Oh - Kolkata!

We flew into Kolkata in the early hours of the morning of the 24th September 2013.  I experienced the familiar lump in the throat and punch in the gut as we circled around the endless patchwork of fields, tiny clusters of houses, and ribbons of roads and irrigation canals. It all looked so pristine from 15,000 feet in the air.

 

However, when we landed, as we careered down the runway,  the very bumpy ride confirmed we were back in the Kolkata I remembered – There were very large potholes in the runway that one cannot avoid in a very large Boeing jet.......

 

And it was at that point that I decided it was time to do some thinking and journaling about the reactions and emotions I experience at every Indian home-coming.

 

Over the years as we’ve travelled between Singapore and Kolkata or Bangkok and Kolkata, I’ve often felt high levels of indignation followed by sad resignation.  This is around my perception that persons travelling to Kolkata seem to be considered the lowest of the low in international travelling circuits, and this is confirmed for me by two things:

1.    The waiting rooms for the Kolkata flights in both airports are the furthest away from the shops and lights. They are found at the tail end of the airports in dingy downstairs halls where the lights are dimmed  (maybe to curtail any untoward excitement??) , and

2.    The airports put their most strident air personnel on duty in these waiting rooms, and these personnel regularly make loud, patronizing announcements over the audio system about not rushing forward to board the plane, sitting down until called, making orderly lines etc. etc. (All very reminiscent of “Naughty Corners” of nanny fame.)

 

Fortunately, by and large, my Bengali brethren do not seem aware of this slight and carry on, as usual, without the great chip on the shoulder that I seem to develop every time....To add injury to insult they are so indifferent to this treatment that they often appear to perpetuate the state of affairs by :

·         not listening to the strident air staff,

·         talking volubly and loudly with great arm gesticulations that could be misconstrued as threatening gestures,

·         botching up the orderly line and

·         generally not obeying instructions!!

 

Over the years, I have reflected that lines and orderly queues are all very well when you are confident that you will eventually get to the front of the line and your prize will be waiting for you – But what happens when long years of experience tell you that you will not be heard unless you shout, and you won’t get any kerosene or gas for your stove or sugar, proper meat or vegetables for your table, unless you propel yourself forward to the front of the line??  These habits die hard, and in the clinically clean, orderly environment of these International airports one sees the clash of different world experiences most poignantly......