"It is a pleasure to watch them blossom”

“Life is beautiful,” says Meenakshi Anand, seated in her office at Airhostess Training Center, off Delhi’s busy South Extension market. The room is filled with photographs of her many students who now fly on national and international carriers.
The academy draws young girls from small towns with dreams of flying to distant lands but no means of making it possible.
Ten years ago when Meenakshi’s army officer husband was posted in Delhi, she decided to take up a job. She had only a graduate degree. The first place she went to was the Women’s Polytechnic at South Extension. Unmindful of status, she took up a front office job for just Rs 2,500 per month.
Four years into her job, Meenakshi observed that many tourism students wanted airhostess training. She studied the market and saw its potential. Together with Abha Singh, a friend from the same institute, she started the Airhostess Training Center (ATC) in 2000. “We put in Rs. 1,00,000 initially. We started with just one telephone, a computer and 25 students. We had to pay royalty to the Polytechnic. Today we rent this space for over Rs. 1,00,000 a month. We also have a branch in Jabalpur.”
As head of operations Meenakshi travels to small towns, holding seminars and talking about the ATC. She has an easy charm and her enthusiasm brings results. “We started with 25 girls; now more than 200 fly with various airlines, and there are the those in the hospitality industry,” she exults.
The six-month course, priced at Rs. 75,000, teaches everything from grooming to social skills and how to face interviews. “When the kids go for their interviews, I call my hairdresser and tell her the hair and make up style for each one. Many girls, once they get jobs and start flying, come back to the centre with clothes meant for others who may not have the means to buy outfits appropriate for interviews. I am just very grateful that I have been able to create a family.”
Meenakshi is proud that ATC has made a name in the industry. “I mentor them like a mother; we do not take more than 20 in one batch. I still conduct classes and am with them for all in-flight trainings. It is a pleasure to watch them blossom.”
She points at a smiling, fresh-faced girl on the ATC brochure, “Narender Kaur is our brand ambassador. She is with Etihad Airlines. When she came from Modinagar, her father was jobless as he was laid off from Modi Mills. Today this child has bought a Rs. 25,00,000-flat for her parents in her home town. She epitomises the possibility of small town girls reaching for their dreams.”
27/07/08 Madhu Gurung/The Hindu