Fly away yonder

Once upon a time, people looked aghast when someone offered the idea of flying to their destination instead of using cheaper alternatives like the bus or the ubiqutous train.

Today, its exactly opposite. Not only does your uncle, sis, cousin, friend, friend's friend travel in an aeroplane, but so does the paan-waala, chai-waala and doodh-waala.

Thanks to the wonders of modern science, a booming economy and a flood of bold innovative entrepreneurs, flying away is no longer a dream. Its affordable to one and all.

And there, ladies and gentlemen, begins the problem, the nightmare. Though there has been an exponential increase in the number of airlines and aircrafts, the poor little airport remains the same - poor and little. Right from the entrance of the airport to the plane, you are walking in a sea of people. The asphyxiated airport can barely sustain the burgeoning populace.

Fat people, thin people, rich people, poor people (yes, them too!), nice people, bad people, pickpockets, chain-snatchers, rock stars, fashion models, businessmen, foreigners, the neighbourhood cricket team - all can be seen rubbing shoulders with each other - literally!!

I was sitting in a corner of an especially packed departure hall, looking more like furniture than a person (the slightest movement resulted in my elbow poking into the eye of an enormous Punjabi woman who looked too dangerous to mess with), counting the minutes to my flight. As usual, the flight was delayed, this time by one hour. I looked around watching people, trying to get rid of my boredom. As the minutes ticked by, so did my patience and I found it very difficult to sit quietly. Finally, the boarding announcement came and I rushed for the gate, swallowed by the wave of humanity.

I looked around for the vehicle that transports passengers from the building to the aircraft. A public transport bus came and stopped right in front of me. I blinked. Talk about low-cost!
We were crammed into it and taken for a ride (pun unintended) to the plane. We had to stop about five times on the way to let the other aircrafts take off (yeah, looked like all planes were parked along the runway, some even on it).

The rest was relatively smooth. We were bundled into the aeroplane and whisked off to the destination.

My supposedly "fast" journey from Bangalore to Mumbai had taken 6 hours. My friend, meanwhile, opting to travel by train, reached a few hours later, refreshed and rejuvenated by the luxurious journey but bored to death due to lack of people to talk to.