our heroes come out....

The strikes over, and it'll probably be off the national media radar in a few days, but before that happens, I want to bring out the few good things that happened during the strike.

I do hope the rest of us realize that the AAI staff that created such a ruckus at the airports, hurting anybody and everybody travelling through our airports, don't really deserve the sympathy that they want from us. They have been puppets in the hands of the commie politicians, and for men and women of their age and experience, it is shameful that they got used in such a way. Well, socialist, destructive strikes may work in old economies, the India of today doesnt need it. If these people couldn't get things done when they were their own bosses, I doubt their ability to change under private management. From now on they have to work for their money. They know it and thats what they don't want. Well, its going to happen.

‘Why can’t I clean? This is my country’

New Delhi, February 4: On day 3 of the airport strike, with garbage and filth piling up at the domestic terminal this afternoon, it took just one middle-aged passenger to leave the protestors red-faced - and scrambling for cover.

Shocked at the state of the airport, Rajesh Shroff, an Agra businessman, who had arrived from Chennai, picked up a basket lying nearby and quietly started collecting garbage strewn around at the arrival lounge.

As a small crowd gathered and striking employees looked on, Shroff kept at it, even humming a popular Hindi song, as he emptied the basket in a trash can - and began the next round.

“What’s wrong? Yeh apna desh hai (This is my country),” Shroff said aloud. And that snapped the sequence. The protestors rushed forward and kicked the basket from his hand, sending garbage flying in the air. They then grabbed Shroff by the collar and pushed him aside.

“Who are to you to clean this place? Can’t you see that we are on strike? Who told you to do this?” were just some the questions hurled at him.

Shroff’s reply? “I was only cleaning up. I’m a passenger and this is my country. When people abroad respect public property so much, why can’t I?”

His nephew, who was travelling with him, chipped in, “What wrong did we do? This is our country.”

The retort, apart from the expletives, was telling, “If you are so keen to clean up, why don’t you go to a slum? If you are so interested in social work, why don’t you clean the roads?” shouted a protestor.

By now, TV crews had started moving in, forcing a senior AAI employee to tell Shroff, “We are on strike, please leave. This will bring bad publicity.”

On Thursday, striking AAI workers had roughed up a private airline employee as he started cleaning a part of the terminal building. “You are working against the objectives of the strike,” the protestors told him.