It was a few years ago. There used to be an airline called Vayudoot. It was essentially a feeder airline and used Dorniers (twin engined planes) for their services. They used a hop, step and jump approach to travel. Which meant my Hyderabad-Vizag flight was actually a Hyderabad-Vijayawada-Rajahmundry-Vizag trip.

The turbo props had a healthy roar and the flight flew at lower altitudes than what we were used to on the whiny jets that we frequented. The interiors were quaint and the pilot had a small drop down curtain separating him from the passengers. At one stage the curtain billowed and we saw the pilot reading a newspaper.

The hostess had a short spell of hospitality work given the limited passengers and the size of the aircraft. She served a prepacked snack and some juice. Then some water was given to those who looked thirsty enough.

That water served as the trigger to get my bladder going and I had the embarassing task of asking the hostess where the facilities were. When she informed me that there was no toilet on board I was confused first and then in a state of panic.

We had by then taken off from Vijayawada and I heard the Pilot say on the radio that since there were no passengers who wanted to get off at Rajahmundry and none waiting to be taken to Vizag, he was wondering if he could skip the station altogether and save us a few minutes of travel time. Whoever he was speaking to obviously said yes because the next thing I knew he had made the announcement.

My panic levels starting ringing the alarm bells even more loudly. Now I had to wait till Vizag to go to the loo. I didn’t know whether I could hold on. The hostess seeing my plight had a discrete word with the pilot and the next thing I knew the plane was in an uncharacteristic dive and we had landed on a deserted airfield (which I later found was the Rajahmundry airport).

Sir, quickly! the hostess urged me and pushed me out of the plane. From the runway I asked what I was supposed to do and she advised me to look the other way and do whatever was necessary, but fast.

The engines were still running. The other passengers were still in the craft. And I took a long, satisfying pee on the runway and ran back into my carrier. The girl was all smiles and I was all relief.

The moment I was seated the pilot gunned the engines and took off in a jiffy.

I realised that what had been gifted to me was a piss stop, very off the record and very helpful. I realised too that never in my life had someone gone so far out of their way just so I could piddle.

Customer Service?