Crushed cans and hope!

Big sporting events are when bloggers come alive.  I must say I had plans to blog about my ‘perspective’ on Vuvuzelas, Larissa and some football this past World Cup but as I mentioned in my previous post, work took an unlikely precedent over following sports!!! And YES I plan to start my next few posts complaining  about the lack of work life balance only coz this blog is still anonymous and its highly unlikely that my boss will stumble upon this!! J  Anyway, the good part about work right now is travel. And the opportunity to experience something special if you keep you eyes and ears open.  Here I was in the middle of 100000 colorful Dutch fans in Amsterdam watching the World Cup finals. The overwhelming smell of weed. The pile of crushed beer cans. And hope.  

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Under the carpet

Mudras at New Delhi airport

So I did (could) not execute 1/12^th of my New Year resolution on time. “A post a month” resolution. I am tempted to seek solace in my genuine (and almost original) excuse of insane timelines at work but I am one for looking forward. So here it is. A new post!

Delhi’s new airport terminal (T3) has been described as “swanky” and “glitzy” and no doubt is a hugh improvement over the previous versions. Various reports I have “googled” tell me of the numerous immigration points, check-in counters, aerobridges, travelators, lounges, shower rooms, restaurants, bars, cafes and everything else that you should expect from a world class airport.  First impressions matter. And going by the number of Japanese tourists (I take the liberty of assumption) with cameras in front of the magnificent and tastefully done traditional Indian hand gesture (Mudras) sculptures, so far so good.

But peculiarly first impressions were not what I was thinking about as I walked the long walk from the arrival gate to the immigration check point. (Pretty sure every flight right now is being asked to taxi in at the last possible gate so that the arriving passengers get a full “taste” of our national pride.)  T3 possibly is the most carpeted airport terminal in the world. And not just any carpet. Thick carpet that will suffice for a mattress when your flight’s delayed or give you  enough practice on how to walk on a water bed when you are standing up!!!  As my initial bewilderment of looking at this vast expanse of carpeted area wore off, I wondered how on earth are we gonna keep this bloody thing clean. Pardon my skepticism but will we in three years have the world’s largest dirty carpet???  Very very likely.  I saw the odd janitor at work but something tells me I’ll find it hard to find a dustbin when I need it, a couple of years from now.  We don’t have to build the biggest or the swankiest airport in the world to create a positive first impression. We just need to build a practical airport with standard amenities that we can keep clean with minimum of supervision. Looking forward apparently is not a very common trait!!