At Amsterdam Airport I met a couple of Odia couples who were returning from an European sojourn. They were wearing sweaters as for them 16°C in the middle of the day is cold. Not a bad time to visit the salubrious Europe as a getaway from the stifling heat and humidity of the Indian Summer. I was doin' the exactly opposite, travelling on vacation straight into an Indian summer excited to core.
Unlike Atlanta aircraft which was packed like sardines, many seats were filled with vacant seats. As the flight started to descend the pilot announced "Welcome to Delhi's IGI Airport. It's 1.00 AM in morning. Hazy, 30 degree Centigrade (80 Fahrenheit) outside." 87 degree at 1 O'Clock in the morning, imagine about the day time.
During one of previous trips, just before landing in Delhi came abruptly the voice of an exalted teen sitting close to me exclaimed to his buddy, "OI UTTH, BAIN**OD DILLI A GAYEE "(Get up, so and so, Delhi has arrived). More than the pilot, I found the teen's welcome far enthusiast and more apt way of welcoming to Delhi. As Jai Maharastra goes with Mumbai, O'Calcutta to Kolkata, Jay Jagannath to Odisha, Behn**od goes with Dilli.
It was a grand Welcome to Delhi, Punjabi style, where a sentence can start with Bain**od (occasionally sound as Pain**od, interspersed with a few liberal dosages of Bai**od and ends with Bai**od. It's how the Dillwalle (Heartful) Dilliwalle (Delhites) often greet each other.
Bai**od" is not such a bad word in Delhi and Punjab (in the Pakistani part of Punjab too). Apart from usual meaning, it can stands for multiple euphemism, to describe a scene or situation. Bai**od KYA THAND HAI YAAR (My friend, it's so cold), Bai**od MEIN GIR JAUNGA Bai**od (I will fall down, spoken after sighting a pretty girl), Bai**od KYA MATCH THA (what a match it was) ! Friends hug each other, A GALE LAG JA OI Bai**od (get a hug, my friend).
At IGI Airport in Delhi I breezed through the immigration which was a shoo in for me. They looked at a copy of RT-PCR test I did 72 hours prior to boarding my flight.
Delhi airport was bit chaotic due to a rapid Covid antigen test they were doing. All incoming passengers coming via any connecting flight had to go through the test by paying Rs.500. The test process wasn't too bad.
The Terminal 3 is quite impressive. Restrooms (toilets) maintained nice and clean. No strong smell of ubiquitous Phenyle and dark brown betel stains at each corner. Our International Airports can now be considered truly world class. I saw a digital bill board proudly displaying Gandhi's picture, followed by a visual of Chivas Regal Scotch. Ironically our Mahatma was never stood for consumerism, nor he extolled Chivas Regal. Many streets in big cities in India bustling with consumerism are named as M.G. Road, after a man who abhorred consumerism.
In the year 1998, no sooner I came out of IGI Airport in the middle of night night than I was treated like a hapless hare amid hounds baying for my blood in form of haranguing touts. I was forced to do an about turn and beat a hasty retreat, only to come out at break of the dawn to be ragged again. It was not unusual then for hapless passengers to dish out a $20 note (Bill) to buy themselves out of harassment by the Customs. Such things are long passe.
After checking in for my last leg of flight to Bhubaneswar, I settled down on a chair as the sun brightened the horizon, revealing the array of Aircrafts on the turmac, spraying them with Orange hue. The Round trip return fare between Delhi and Bhubaneswar cost me only around Rs.6000. I remember paying at least Rs.12,000 for the same in the 1990s, a stupendous amount then. How the affordability of airfare has changed in two decades !!!
No sooner I reached the boarding gate for the Vistara flight to Bhubaneswar, I could recognize the typical Odia crowd close by. I started chit chatting with folks sitting next to me. Before boarding the Bhubaneswar flight I borrowed a gentleman's phone to place a call to my father. After returned him the phone he had enough confidence in me for a reciprocal request - "AGYAN ETE SAKALU GHARU BAHARI THILI. JHAADA SAFA HEI NATHILA. JOR RE JHAADA LAGI LANI. TIKE MO BAG TA DEKHANTU" (As I left home too early in morning couldn't get a clean bowel movement. Now got to visit the loo. Please keep your look on my bag). I dutifully obliged.
The departure area of the Domestic Airport before boarding resemble our BADAMBADI Bus stand in Cuttack. The Airport Authorities and CISF were doing a decent job, however the public were not following the Covid rules. Most were wearing masks below nostrils. Social distancing - forget it.
Once I saw a guy surreptitiously scratching their private parts in public. When our eyes met he pretended to adjust his belts with a "Not I" look on his face. The Airline crew were goading passengers like cattle towards to board the flight (hats off to the person who coined cattle class for economy class). In spite of several reminders from the Airhostess, many wear not wearing masks, if wearing, their nostrils were not covered.
More later...
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