Its been a while since I have posted anything new. The reason being that I was on the move for a while now. I had been travelling from Italy-via-Germany to India and had not had enough time to sit down and pen some thoughts. I flew to Hyderabad from Frankfurt via Colombo. This was the first time I was flying with the SriLankan colors. The flight service was pretty good, with the stewards and air hostesses being very cheerful and pleasant. The interesting thing that you observe on the Asia-bound flights, is the sideways nodding of the head to indicate an affirmation. The food served was also quite good on the taste buds. We touched down at Colombo in the early hours of the morning. The Premadasa International airport appeared very small as compared to the relatively gigantic and busy Flughafen of Frankfurt am Main. Climate and ambience wise, Colombo appeared no different from Hyderabad. Well, that short stay at the terminal is no proper gauge to experience a city. I hope to return back and visit this beautiful island at liesure sometime in future. The flight to Hyderabad appeared to be endless, owing to the anxious moments of waiting to be back home along with my family.
As the flight was reaching India, I was recollecting a conversation I had with a friend this earlier this summer. Marta, an Italian friend of mine had been to India this summer for an internship at the Italian consulate in New Delhi. After her return to Italy, we had a good conversation about her experiences in India. Its usual to hear accolades about India and its culture from tourists coming back from there. Marta´s impression of India was no different from others. She was truely and deeply impressed by the diversity, warmth and friendliness of Indians. After talking about the positives, our discussion veered towards those aspects of her stay which had left some bad taste in her mouth. Traffic, sound and air pollution are the usual complaints even the Indians crib about and she was also kvetching about the same. But there were some irksome obsevations by her, which any other Indian male couldnt have noticed. While strolling along the bazaars of Delhi she would always be disturbed by the constant oogling of men, rickshaw drivers making impolite comments at her and at some instants even proposing to her! The non-chalant public behaviour like spitting on the walls or as I would like to put it painting-the-town-red-by-spitting while chewing a pan (betel leaf), or the unabashed peeing in the by-lanes and street corners, are sights which could shock any tourist visiting India. I could not find words to explain or rationalise this social attitude of a majority-if-not-all the Indian males. When the whole world is noticing the rapid growth of Indian economy and its vibrant technocrats, its high time the common man on the streets of India, also takes a step in that direction which could make his country a truly developed nation, not just in technology, science and economics - but also in public values and social ethics.
Each time I land at the Hyderabad International Airport, there is always a motley feeling of meeting my anxiously waiting parents in the visitors lounge and a prognostication of an ill treatment from the airport officials. Corruption is an evil which is so predominantly existing in the Indian brass, that the first few Indians who welcome you at the airport are chronic patients of this macabre disease. As soon as you leave the flight, one is asked to fill in a disembarkation form, which is to be submitted to a passport control official. Then your hand baggage is scanned and you have to collect your check-in luggage in the luggage claim area and later proceed to the exit gate, where custom officials control your baggage for customs. At each of these stages, you will find officials whose only motivation for work seems to be the extra income earned from the passengers returning home. Each time, I am shocked to see the attitudes of these officials towards their own fellow countrymen who are returning home to their families. For instance, there was this young guy who was coming back home from Dubai, where he was working as a labourer. He had done some error in filling up the disembarkation form, which could have been undone by filling up a new form and discarding the old one. But the smart official at the passport control desk asked him to shell out some Dinars. The poor guy was complaining about how painful it was to part with their hard-earned money to make things work with the officials at the airport. The baggage claim area is as chaotic as a fish market, with some of the conveyer belts not functioning. It was an embarassing sight for the Indian military officials who were there to welcome the contingents from other countries who were arriving to take part in the Military Games being held in Hyderabad. All said and done, if and when your baggage arrives on the conveyer belt, one has to take a deep breadth of appreciation as you are much luckier than the others who have been waiting endless for their baggage. And if your baggage is damaged, there is nothing much you can do except curse your badluck. While you are exiting the airport, for no rhyme or reason the custom officials ask you to shell out some money (preferably foreign currency) for the goods you are carrying. No matter how hard one tries to garner a reason from the officials, they always charge you for the personal electronics (laptop, digital or SLR cameras). As far as I know, electronic goods like laptops and any electronics that have been in use for more than 2 years are exempted from customs. But the custom officials refuse to agree and ask for some payment - the worst thing is you are not even given a reciept for that money. All that goes directly into their pockets. The whole staff seems to have a syndicate running between them. All the officials from the bag-screeners, baggage handlers, custom officials at the exit gates are hand-in-glove involved in this crime. And we passengers who are exhausted from the long travel and eager to meet our families have to comply to the inordinate rules set by these officials. Its high time something needs to be done about this rampant corruption in the Indian public service sector, only then can we truly celebrate the rise of this nation as a global leader.
As the flight was reaching India, I was recollecting a conversation I had with a friend this earlier this summer. Marta, an Italian friend of mine had been to India this summer for an internship at the Italian consulate in New Delhi. After her return to Italy, we had a good conversation about her experiences in India. Its usual to hear accolades about India and its culture from tourists coming back from there. Marta´s impression of India was no different from others. She was truely and deeply impressed by the diversity, warmth and friendliness of Indians. After talking about the positives, our discussion veered towards those aspects of her stay which had left some bad taste in her mouth. Traffic, sound and air pollution are the usual complaints even the Indians crib about and she was also kvetching about the same. But there were some irksome obsevations by her, which any other Indian male couldnt have noticed. While strolling along the bazaars of Delhi she would always be disturbed by the constant oogling of men, rickshaw drivers making impolite comments at her and at some instants even proposing to her! The non-chalant public behaviour like spitting on the walls or as I would like to put it painting-the-town-red-by-spitting while chewing a pan (betel leaf), or the unabashed peeing in the by-lanes and street corners, are sights which could shock any tourist visiting India. I could not find words to explain or rationalise this social attitude of a majority-if-not-all the Indian males. When the whole world is noticing the rapid growth of Indian economy and its vibrant technocrats, its high time the common man on the streets of India, also takes a step in that direction which could make his country a truly developed nation, not just in technology, science and economics - but also in public values and social ethics.
Each time I land at the Hyderabad International Airport, there is always a motley feeling of meeting my anxiously waiting parents in the visitors lounge and a prognostication of an ill treatment from the airport officials. Corruption is an evil which is so predominantly existing in the Indian brass, that the first few Indians who welcome you at the airport are chronic patients of this macabre disease. As soon as you leave the flight, one is asked to fill in a disembarkation form, which is to be submitted to a passport control official. Then your hand baggage is scanned and you have to collect your check-in luggage in the luggage claim area and later proceed to the exit gate, where custom officials control your baggage for customs. At each of these stages, you will find officials whose only motivation for work seems to be the extra income earned from the passengers returning home. Each time, I am shocked to see the attitudes of these officials towards their own fellow countrymen who are returning home to their families. For instance, there was this young guy who was coming back home from Dubai, where he was working as a labourer. He had done some error in filling up the disembarkation form, which could have been undone by filling up a new form and discarding the old one. But the smart official at the passport control desk asked him to shell out some Dinars. The poor guy was complaining about how painful it was to part with their hard-earned money to make things work with the officials at the airport. The baggage claim area is as chaotic as a fish market, with some of the conveyer belts not functioning. It was an embarassing sight for the Indian military officials who were there to welcome the contingents from other countries who were arriving to take part in the Military Games being held in Hyderabad. All said and done, if and when your baggage arrives on the conveyer belt, one has to take a deep breadth of appreciation as you are much luckier than the others who have been waiting endless for their baggage. And if your baggage is damaged, there is nothing much you can do except curse your badluck. While you are exiting the airport, for no rhyme or reason the custom officials ask you to shell out some money (preferably foreign currency) for the goods you are carrying. No matter how hard one tries to garner a reason from the officials, they always charge you for the personal electronics (laptop, digital or SLR cameras). As far as I know, electronic goods like laptops and any electronics that have been in use for more than 2 years are exempted from customs. But the custom officials refuse to agree and ask for some payment - the worst thing is you are not even given a reciept for that money. All that goes directly into their pockets. The whole staff seems to have a syndicate running between them. All the officials from the bag-screeners, baggage handlers, custom officials at the exit gates are hand-in-glove involved in this crime. And we passengers who are exhausted from the long travel and eager to meet our families have to comply to the inordinate rules set by these officials. Its high time something needs to be done about this rampant corruption in the Indian public service sector, only then can we truly celebrate the rise of this nation as a global leader.
