Air travel

It's been some time since I last posted anything on this blog. Not that the readers are waiting as eagerly for the new posting as people wait for the next harry potter book. I usually time my semi annual vacations around the festival of diwali. The trains run full at this time of the year. Thanks to my magnanimous employer, and to some extent the market forces which one full service carrier was trying to fight, I travelled by air. In hindsight it feels better to travel by train. If you are going on a two hour plane ride and the flight is delayed by three hours, much of the joy of arriving at your destination fades away. Besides, most air passengers are generally nose-in-the-air variety with whom any kind of civilised conversation is difficult. Several of them will simply not heed the periodic announcements like switching off mobiles/laptops, not getting up while the aircraft is taxiing. That's one reason I was not surprised when several Indian passengers were detained at Amsterdam for behaving suspiciously in the plane! Though I felt awful that members of a particular community were treated rather shabbily by the Dutch Authorities, I think most air passengers are never at their best behaviour. The jostling starts at the check-in counter, continues through the security check, the bus transporting us to the plane and till the luggage is stowed away. I am alarmed that a few low cost airlines dont allot the seat number at check-in. The passengers swarm into the plane and there is a free-for-all for the choice seats. The moment the plane lands, you get to hear the music of cell phones being switched on. People will get up and start hauling down their luggage from the overhead bins, while at the same time trying to maintain their position in the queue. Generally, I choose a window seat so that I am the last to disembark. When I get an aisle seat, more often than not, the little red devil sitting on my shoulder will whisper that I should pretend to be fast asleep. I have been avoiding doing that and limit myself to a exasperated glare when the passenger in the window seat tries to contort himself so as to reach for his luggage in the overhead bin. Once in the arrival terminal, there is a mad rush for the trolleys after which, the intrepid air traveller will try to jockey himself and his trolley to the best position at the lugage retrieval conveyor belt. Actually, thisis the best place to observe the passengers. Most ladies will be looking bedraggled; the gents will be trying to ogle at them while at the same time trying to keep their eye on the luggage arrivals. The business traveller will be loudly talking on the mobile phone. Once out of the airport building, you get to jostle with the touts advertising hotels, transport, and other wares, which I cannot elaborate here!