Bangalore International Airport Sucks!

12/12/2005

It’s about 4 am on the day after my arrival in Bangalore and I am fighting jetlag. I will acclimatize myself in due course to IST (Indian Standard Time). For the record, my second and final flight was from Frankfurt to Bangalore, recently introduced by Lufthansa on November 1, 2005 and saves roughly 12-15 hours in travel time from San Francisco to Bangalore. This is a far cry from my first trip home in 1989 from Chicago to Bangalore while a graduate student at the University of Illnois at Chicago. My flight route then was Chicago – Amsterdam – Abu Dhabi – Bombay – Bangalore; a total duration of almost 38 hours. You’ve indeed come a long way baby!

The actual time in the air was uneventful, save for a screaming 3-year old kid a couple of seats away from me. A quick personal note: Bangalore International Airport has truly become international over the years due to increased traffic -- both business and tourism-related. There are today more flights than trains to and from the city! Back in the 70’s and 80’s there were fewer than 8 flights – all of them Indian Airlines and none international. Needless to say, flying is not a novelty anymore. Many aeons ago, my childhood friends and I rode to the airport on bikes rented from Maya Cycle Shop (in Shivajinagar) – a distance of 14 kilometers (~ 8 miles). We had to pay a hefty 2 rupees each (~ 10 cents) and wait 2 hours in the visitors’ gallery to see an Indian Airlines flight take off to Hyderabad. Those were some innocent and simple times. Talk about nostalgia!

My flight arrived 40 minutes behind schedule and coincided with an earlier Air France flight. There were, hence, twice as many passengers awaiting immigration check, and waiting for us travel-weary, jetlagged, anxious and eager folks were -- you guessed it -- bored, jaded, rude Indian immigration authorities. I wish I could shoot each and everyone of them. Bastards! Needless to say, it took us twice as long as the anticipated 15 minutes, but it could have been worse, I suppose. However, it was nice to see more non-Indians visitors, some for tourism, some to visit Sathya Sai Baba in Whitefield, and most of them on business that’s probably software-related.

Once we get through the immigration hurdle, we collect some roses from a young girl employed by a vague official tourist office. A nice touch, nevertheless! The baggage claim section at the Bangalore airport is a cruel joke and probably belongs in Ripley's Believe It Or Not! The baggage makes its way to the claim area in a complicated maneuver and takes 25 minutes. It is placed on the ONLY conveyor belt for the entire international arrival section. So all the 600 or so passengers (from two large aircraft) crowd around the old, pathetic-looking conveyor belt to get their luggage. Imagine this: luggage carts are all over the place, children are screaming, the air is hot, tempers are flaring, people are tired, stepping over luggages, footwear and whatnot -- and it is in a word -- mad-fucking-house. Meanwhile, an anemic ceiling fan rotates overhead stirring absolutely nothing on a relatively hot night. Lame!

Now, the conveyor belt is not wide enough to accommodate the larger packages and when the packages twist and turn sideways, get stuck, and in turn making the conveyor belt screech to a halt with a weird whistle. There's random shouting to get the whole thing started again and after a few interminable minutes deus ex machina intervenes and the conveyor belts starts to move auto-magically again. (Who the fuck designs these godamn things anyway?) After an interminable two-and-a-quarter hours the ordeal is over. Home at last! Whew!