Mumbai, Dec. 31: The dusters are out and creaking chairs, unused for two years have been set right. Employees who had left due to non-payment of salaries and headed straight to Bombay High Court for justice are back and it is one happy reunion at Pakistan International Airlines’ main office at Nariman Point here. Everyone is happy now that aviation links between India and Pakistan are set to resume from tomorrow.

“The telephones haven’t stopped ringing,’’ says Salim Janjua, passenger sales manager at PIA, smiling as broadly as the arc that planes will make in the sky when they take off from here on Friday. As Salim talks animatedly about the airline’s plans for the new year, his mobile phone rings. “Mubarak ho aap ko bhi,’’ he greets a well-wisher.

“The people, too, are to be congratulated as much as us,’’ Salim says. “Now if they have to travel to Karachi from Mumbai, they will have to pay just Rs 8,300 for a return fare when earlier they had to pay Rs 27,000 one-way because they were routed through Dubai. And then they will be spending a mere one hour 40 minutes on travel time when earlier it took close to 24 hours. Bahut accha hua.’’

It has not been easy for Janjua and his chief, Pervez Ahmed Khan — manager of PIA’s India operations and the only Pakistani employee currently in India. PIA employees here were left in limbo when the aviation link was snapped on January 1, 2002.

All of them, except Khan, lost their jobs when PIA shut down its office. The manager himself had no work, spending most of his time playing games on the lone computer at his office. Now, he doesn’t have time to sleep or eat. “Suddenly there is so much of work and excitement,’’ Khan says. Bookings have gathered pace — there will be 150 passengers on board for the first flight, from Mumbai to Karachi on Friday.

Janjua says there is more work in Mumbai than in Delhi, which has 12 employees compared to the former’s 15. India’s business hub has always been a “formidable revenue earner for PIA.’’ The airlines used to earn about Rs 20 crore annually before links were severed. It hopes revenues will improve dramatically, owing to the thaw in relations.

Khan is happier than anyone else. He feels vindicated, saying visions of India and Pakistan enjoying good relations had kept him going all the while. The hope owed much to his being in India during that period. “Had I faced this situation in any other country, I would have resigned from my job and gone back. But in India I was never made to feel that things had gone wrong.’’

Looking like an Indian helped. “Do I look like a Pakistani,’’ Khan smiles. “Anyway, Indians and Pakistanis cannot be distinguished by their physical appearance,’’ he adds.

Khan had sold his crockery and furniture and was ready to leave if recalled, but managed to stay on in Mumbai. During the two years of reduced activity, the PIA manager prayed that his career would not be grounded like the air links had been.

Now in Delhi to receive passengers when PIA’s first flight lands there tomorrow, Khan says he will remain in India till he retires at the end of October 2004. “This has been my second home and when I leave finally, it will be one of the saddest days of my life,’’ he says. “I came here in 1999 and have seen nothing but love and concern from the people here,’’ the manager adds.

But there will be time for reminiscences later. Right now, Khan has no time to brood over the past or fret about the future. “Abhi to sirf hamari pehli flight ke baare mein soch rahein hai. Dua kijiye sab theek ho jaye yahan se.”