Over the past few trips outside motherland, I have idled away my time staring at my co-Indian passengers and all the time spent on such surveys seems to take on some strange ‘conclusions’ or perceptions as I would rather term them..
Why is it that the Indian flight lounge is always most crowded at every airport? And why does it seem like the space never seems to be enough??? Is it a mental illusion or is the density of population and luggages per square feet really at its saturated height? A few hours of stopovers and there would be food packets, screaming babies and bags and baggages strewn around the lounges…
And then once the space problems are resolved and people take their designated lots, the ‘where are you going’ and ‘what are you doing’ conversations spark off almost instantaneously amongst the passengers..it is so easily forthcoming ..must be the DNA! Would you catch two strange British ‘stiff upper lips’ lock themselves in such conversations? A few minutes into the conversation and they would find a common ‘cousin’, neighbour or atleast at a minimum…the same ’native’ they probably originated from…The next step in this bonding exercise is the sharing of their ‘delicacies’ packed in neat packets and dabbas (depending on from where to where the flight is movingJ….)
And most often the leg of the journey decides the ‘bucketed’ travel lots that you would see…if it’s a flight from India to the popular NRI destinations of US and Europe..it would essentially have a few ‘suited seasoned’ travelers who would have no involvement in the charade described above..they would have a ‘Wall Street Journal’ pocketed somewhere around their being, a ‘how to win’ leather bound book clasped tightly…a boring grey/brown suitcase..as officious as one can look in the circumstances…But the majority are ‘aged parents’ on their journeys to meet their kids..most of them look troubled after being forced on with piles of ‘winter clothing’, our traditional ‘ammas’ pushed to wear some unmatching knee length coats, a few pleats of their beautiful printed sarees peeking out from the ‘Western’ outfit. And their eyes dart around anxious if the flight would be on time, the security procedures completed etc etc….and once they settle into the flight..they are eager to get to their kids and grand kids..And the last but not the least would be the newly wed ladies journeying across the seas to unite with their wedded better halves…they would be in their pristine best…the bright red sindoor shining from their straightened glistening mane..their limbs glittering with jewels (no doubt left over from the gala wedding)..already carrying the best branded bags and suitcases and in their best attire…that’s a crowd that cannot be matched up to…don’t even try…
And a reverse leg from the US and Europes of the world back to India would have the veteran NRIs forcefully bringing themselves back to India for ‘showing’ their ‘elementary, middle level’ kids what India is all about…the kids trapped in their Indian skins but mouthing ‘twanged and slanged’ accented English..then there are those returning after their ‘short service’ abroad…attempting to show off their newly acquired accent, gadgets and ‘foreign’ habits to the not so fortunate ‘first time outside India’ folks..
But whatever real/fictional buckets you belong to, once you step out of the airport and its ‘foreign scented’ environment…hug a few of your loved ones…haggle a bit with the porter/cabbie… smell the aroma of the somosawallah on the strees….all the Indianness that you forgot or lost would possess you and unknowingly you slip into your mothertongue and merge with the crowd ..almost like you never left!
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