From trolley-clogged serpentine queues that lead to purposeless check-in counters, New Delhi unfurled New Year to stranded guests.
MUMBAI: From the trolley-clogged serpentine queues that lead to purposeless check-in counters, New Delhi unfurled the New Year to its stranded guests.
But first things first. The polite cabbie had decided to grab decision-making powers, foreseeing what the low-cost carrier had an hour past midnight of the new dawn smsed its hapless passenger: Nothing would take off in New Delhi, on Day One of 2007.
Fog spread its tentacles to thwart road, rail and air travel, as if to allow midnight revellers time to shed holy hangovers. For revellers it is ok, for travelers it’s awkward.
So why don’t you try and catch the next flight of the friendly neighbourhood budget-carrier to Amchi Mumbai?
The faceless voice from some god-forsaken call centre informs you that the rest of the day’s flights are full, if at all they would dare to take-off from the clutches of fog.
So the next early morning flight is the option thrust upon the frozen soul by the winter of disarray.
But then there is no guarantee that the creepy F-word would claw back to its Himalayan habitats. Wisdom reigns.
No thanks dude, another early morning flight is a strict no-no for another decade, at least in winter, all the more in Delhi.
The brighter option is the next carrier, with or without frills – you name it and we have it.
The ticket is surprisingly up for grabs, albeit a bit costlier, for the next hopefully sunny morning. Hoping against hope is a stellar trait of the Indian psyche.
After the rude chaos of Delhi’s rugged nature and many serpentine confusing trolley-shaped queues later, we are a step nearer to redemption. At 9, the flight is on time and there is a semblance of visibility for the layman.
Half an hour later, when the passengers are scheduled to board the aircraft, no sign of salvation but an announcement that the 9.30 Mumbai flight of another airline has been re-scheduled to 10.
Even before there’s time to trade a guess about the obvious comes the prompt announcement: Sorry for another 45 minutes, but keep yourself happy with some quick bites from the counter. Thanks, but no thanks.
The world here is divided into two, those who have checked in their baggage and have their boarding pass and those who have not. There the cacophony of loud voices threaten to gobble up the fragile but chaotic queues of the less fortunate. Airport and airline staff get a mouthful of abuse for free.
Many diversions and cancellations later, when passengers clapped following an announcement which was hardly audible, it needed little wisdom to figure out that your aircraft is ready to carry you to promised land.
Only that no one still thought they would have the eerie luxury of waiting in a motionless A320 for another two hours. The fog had eased, but there is a pile up of 15 more aircraft carrying people like you.
Did someone say you will be charged for congestion in our crumbling airports? Would you mind reading about orders placed by our fledgling airlines to Airbus or Boeing.
The better idea is to pay some hard-earned cash to buy peanuts and doze-off after fastening the seatbelts of our low-frilled flights. And may be dream about better facilities at airports during future bitter experiences lined up for you, as India flaunts its glittering aircraft appetite to hide its crumbling airport infrastructure and sorry state of airport management.
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