The Airport

I went to the airport a few days ago to pick up my sister and brother-in-law. They live in the Netherlands and were making their way back home to celebrate a very merry Christmas indeed, and a happy new year to boot.

We got there a bit early; an hour before their flight was scheduled to land and an hour and half before it actually did. And let me just say that the airport is probably the only place in Mumbai where you will find such a crowd at 2AM. Alas that nightclubs have a deadline in this backward part of the world :P.

The principal amusement of any young male waiting at the airport is to look at the beauties assembled there, waiting to receive friends and relatives from Toronto, Timbuktoo and God knows where else. I don't know if it is a purely Indian idea, but the vast majority of people seem to perceive the airport as being a nightclub (kind of linked to the previous paragraph), for nowhere else in Mumbai will you find so many people, so flashily dressed at such an hour. You'd think half the girls had just stepped off a flight from Milan or Paris; having just spent fashion week there as special guests of Ritu Beri or whoever; such is their dress. Mini-skirts, strap tops, tank tops even a corset! Why in the world is going to the airport such an event, that people must dress up for it? I didn't look at the men that closely, but I presume that they were similarly attired. I hereby call upon Mr R R Patil to allow bars, discos and nightclubs to remain open all night, just to give these poor people a place to go.

In any case I spent a very uncomfortable, though entertaining, two and half hours. Half the time was spent pacing to and fro to keep the mosquitoes away. The airport waiting area does have seating but it costs Rs. 60 to get in (to pay for the bug zappers you see) so most people happily stayed outside with the mosquitoes. The flight was delayed, as all flights are, circling overhead waiting for a landing slot. The problem has attained gargantuan proportions these days. Flights from Pune spend more time circling than they do en route.

My sister and bro-in-law came out eventually, further delayed by a luggage mix-up. We were all just happy to get out of there and happy to see them again. The end. (I'm short of time; I'm in a cyber cafe)