This is not the first time I have taken an international flight out of India or have come back in. Infact I have travelled for more than 10 times in the last 10 years, from Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore & Chennai airports.... and I think that all of our airports are a shame. Mumbai & Delhi perhaps a little less. But only, just, a little.
It is a disgraceful feeling coming back to the airports in India. The infrastructure is so pathetic that you feel nothing less than sorely ashamed. From the people manning them giving simple instructions on how to fill up ur embarkation form, to the customs officials leering at your bags, to the inefficient porters, the insensitive support staff .... well the list goes on. The physical infrastructure, if that is possible, is even worse. Disasterously insufficient, inadequete & ill manned ofcourse. I really look down on the floor, hoping that I get swallowed into the nadir, especially when I have foreign travellers suffering with me alongside.
Can you imagine an ’international’ airport that has only 1 baggage belt (thats right the thing one whic your bags come out at the airport) ...... only 1. The ceilings are either not there, revealing rusting iron beams, or there soiled with dripping water. The trolley retrievers pester you for ’bakshish’ when they get you a trolley - for heavens sake I thought thats what was their job! The queue’s at the immigration counter are frustrating, though Mumbai scores alittle better on that. But most of all, its our people - rushing, jostling, nudging a fair skinned woman (its not that the others are spared entirely) ..... its shameful to be known that you belong to ’them’, their creed & their nationality. Transfer services (’complimentary’ from one terminal to the other) are pathetic, with the attendents sleeping at the door whereas they are supposed to organise for & lead the way to the coaches. What kind of a people are we? Are we plain numb to basic responsibilities & socially acceptable codes of behavior? Will these things have to be taught? Or are we, the people, as ridiculous as is the infrastructure that we have created which so loudly shouts ’Incredible India’.
People, atleast those of you who have travelled overseas, pls understand what am I talking about. Our respect, we receive from an outsider, scores in the negative because of issues like these. Overseas travellers have come to expect that ’if its India that you are travelling to, its just like this’. I really think that alongside already being a ’numb’ people, we, by our actions, have created an image of us being plain & simple ’uncivil’.
My disgust gets increased manifold because my experiences go from bad to worse in the last 10 years of travel. The first time I went out, returned starry eyed, and was greeted by a ’thud’. Thought, never mind, things will surely improve .... but now, well what can I say. My point is that its at one level that all of our senior politicians/ministers frequently travel abroad & therefore know the task ahead of them (what they do of it, is well another story that we can all see), but at the other, atleast all of us can be conscious of how we behave, in the very least, in front of visitors (and I said in the very least). Is some part of basic social civility & moral responsibility still alive inside some of us ? If yes, can we PLEASE put it to some use .... and if no, then well all that I can say, is get some. Its required desperately.
Let us not further shame ourselves .... if that is possible.