{"id":878413,"date":"2025-12-17T23:26:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T05:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/17\/devastated-musician-anoushka-shankar-calls-out-air-india-after-her-sitar-gets-damaged-during-flight\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T23:26:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T05:26:09","slug":"devastated-musician-anoushka-shankar-calls-out-air-india-after-her-sitar-gets-damaged-during-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/17\/devastated-musician-anoushka-shankar-calls-out-air-india-after-her-sitar-gets-damaged-during-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Devastated\u2019: Musician Anoushka Shankar calls out Air India after her sitar gets damaged during flight"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sitarist Anoushka Shankar has publicly accused Air India of mishandling her sitar during a recent flight \u2014 the instrument reached her with visible cracks despite being stored in a hard case and after paying a handling fee.\u00a0<\/h2>\n
\"Anoushka<\/figure>\n
Anoushka Shankar has called out Air India for damaging her sitar(Instagram\/anoushkashankarofficial)<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Grammy-nominated sitarist Anoushka Shankar<\/a> has publicly accused Air India<\/a> of mishandling her instrument, after she discovered significant cracks in her sitar following a recent flight. She shared a video on Instagram, expressing shock and dismay: \u201cThis was my first time flying Air India in a long time\u2026 after 15 or 17 years, this is the first time anything like this has happened to my instrument.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her post, Shankar pointed out that she always travels with a hard, protective case and paid a handling fee for extra care \u2014 yet found her instrument damaged on arrival. \u201cHow have you done this? I have special cases, you charge a handling fee and yet you’ve done this?\u201d she asked, underlining the emotional attachment she holds with her sitar.<\/p>\n

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The appeal from a musician of global stature<\/h2>\n

Shankar wrote in the caption that she was \u201cdevastated and truly disturbed\u201d by what happened. She said it felt particularly painful because she chose to fly Air India after a long gap; \u201cit seems an Indian instrument can\u2019t be safe with them,\u201d she lamented, adding that she has travelled on \u201cthousands of flights\u201d with other airlines without even a peg on her sitar going out of tune.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Her revelation has reopened a long-standing debate over how airlines handle fragile musical instruments. Many Indian musicians have previously complained of damage or loss when travelling, especially on flights where instruments must be checked in as cargo rather than carried onboard.<\/p>\n

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Watch the video here:<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Surge of support and outrage online<\/h2>\n

The post has sparked a wave of reactions from fellow musicians, fans and social-media users \u2014 many expressing solidarity and frustration. Comments under her post reflect anger and sympathy, with users calling the situation \u201cunbelievable\u201d and demanding accountability from the airline.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Musician Anvita Shankar wrote, \u201cThis is unbelievable. How terribly @airindia must\u2019ve handled the sitar for this to happen inside those secure hard cases!!?? I\u2019m so sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Musician Vishal Dadlani wrote, \u201cGod, that\u2019s heartbreaking! I\u2019m so sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n

The third user wrote, \u201cOh man!!!! This hurts \ud83d\ude22 I am so sorry to hear this!\u201d<\/p>\n

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Not the first incident<\/h2>\n

Classical musician Arnab Bhattacharya found the oversized bag carrying his sarod broken and the instrument damaged when he reached Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Christeen Pecora
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sitarist Anoushka Shankar has publicly accused Air India of mishandling her sitar during a recent flight \u2014 the instrument reached her with visible cracks despite being stored in a hard case and after paying a handling fee.\u00a0 Anoushka Shankar has called out Air India for damaging her sitar(Instagram\/anoushkashankarofficial) Grammy-nominated sitarist Anoushka Shankar has publicly accused<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":878414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22971,2674],"tags":[98644,11322],"class_list":["post-878413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-devastated","category-musician","tag-devastated","tag-musician"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=878413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/878414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}