It is five in the morning on November 1 at Delhi airport and a British Airways flight has come in from Heathrow. This is the brave new airport DIAL is building and will be second only to Beijing. Notwithstanding Cassandras,it will be the pride of the Commonwealth Games and one can already witness signs of improvement. On the hardware.
But at five in the morning,arrival is in a mess. There is a swine-flu check that the space can’t cope with. There are two cameras to either side and a melee occurs in the middle. As passengers descend down the escalator (and the fixed staircase to its side),someone decides to switch off the escalator. Caught unawares,some passengers fall down. Others clutch co-passengers on the staircase. The two cameras can’t cope with the crowd. So there are a couple of medical officers in the middle,stamping medical forms without any checks. Combating swine flu is a matter of self-certification. Why bother with health checks then?
On a complaint,an apparently superior immigration officer tries to wake up Mehendwat. One can see him beseeching Mehendwat. Please have mercy,please wake up. Mehendwat is pacified with cups of water and tea. Thus conciliated through offerings of obeisance,Mehendwat returns and grumbling and muttering,resumes his duty.
Half an hour has passed,during which,waiting passengers have read posters on Incredible India several times. They have also read signs proclaiming the need for patience,since a world-class airport is in the offing. That may well be true. However,what strikes you in airports abroad is not the hardware of facilities alone,but the software of human resources.
