A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is the stuff of treasured memories. For 48 children — with little hope of a break from the routine of waking up, going to school, attending classes and returning home — Wednesday offered one such opportunity, one they will cherish forever. Their first-ever flight.
Says 12-year-old Nithila Sigamani, a class VII student at Aditya Higher Secondary School, “I think I felt a little uneasy during the take-off but after that I was excited to watch the clouds up close.”
For Children’s Day, IndiGo, Airports Authority of India and Indian Oil Corporation took these 48 underprivileged children from schools around Chennai airport on a free trip.
As Captain Ashok Paiva of IndiGo steered the aircraft to an altitude of 16,000 feet, excitement welled up in the cabin as buildings gradually began to look like miniature models and a spectacular view of the Bay of Bengal eventually emerged.
They went via Kancheepuram all the way to Tiruchi and got back.
Asha Priyadarshini, a class VI student, also from the same school says, “My parents were as happy as me. We have only seen flights zip across the sky but not once have I thought that someday I will be travelling in one.”
Anandhi K.M., a teacher at Government Adi Dravida Welfare Higher Secondary School in Meenambakkam, says a routine flight journey that many of us take for granted is a day that these children will remember all their life, since it is their first.
These children also had a surprise visitor joining them. Actor Satish kept them in good humour throughout the journey, leaving them in splits.
Chennai Metro free ride
Chennai Metro Rail too organised a trip for the students of Municipal High School, Alandur, taking 68 children from AG-DMS station to Chennai Airport and Chennai Central to Chennai Airport.
