Aiport Waits & Musings on Arrivals

By some quirk, people arriving from the West ( Europe, US) are always subject to landing in the wee hours of the morning, anywhere between the stroke of midnight to 5 am.. Maybe's it's a ruse after all, I feel, agreed upon by our wily-nily govt and the airlines and all other cahoots in the fray. For upon landing, the first timers to India would drive through quite deserted streets, wouldnt be accosted by the mendicants at the never -say- go traffic lights, not have to choke on the dangerously high level of pollution that would emanate unfailingly during peak business hours, stop and wait for cows to cross the street, not be subject to total chaos of the driving disorders that abide here and last but not least not to wait patiently as processions, protest marches, ministers and rath yatras of every religion hold sway over public streets, in brazen affrontery and callous disregard,devoid of even a modicum of civility even, and troop through like Hitler's cavalcade.

Lets bring it on them slowly, shall we, lest they never make it a mile out of the airport and decide to return !

It was time to pick a cuz bro from the Airport, the carrier being Air India. Notorious for its timings, a second thought call confirmed it as much.. "Sir, its coming at 215 AM only, yes we know its supposed to arrive at 255 AM sir, but it left Bombay early and will be here in the next 10 minutes !"

Now now, cheat us on time and go by IST, we can cop.. But to go backwards in time and launch off early and land even earlier ! Is the bedraggled govt airline trying to make a point here ? Hoodwinked, we make haste..

Blore Aiport sucks when it comes to waiting. Even buying a ticket and going inside to wait offers no solace as the mosquitoes get to work.. And there's jostling as usual by the free-loading cabbies, ever looking to call some lame guy's bluff and rip him off at the onset..It's all become commonplace now, it doesnt even evict a sigh or a sideward nod of the head.

Over the years, I have been witness to a whole range of emotions that emanate on the sight of a near n dear one.. Shrieks of delight and disbelief, you have grown so much, oh is this the baby, choo chweet -come to me putti, welcome home bouquet, hugs and laughs, arriving students walking with a kinda swagger that is usually a concomitant of youth, a whole lot of questions asked in one shot, complains and grievances at the onset about the airlines/immigration/custom officials/food/toilets at Bbay International Airport/ weather enquiries and what not.Especially, if its been some time since the last trip.. India spells trouble !
On the other side are the sad ones, sobs n tears, consoling and solaces, quiet walk offs into the night and the waiting cars.. Just in Time or perhaps never could make it on time, the aftermath of whatever shocks slowly setting in..difficult to stomach..

And the mind almost always reels back to the personal experiences, 2 of them I was subject to, visiting once during June 2001 ,half way through school and returning for good in 2003 Aug.

June 2001, dad gets himself discharged out of the hospital just to receive me.. And the sight is a very difficult one to take in.. Where's the rest of you, Appa? Ravaged by a complicated surgery and subject to a lot of suffering, resembling a man much older than he actually is, dad stands at the arrival gate, a minnow of the man he was, staring thro his glasses, trying to spot me. And I have to blink hard and understand that it is actually him. The bags are dropped carelessly and a dash made to get to him.. Hugs, tears, laughs too.. How he must have waited ! Mom's greyed a bit and has held fort superbly.. Its a reluctant return at the end of the trip, what with doing the mistake of sitting with parents and watching America, America just a day before the return.. ! A Masters scroll needs to be got, thats all there is to it. A Jaggesh movie though, immediately after, changed the mood to cheer :)

Aug 2003 - 2 1/2 years later, this return is for good..Its been a fun trip though, timing and booking my flight from NY so I could join Viji in London as he returned from the India A Trip, thereby able to watch much of current India's cricket stars at close quarters and get to shake hands and make small talk with some of them on the long flight from London to Bbay.. Hemang Badani, S Sriram, Irfan Pathan, Balaji, Shiv Sundar Das etc, best of all Viji himself ...

And the arrival is much better this time at Blore, much of the Tinni's gang is there, we have 12 huge pieces of baggage between us ( mine 6 suitcases, i'm relocating sir ), his huge cricket kits..Again, dad stands at the gate, refusing to stay home inspite of the cold, and has shrunk further..Pheww, it must have been daunting, old and lonely.. and mom's again held fort awesomely.. Can't thank her enough.. there are 4 cars to choose from and everyone's hungry at 5 30 AM.. Parents are bundled off into unc's car and sent home.. We Boys take a different route, go through shankarpuram and park right in front of Brahmin's Coffee Bar on Ranga Rao Road, famous for its idli vade and eat Idli/Vade/Kharabath at 6 am, greeting the morning.. Mom can't believe it .. You landed and headed virtually straight to the idli hotel ! :))

And as we headed home, the kinda helpless, frustrated feeling that was on the flight back home was all gone. Sure, the return was decided long back, but as I left JFK that day, it was like I didnt make the grade.. the last frontier wasnt conquered..Visiting Boston and MIT/Harvard didnt help, watching students kayak on the St Charles River, getting drenched in torrential downpour in Times Square /Wall Street ( reminds me of a cold send off)and hence missing a visit to Central Park the day before departure .... All of them vanished in next to nothing as the new job and setting the house in order became the top priority...

I digressed, again.. Thnks for putting up if you got to this line !!