At Delhi International Airport
Passengers Are Penalized for Reporting Early
By M.P. Prabhakaran
I had been to India recently on a three-week vacation. The trip this time was special. Not just because I was able to spend some time with my ailing 87-year-old mother who lives in Kerala. This time, at long last, I was able to realize a dream I have been nurturing since childhood – the dream of visiting the Taj Mahal. Apart from the Taj Mahal, I also visited the Pink City (Jaipur), the renowned capital of the state of Rajasthan, and the Qutab Minar and a few other historic spots in and around Delhi. All this made my sojourn in India this time more memorable and enjoyable than the previous ones. But an experience I had on the last day, at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, left a bitter taste in my mouth.
By the time I arrived at the airport, after flying from Bangalore to Delhi by Indian Airlines, it was past midnight. My flight to New York by Air India was scheduled to depart at 6:45 a.m. As I had been busy all day running around Bangalore – attending to some chores, visiting some friends of my college days in India and wriggling out of traffic jams – I had no energy left to do anything. So I decided to go inside the airport and relax until it was time to check in. But the security staff at the gate wouldn’t let me in.
“You have come to the right place,” one of them said. “However, I can let you in only three hours before the departure time.”
That restriction struck me as odd. I have traveled quite a bit around the world. I have, on a few occasions, earned the displeasure of airport and airlines personnel for arriving late, not early. I have shown up at airports in many countries seven and eight hours before my flight’s scheduled departure time. That I often did so to save money on hotel bills or avoid the risk of traveling alone at night to distant airports in strange cities is beside the point. At no airport in the world have I been turned away for being early -- even by several hours. The honor of giving me that unique experience goes to my native India. How dare I show up three hours too early!
It was my understanding that, as an international passenger, I was supposed to check in at least three hours before departure, I told the man who stopped me, emphasizing "at least." Then I asked him: “Do you expect me to check into a hotel only for the sake of killing a couple of hours? And I am too nervous to go out and wander around at this time of night, in a city I am not familiar with.”
“No, you don’t have to wander around,” he said, “you can wait there.” He pointed to the “Waiting Area” across the street – a large building in front of which was a huge neon sign that read, “VISITORS LOUNGE.” [Suggestion to the airport authorities: add an apostrophe at the end of the word visitors.]
I was stopped at the entrance to the lounge, too. The guard at the door, after examining my ticket, said that I had to pay 30 rupees to go in.
“Excuse me. Is this the waiting area for passengers?” I asked him.
“Yes, it is. But you can use this area free only for five hours. For use longer than that you have to pay. It is 1 O’clock now. Your flight is at 6:45.”
“Who set this five-hour limit?” I asked him.
He showed me the writing on the glass panel nearby. I stood in front of the writing, bemused. Photographing or copying it could arouse suspicion, especially in this day and age, I said to myself. So I memorized the words: “PASSENGERS ENTRY [again, the apostrophe is missing] IS FREE ONLY FIVE HOURS BEFORE FLIGHT DEPARTURE TIME.” Prospective travelers, please note: At Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, you are going to be penalized – not for arriving late for your flight, but for arriving early, even by 45 minutes.
I refused to pay the 30 rupees. (Thirty rupees, it may be stated, is a little more than a half-U.S. dollar. For a person living in New York, it is less than what he pays for a cup of coffee. Needless to say, the issue involved was not the amount of money.) “In that case,” the guard said, rudely, “you cannot stand here.”
“Where do you expect me to stand?” I asked him. “I am a passenger with a valid ticket for a flight that will be leaving in a few hours. I have every right to stand somewhere until it is time to check in.”
“You can go and wait there,” the guard said, pointing to an area a few yards away. It did not look like a waiting area for airline passengers. There were dozens of people sleeping on the floor. The place had the appearance of a shelter for the homeless, in New York, with the notable difference that, in a shelter, the homeless are at least provided cots to sleep on.
At that moment, I badly needed to go to the bathroom. I saw one nearby and rushed toward it, only to realize that the use of the bathroom was not free, either. A man sitting at a desk at the entrance stopped me and showed what was written on the wall: “Urinal – Free.” “WC/Toilet – Re. 1.” “Bath – Rs. 2.”
My desire to stand on principle gave way to the urgent need to use the toilet. I paid the money and went in. But one peek inside and the need disappeared. The stench that arose from the filth, urine and feces was that strong.
I had left Bangalore, the Silicone Valley of India, a few hours before, saying to myself, proudly: “In the area of Information Technology, we are on a par with any advanced country in the world.” But the experience I had at the Delhi airport was a powerful reminder to me that there are many other areas in which we have yet to lift ourselves from the level of a pigsty. Oink, Oink.
(An abbreviated, edited version of this appeared as a letter in India Abroad, a weekly newspaper published from New York, on October 28, 2005.)
[First published on November 26, 2005. It has since been slightly edited.]
[Readers are invited to comment. Send your comments to letters@eastwestinquirer.com]