Airports lounges - Shanghai vs Shanghai-ed

Sitting here at IGI airport waiting for a flight from Delhi to Mumbai. Its been a long wait. Which may not be surprising to many; ho hum that happens a lot.

But my thoughts are getting around to the eternal debate between the cities M & D.

We've all heard about the privatisation of the airports at both these cities. Departing from Mumbai I was pleasantly taken up by the elegantly designed new departure terminal (I'd travelled after a while, so it was news to me). It was airy, cool, quiet (despite the usual hordes) and had a number of things to do in case one was caught twiddling one's thumbs waiting for a flight. There is a Crossword, a snazzy CCD that serves meals, wine and beer aside from the coffees. It had the air of a number of airports around the world - at least the popular ones I've seen in SE Asia.

Not bad, I thought - if not the rest of city, at least a tiny part looks like something found in Shanghai.

Compare that to Delhi airport. Privatisation started at about the same time, and was thought to be chugging along fairly well and all that. If that were so, it was well hidden I must say. Arrival lounge had better aircon then I remember, my baggage appeared promptly (but I suspect it was a combination of a priority + fragile tag, though I will give it the benefit of doubt (feel like BoD hence forth)) and I was on my way to be picked up. Outside there was a canopied structure where all the taxi guys held the placard in one hand and - in turn - various other parts of their anatomy as was their wont. Sigh....privatisation and private parts co-exist I guess.

Anyway, outside. Waiting for my bro-in-law to pick me up. Assorted cars stopping, crawling, waiting. Mandatory traffic cop ignores most, whistles and waves his arms about. Soon vanishes under the shade of a tree. Esteem stops in front of me, safari suited chaperone gets out, welcomes two public sector type gents. They all settle in, driver about to start and suddenly emerges verysame alert cop from under the tree. Esteem didn't have permit or something. How he discerned this fact I really don't know; the car looked no different from a few others that went by unchallenged.

After a relaxed, food-filled 3 days (there is this piece on the quest for choley bhaturey that I will reserve for another post) I headed back to amchi Mumbai. The trip to the airport was remarkably smooth, despite a 6:15 pm start. Even the Gurgaon approach road was managed well. Overall one got the sense that huge investments have been made to drastically improve the transport infrastructure of the city. The Metro is seen by common folk of Dilli to be a wonderful thing that has not only solved the traffic issue, but also remedied pollution and improved quality of life beyond measure. I hear it has become a brownie for the ruling party to feast upon come election time. With the accompanying realty boom in the surrounding NCR, one safely concludes that Delhi is on its way to becoming somewhat like Shanghai. Good for it.....

On the way figured to my dismay that the flight was delayed.

At the airprot, faced with an hours delay, armed with a gold card aided lounge pass, I resigned myself to a long wait. Only to find the lounge full to the gills. Why, even a noted and much-on-TV marketing guru was wandering outside in a daze, hollering away instructions (to some underling, no doubt) about how the 'media plan has to be changed to reflect the housewife demographic that we are targeting'. Hmmm....must be highly confidential, else why holler at a public palce? Well, another time another blog for this peculiar but familiar habit i've encountered.

Headed back to where I came from. Thought I'll check out the bookshop. Which turned out to be very rudimentary. And there was nothing else to check out other than a few snack outlets all of which were serving samosas and patties sourced from, I suspect, the same vendor.

So there u have it - a tale of 2 cities and 2 privatising airports. One where getting in is relatively stressful; but once u are in, there are a few things you can do. And the other where the commute is smooth but lacks any kind of options to engage oneself in faced with a long wait. One where you have no option but to plod in to the terminal; once there you feel like your're in Shanghai. And the other that lulls you into feeling that you are there as you breeze in, only to leave you feeling Shanghai-ed in case your flight is delayed (which it surely is nowadays).

The coup de grace was a smart kiosk put up at the Delhi terminal by GVK (or is it GMR ??) that proclaimed -'tell us your feedback'. And asked to be rated on shopping options, services et all. Yeah right!!

Next time you are passing through Delhi airport carry a book, your ipod and get ready to engage yourself while you wait.