"I hate goodbyes..but I guess it's time" Message on day before Mangalore Aircrash

All the six crew members aboard the Air India flight which crashed in Mangalore on Saturday morning died. Among them were airhostesses, who had just started living their dreams.

"I hate goodbyes..but I guess it's time," was the haunting message left by Sujata Survase on Orkut a day before she left on the ill-fated flight. Sujata had returned to work after a long vacation and her networking profile reveals how much she enjoyed being home in Mumbai.

Sujata who had worked with Air India for three years had also written about how she hated flying on the KWI sector faced with bad weather and delays which she described as quick death.


Sujata described herself as someone with a lot attitude. Someone who was put off by male chauvinism, but who also described herself as a typical girl.

''In my bedroom you'll find clothes, vanity kit, handbags, am a typical girl but the things are not dispersed, I hate mess,'' reads her Orkut profile.

Sujata loved flying and was excited about her flight to Dubai, unaware of the fate that awaited her.

At her home in suburban Andheri, her family and friends remember her a driven, hardworking girl, who had always dreamed of being an airhostess.

"Since her childhood, she wanted to be an airhostess," said Babu Survase, Sujata's brother.

"She was the backbone of her family. I remember her as a daring girl. She became an airhostesss on her own," said one of her neighbours.

In another suburb of Mumbai, Dombivali, Tejal Kamulkar's story is almost a parallel. Just 25, she had become an airhostess just three months ago. A quiet girl from a modest background, she wanted to set an example by pursuing a career in flying. A reality show buff, but also someone who said she couldn't live without prayer and meditation.

At the home of Harbinder Singh Ahluwalia, the co-pilot on the flight, colleagues poured in to show their support. Forty-year-old Ahluwalia had flown for more than 15 years, and had considerable experience in landing on the difficult Mangalore air-strip. Lives and dreams of these crew members, cut short, in what was one tragic morning.