About Airports and People

There is something about Airports I tell you!

When I was a kid, I used to love it every time we had to travel by air. Now this was not because of the airplanes, but because we would be spending time at the airport! Those were the days when air travel had just seen the entry of private players. Damania, ModiLuft, East West and Sahara Airways.

I used to love observing all the beautiful people, imagining how lives of the super rich would be. Trying to guess the profession of each person and where they were headed next. Visits to the airports just made me want to grow up fast.

Then in Class XII, the year spent studying for engineering entrance exams, my visit to airports became a motivation for me to study harder. The (childish) reason being so that I could get rich like the people around me!                                                                                                                    

Today, I am sitting at the Delhi Airport waiting for my flight to Ahmedabad to get back to WORK and still the airport seems to be as exciting as ever. Now its akin to a crowded train stations, only difference being the clean and air-conditioned halls and the number of security teams in place (which seems to indicate that the government perceives life to be more valuable here). The crowds have added more variety in the passenger profile at the airport, and now it’s thousand times more interesting.

Now I see all the jet-setting business class passengers flying from one metro to another and then the old couple traveling back to their hometown after meeting their son in the city. Airports now represent the true picture of developing India.

And yes now I do wonder whether growing up was that great an idea!