Rerouting Sofia-Moscow-Delhi flight
``There are only two seats in Aeroflot airlines available for rerouting Sofia-Moscow- Delhi flight to Sofia-Rome-Delhi flight. The additional charge for rerouting will be Bulgarian currency 10 Lev. ‘’ Three of us Indian journalists had arrived at the Aeroflot office in Sofia when we learnt that we could change the route of our return flight to India and also get a transit two-day transit visa to visit Rome.
A group of 30 journalists drawn from various English, Hindi and other languages and also from different states in India was completing a certificate course in Bulgaria. This incident dates back to April 1986.
The journalism course was organised by the International Organisation of Journalists (IOJ) and the candidates were selected by the Indian Federation of Working Journalists.
In 1980s, the IOJ used to organise such journalism courses every year in various USSR-allies East European nations like West Germany, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Rumania, Poland for Indian journalists. As a general secretary of Goa Union of Journalists, I was also chosen for this fully sponsored course and Panjim-based The Navhind Times had sanctioned me full paid leave for the initial course in Lucknow and now for the Bulgaria tour. The three-month long course was about to end and during this time we had arrived at the Aeroflot office to inquire about the rerouting of our flight.
We had arrived in Sofia via Moscow. This was my first international flight. The Aeroflot airlines run by the Soviet Union of Republic Russia or the now defunct USSR was the cheapest airlines in the world and also offering most spacious seats and baggage facilities, we were told.
I was then 26 and noticed that the air hostesses who welcomed us in the planes did not take trouble in smiling at us nor were they young , did not have any visible signs of make up as air hostess are normally expected to be. The communists apparently did not believe in exploiting the beauty or gender of the fair sex. I vividly remember an air hostess in her late thirties who had a strong physique helping us passengers to put their heavy VIP suitcases in the overhead luggage compartments.
The staff of at the immigration counters in Moscow were equally strange, their cold stares, their observation of our dark eyes, face features and comparing them minutely with the black and white photos on our passports was chilling indeed as we had heard of the KGB operations in the Communist country.
An aged obese woman in dark clothes who sat in a chair was a doorkeeper at a hotel we stayed in Moscow. She revealed no emotions. But she soon grew friendly with me and on the last day of our stay there, she had smiled at me and squeezing my check as she chided me for my smoking. I understood her admonition though we did not know each other’s language.
We had a three-day stay in Moscow after which we left for Sofia. As we completed half of the course, we leant of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Russia. The Mikhail Gorbachev administration in the USSR had tried to conceal the one of the worst nuclear disaster in the world but somehow the news had leaked many days after the accident at the nuclear plant. We could not fully understand Bulgarian language and our interpreters were always on guard what was conveyed to us. Nevertheless we did hear the rumours that Moscow airport may have closed for some time to avoid spread of the deadly radiation caused by the Chernobyl mishap. There was possibility of our Aeroflot flights being rerouted through Rome. But this rumours were dispelled as the date for our return to India approached nearer.
And now at the Aeroflot office in Sofia, we three India journalists were told that there are only two tickets available for rerouting via Rome. We had to take quick decision before someone else opted for rerouting those seats.
I, as a Christian and also a Roman Catholic, had natural fascination towards Rome and the Vatican City, the seat of the Pope. Since childhood through the New Testament of the Bible, I had been reading fascinating tales of this ancient city. But I immediately opted out and the two other journalists colleagues immediately paid 10 Lev each and completed the other formalities.
The reason I volunteered to opt out of the choice was my tight budget. My journalist friend Raghavan’s father, Mr Padnanabhan, also a New Delhi-based financial correspondent of the Hindu daily, had lent me Rs. 4000 for the Europe tour. The 1200 Lev stipend I had received during the journalism course in Bulgaria was adequate to repay this loan even after I had purchased a Remington portable typewriter and a Russian-made camera for myself – my most valuable assets in my journalism profession in Goa for the next few years.
But for many years, I had this regret that I missed the opportunity to visit Italy, Rome and The Vatican City . The additional rerouting charge was just 10 Lev, equivalent of just Rs. 1000 ! This 30-year-old incident flashed before my mind as I flew from Paris to Rome as a part of my family’s Europe holiday a few years back. My dream visit was soon turning into reality.
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