Aisle Be Damned

Are you a frequent flyer? Even if you aren't, you must have flown by any airlines from one place to another some time in your life? If you belong to any of these categories, you'd enjoy this book. And just in case you are yet to step in an aircraft, this book will get you looking forward to an airborne experience.

Rishi Piparaiya, the author, as he puts it, has a "1000 plus - flight career" across both international and national boundaries. And he is utterly bored of it. See, I may fly a couple of times in a year, and I find plane journeys predictable and don't think much about them. For a person who has flown so many times, you can imagine that he'd go crazy. And that's when he starts noticing finer details - and a compilation of his take on various aspects has evolved into this book.

For example, he advices that a passenger hopeful of being upgraded to business class from economy should be wearing an expensive jacket and look very polished waist upwards - and may even opt for shorts below, because the attendant at the check-in desk would just glance at your upper half. Rishi gives you tips about whether you should opt for a window or aisle seat, whether you should rush while getting in the airport bus, or what to say lest you be seated against celebrities.

There are some really funny parts in the book. You may have witnessed the in-flight demonstration of security aspects, but have you given a second thought to the language used? Rishi wonders why the Hindi version seems so out dated - using terms like "nishedh", "vilambh" - words no one uses in spoken language.

Read this book to learn about Rishi's experiences, and you'd find yourself grinning for most part of the book!

Bon Voyage!