The not-so-secret diary

On the first day of the new year 2010, I looked out of the window in Delhi and stared at the swirling fog. I made a mental note: avoid flying in and out of Delhi in January. Travellers seem to be spending more time at the airport than all their flight times combined in half a year. Then what do I proceed to do? I go and book myself about 6 flights in January! To be fair it wasn't by design. Things just turned out to be such that the travel, both work and non work, became inevitable. In the process I got to spend a lot of 'quality time' at the domestic terminals of Delhi and Mumbai airports undertaking one of my favourite pastimes - people watching. As I'm back in the Fog-city Terminal 1D of Delhi Airport today and have a good free wi-fi connection, I must share the environs. There has been a sudden and dense fog since 8 AM which started clearing by noon. Flights are on an average three hours delayed. The shiny, new Delhi terminal has all kind of smart equipment ...

One thing that is never missing in India is the element of surprise. You could have arrived here a few hours ago or lived here your entire life, yet there is always something unusual or bizarre to see each day. Many of these events are noted and forgotten in an instant. The average Indian has a lot more on her mind than recording a bizarre occurrence. As one would say “Its Kalyug after all so anything is possible”.  If the occurrence is pleasant, the modern Indian might savour it for a few moments and glow with pride: “Ahh look at this 6-lane tolled expressway, just like DC no?!”. If it is not that tasteful, the urbanite will moan “Why do these damn drivers keep spitting on the road? All those social adverts saying that gutka gives you mouth cancer are no use !!” Recently, on a road trip to Rajasthan with my family, I found a lot of things to put in the ‘pleasant surprise’ list and a few in the ‘not-that-cool’ category. As this is my feel-good post I shall ignore the 2nd ...