Flybillett for $2
AN INDIAN entrepreneur has given a new twist to the concept of low-cost airlines. The passengers boarding his Airbus 300 in Delhi do not expect to go anywhere because it never takes off.
All they want is the chance to know what it is like to sit on a plane, listen to announcements and be waited on by stewardesses bustling up and down the aisle.
In a country where 99% of the population have never experienced air travel, the "virtual journeys" of Bahadur Chand Gupta, a retired Indian Airlines engineer, have proved a roaring success.
As on an ordinary aircraft, customers buckle themselves in and watch a safety demonstration. But when they look out of the windows, the landscape never changes. Even if "Captain" Gupta wanted to get off the ground, the plane would not go far: it only has one wing and a large part of the tail is missing.
Det setter spørsmålet om hvorvidt en begrensning på antall sydenturer er et enormt overgrep i perspektiv.
Jasmine, som er en ung lærer, sier at hun lenge har hatt lyst til å gå inn i et fly:
"It is much more beautiful than I ever imagined."
Det kan være en påminner om at sammenhengen mellom velstand og lykke langt fra er så lineær som vi tenker oss. Manglende velstand gjør enkelt og greit at positive opplevelser veier mye tyngre og oppleves mye mer positivt, i tillegg til at lista for hva som oppleves som positivt endres. Det viser denne historien på en ekstrem måte, men dette gjelder også norske forhold. Å jobbe hardt for å tjene godt er absolutt ingen vei til et lykkelig liv.