just when i thought it couldn't get worse!

just when i was smug with the belief that i have had the worst flight experience in my life, the universe conspires to show me that i still have a long way to go!

i am trying very hard here in this post to see the humor in the entire episode, so help me along by laughing with me :-D

in my attempt to surprise myself, i reach the airport about 4 hours before my scheduled flight (jet lite S2109 from delhi, etd 2020). (my wife will shake her head in exasperation and say something like, 'why does it always have be either extreme'?) the lady at the check-in counter serves me with a smile and refuses to accommodate me in the earlier flight. i smile back at her, but i think the sub-text is lost on her. she instead chooses to smile at the next passenger in the queue.

over the next few hours i have managed to look at all the shops in the concourse, eat and drink as much as i could, finish reading the book i am carrying (the calcutta chromosome by amitav ghosh), read all the possible complimentary newspapers including the delhi times (and if you thought the mumbai times is pathetic, think again!).

and then i notice that all the flights are running about an hour late. only one of the airlines believes it necessary to make regular announcements that the flights are delayed because of congestion at the airport. (no prizes for guessing which airline it is). after some time i think the announcer was too exhausted to make any more announcements. and the person operating the controls for the display board also has lost interest in updating the revised times.

i sat and watched life pass me by. no actually, i watched passengers of all other flights stream by and depart for their respective destinations. and then finally i board my flight about 2.5 hours after the scheduled time.

and if you thought with that my travails ended, keep thinking again. it took another 15 minutes before we got clearance from the atc (air traffic control). that was after the initial 10 minutes lost in trying to trace one passenger who seemed to have disappeared. (my bet was that he was blissfully sleeping in some corner of the airport.)

and then finally we got airborne with the shrill engines reminding us of how well they have served humanity for a very long time! and then well into the flight the captain suddenly remembered that he had to apologise to us for 'all events beyond the airline's control'. and he ended his monologue by saying that he hoped to reach us to mumbai as planned unless 'the atc and events beyond his control' had other plans in mind for us!

after munching through some insipid fare being passed off as veg burgers and a cup-cake which had been pulled out of the oven before it was fully baked, we all decided to lean back and await our collective destiny which awaited us in mumbai.

and wonder of wonders! we landed in mumbai without any 'traffic congestion' or 'atc clearance' holding us up. but before we could start feeling amiable towards the airline, disaster struck. the plane taxied into its holding bay and then we had to wait for almost 15 minutes in the aircraft waiting for the ground staff to find the ladder for the aircraft! one of the passengers could be heard explaining very patiently to his wife that the ground staff seem to have lost their ladder and they are asking the passengers to either jump off the aircraft or sleep in in the aircraft until they found a ladder!

i finally reach home, at 2 am, three hours later than my scheduled time, tired and battle-worn, but glad to be back in one piece!

flight to nowhere!

a mumbai-ahmedabad Go Air flight took off on 13th december without 24 passengers. (read all about it here).

no i am not going to shout myself hoarse that this is grave injustice and that the airline should refund the money. nor would i say that the passengers deserved such treatment for reportedly being abusive and violent with the airlines staff.

i think the truth, like it mostly does, lies uncomfortably somewhere in between.

(i recently had a similar experience on my way back from delhi. waiting for your flight in delhi airport after your security check is a very depressing experience as compared to any other airport in the country.)

- the airline for some inexplicable reason chooses not to keep the passengers updated on the status of the flight. why don't they realise that passengers would be less upset if they were told about the problem upfront?

- i don't like to crib, but the state of the delhi airport brings out the worst in me (maybe bangalore is a close second) - its usually dirty, there are not enough chairs, the air-conditioning is either too hot or too cold, the snack counters sell food at a premium, the indicators are usually not working, ... i could go on and on... but like i said, i don't like cribbing :-)

- and passengers don't help the situation any. they normally tend to do one of the following

• start pouncing on the poor ground staff as if they have purposely delayed the flight and are taking perverse pleasure in agonising the passengers!


• start crowding around the gates demanding to know what is happening, when they will be asked to board, will they get some refreshments, will they get a refund, will they be accommodated on another flight, etc?


• demand that the airline charter another aircraft because the aggrieved person who is making this brilliant suggestion has to reach his destination to meet some other equally important person at any cost (as long as he is not bearing the cost!)


• threaten the afore-mentioned ground staff with dire consequences and demand that the top honcho of the company appear in front of them right now and give them an explanation for this mess.


• or threaten to drag the airline to court for the mental torture and trauma caused and the irreversible damage caused to their delicate psyche! (how about the poor staffer who's wondering what sins he had committed in his past lives to land this job!)


• and the smarter ones are trying to negotiate free life-time flights, upgrades to business class, use of the vip lounge, etc. to compensate for the inconvenience.

sometimes i miss the good old journeys by train!

i'm amazed at the investors!

my job requires me to travel around a bit, including overseas. now before you start saying 'wow' wistfully, let me assure you that this is not exactly the kind of travel that you would be enamored about.

i travel to a lot of third-world countries (the politically correct term is 'emerging economies'). these include places like sri lanka, thailand, philippines, indonesia, etc. i don't know about you, but my image about these places was very different from reality. i assumed that these places are worse off than india in terms of infrastructure, amenities, living conditions, standard of living, etc because of the fact that they are much smaller than india. but i was quickly disabused of these notions.

one of the first things you notice in any of these countries is the airport in these countries. and i completely agree with the phrase that 'first impressions count'. the airports at singapore and hong kong are, not surprisingly, very, very impressive. but what is definitely surprising is the fact all the other countries i mentioned above, no matter how small, have far more impressive airports and facilities than the key indian airports at mumbai and delhi.

right from the moment you step out of the aircraft you become painfully aware of the differences. right from signages, to baggage handling, to help & information, to transportation services, to staff, etc.

but stepping out of an aircraft in mumbai or delhi for an indian is such a depressing experience.

let me take the example the airport in my home city, mumbai. to be fair, i must mention here that the customs and immigration facilities in the mumbai airport have improved phenomenally. its far more efficient and speedier than it was a couple of years ago.

but once you step out of customs you feel like you have landed up in some jungle. there's absolute chaos all around. and the worst of the lot are the touts who are trying to catch hold of unsuspecting people and make a quick buck by offering you taxis, hotels and whatever else they can push at you. and the police obviously are nowhere in sight. there's no clear planned demarcation and signages for visitor areas, car drop and pick-ups, public transportation, etc.

and even if you do manage to extricate yourself from the crowds milling around the exit gates and reach the taxi/auto stand you still have to deal with the unique specimen of the indian taxi/auto driver who will measure your worth based on your luggage and the distance you want to travel. and they would always assume that it is their god-given birthright to charge you a fat premium because you happened to have just returned from a trip overseas! and, of course, the assigned policeman is very considerate and is studiously involved in something far more interesting at a safe distance so that your negotiations with the driver are not disturbed!

and once you manage to arrive at some understanding with the immovable mountain and sit in whichever mode of transport you chose, you then get to see the first sights of the great city of mumbai. and that's when you realise that the depression you experienced at the airport was nowhere as bad as what you are felling now as your vehicle navigates through chaotic traffic, slums, beggars, children defecating along the roads, foul-smelling gutters, etc.

now what does all this have to do with investors i mentioned in the title, you ask? well i always wonder what my reaction would be if i were a foreign investor visiting india for the first time to evaluate the investment climate and opportunities here? i shudder to think of the first impression created in such an investor's mind based on the experience of the airport and the ride from the airport to the hotel. i am surprised that most of them do not want to turn and head back home.

it speaks volumes about the companies, the people and the markets in india that the investors continue to flock and pump money into our country inspite of all the drawbacks. but there's so much more to do. and so much of it depends on the will of the government and the attitudes of people.

some of you might say that the focus of our government should not be in improving infrastructure in metros and cities to make india an attractive destination for foreign investments but in removing poverty in the villages. the money that flows in as investments into the country could also flow into the villages, but for that we need a government which works honestly to make this happen!

but all said and done, i still feel restless when i am away from india for some time and its a strange mix of gladness and pride and comfort i feel when i finally land in india. and i realise that i would rather be here than any other place in the world! i look around and i see the energy, the enthusiasm, the confidence, the buzz, and most importantly i see the hope of a new and better tomorrow in the eyes of people!

do you also see what i see?