June 21, 2010

That's our nature...




Mama was arriving on the 9:30 flight and I was to recieve him at the airport. The plan was to hire our trusty Yousuf bhai for the pickup but he ditched us at the last minute.

I could have called a Meru cab but was short of time and ended up waiting for a shared taxi at the Rethibowli junction. I looked at the other people waiting- a couple of airport employees chatting, one lady and a few others. There was this person who seemed to be in some kind of hurry. Middle aged, in simple attire and holding a small poly ethene bag, he was scambering up to every vehicle that slowed down, even a few personal cars! I was in a hurry too, as the plane was to arrive in about half an hour. Lots of cars came and went, some were full, some weren't shared, some personal cars... then came this Tata Indigo, there were atleast 6 of us waiting. As it eased up alongside, I was the first one to grab the door handle, as I asked if he going to the airport. A nod was enough and was in. Four of us got on and as the guy with the plastic cover tried to get in, the driver rudely shoved him away saying he coudn't take more. Clearly there was room for one more passenger. I couldn't help but feel this wave disgust at the driver...and myself. I could have easily gotten off to make way for that man...but I was in a hurry too, I was helpless. As the driver sped through the smooth airport road playing the vulgar "kehdoon tumhe" remix, I wondered how one dialogue from the 1998 Satya : "Dhandhe mein wahi jeet ta hai jo pehle haath maarta hai.... " actually made sense.

At the airport, Mama took quite long due to some luggage claim issues and I was left waiting at the arrival gate for a full one and a half hour. Again, I stood witness to some more retarded things we humans can do: One guy was repeatedly spitting in the fountains. Oh man, they're fountains for god's sake! A guy who'd taken a wrong turn with his huge luggage cart proceeded to remove the ribbon from the security barrier just so he could get through! Then a girl with a clear attitude problem was throwing tantrums as the her helpless boyfriend stood bewildered(and embarassed). A couple of guys tried to squeeze through the waiting crowd to catch a glimpse of a group of airhostesses from a Middle eastern flight.

Is it just me or is this all normal? Or maybe that's just our nature...



(In picture: The cartoon shows an example of good etiquette- holding the door for someone, which is not discussed in this post! Can't talk about it when I succumbed to selfishness myself...)
Picture source: phundamental.com

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