DESI DIARY - 1

Friday, Aug 28 2009

Meri Jaan, tou finally I am in India. I will try and keep updating you with some of my experiences in Apna-Des.

So, lets get set go - As I stepped out of the 14hr non-stop flight aircraft into the airport area, I saw multiple baggage trolleys available to be picked up.

What? Carts and that too available for free without paying the $3.50? Whoa !

What a life saver it is to put that "stuff-it-as-much-as-you-can backpack" and the hand (break) luggage on a cart right as you get off the airplane.

This was really nice and the good thing was that I could see these carts at each and every 10 ft. Absolutely Great !!!

Feeling great about the Desi airport, I came to an area, where I had to park these carts, and there were about 3-5 people helping the passengers offload the carts. (Help without any tips ? Whoa again !!)

Dude, Where am I? Courteous people waiting to help you merely take the cart without giving me THE LOOK? (this cannot be the desi patel store guy :)

To top this, if needed, some of these porters were later helping passengers pick their luggage from the baggage area, pass it through the antique x-ray machine, reload it onto the trolley etc.

Now, thats REALLY an experience for someone who flies economy class!

As I walked down the escalators, I was greeted by a thermal scan to check my flu conditions. Thank god, I took a combiflam just 2 hours back, or else I would have come under the scan :)

For some of you khopdi-ke-khopche-main-know-it-all-types, the way these thermal scanners work is that on detecting a person with body temperature above normal (98.6 degree F), the camera sounds an alarm and also captures his or her photograph.

Essentially, these scanners are very sensitive to body temperatures and, in case the doctors miss out on any passengers with fever, the machines won't miss them. But they cannot judge you if you took the medicine in the flight. So, then how effective is this scanner?

Hey - sochne ka nahin bidu, psychological treatment bhi kuch hota hain.
Whoopie - I passed the thermal-flu scanner, now let me pass on the swine-flu :)

As you get past all the lines and the luggage pick up areas, you see the familiar sights of a STD (unrelated to AIDS :) phone booth and the lipton and coffee stands.

Mumbai International airport NOW has a multi-level parking area (imagine what was going on in the parking scene for all these years :)

So, there is now a passenger pickup area where people pickup passengers - Oho !! not literally pick up :)

Imagine, everyone getting a pick up welcome on arriving outside the airport, that would become a heaven for the pick-pocket types !!

And here was the best part, as I came out of the airport, I could smell THE AIR (for people from India you know what I mean :)

I thought to myself, I should better put on my mask, it might just be a good idea, maybe not for the swine flu panic but for the SMELLY AIR-SMELLY AIR (I could sing the Friends-Phoebe song in my mind :)

Tou Meri jaan, here I am - on another Re-Journey in India ! I will keep updating this blog with more experiences.

So, till the next one, stay safe, stay in loeve and all you public bolaaa
Ganpati Bappa Moriya !!!!