Airport Rant

My friend told me once that he really loves the atmosphere of airports. Especially those big airports with lots of empty seats and a multitude of shops around. I’m sitting in one of the airports he was talking about, and I don’t share his admiration.

Who likes airports? Who does not?

To start with, at least for Indian airports, only the international terminals are going to fit this category. That too, probably the airports in major cities. Who actually comes and likes it here? Not the airport staff for sure. A vast majority of airport staff which includes the cleaning staff come here to put food on the table. My father used to work as ground staff in an airport, and although his job had it’s perks (Health insurance, staff ticket), he has expressed his frustration with his work. One memorable example is when he had to deplane “regular” people with confirmed seats, so that a Minister and his family had to travel. That must not have been fulfilling work.

How many travelers like airports? Surely not a significant portion of them. Of course the source here is trust me bro, and not an empirical study. Alright now I’m having a dilemma. What if I am wrong, and a vast majority of people actually like these overpriced shops. They sure look attractive, classy, clean, with smiling people behind the counters. Surely the people who can afford a flight ticket can also afford a meal and a drink at these overpriced shops. Maybe it all comes down to money. If you have enough money, you probably enjoy the atmosphere in a plush airport.

Here’s who really love airports, at least in the Indian airports I have been to. The staff sitting at Immigration counters and the security staff who frisk you. Oh my, do some of them have a power trip going on. Of course it’s only some of those people. It’s one of those people who motivated me to write this. The security person who frisked me some time ago. He reminded me of “Singam” movies, and the hyper masculine cop who beats the shit out of bad people. It was mostly his mannerisms, and the flick of his fingers like he was spinning a ball between his fingers, telling me to turn around. Oh, and he gave no reply to my thanks at the end. He just wasn’t nice, and that’s fine I guess. Not everybody in the world is nice. Actually these security people are from central forces, and not directly employed by airports. My anger at airports maybe be misdirected anger towards central government forces.

Maybe airports are not so bad after all (if you have enough money)

I started off with a rant against airports, and I sort of figured out as I wrote that maybe the things I don’t like about airports are not related directly to airports. Well I’m not getting graded for this, and I think it’s fine if I change my argument halfway through. If you have enough money, you probably like the atmosphere at airports, and you probably may like it otherwise also. That security person just flicked his fingers at me and I didn’t like it, ok? That’s it really. Airports are fine, I think.