No, I wasn’t on that Air-India flight that crashed, thank God. But yes, I’ve flown Air-India often enough to feel I’ve earned honorary wings — and maybe even a seatbelt buckle that doesn’t work. For years, I remained a loyal flier. Not out of love, mind you, but out of…


Robert Clements is a newspaper columnist and writes a daily column, which has graced the pages of over 60 newspapers and magazines, from a daily column in the Khaleej Times, Dubai, the Morning Star, London, and in nearly every state in India, from The Statesman in Kolkata, to the Kashmir Times in Kashmir to the Trinity Mirror in Chennai.