In 1977, Amrita saw an advertisement for recruitment of air-hostesses. Those days, the recruitment was region-wise. “I got selected and, after training, inducted into Indian Airlines”.
20/03/19 V Rishi Kumar/Business Line
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