Voot to pull the plug on Silsila

Highlights:

• Anoushka Shankar found her sitar cracked after an Air India flight.
• She showed the damage in a short Instagram video.
• She said she had paid the handling fee and used her usual hard cases.
• Air India has started a review and is checking airport footage.

Anoushka Shankar has called out Air India after discovering her sitar badly cracked when she opened the case after a recent flight. She posted a video online showing the split running across the lower end of the instrument. The clip raised quick questions about how the airline handled it, especially since she said she paid the handling fee and used the same protective cases she always travels with.

Shankar said it was her first time choosing Air India in years, and that made the discovery harder to accept. She added that the sitar had travelled safely for more than a decade on other carriers without even a peg slipping.