Jan 14, 2005 06:50 PM
3492 Views
(Updated Jan 14, 2005 06:50 PM)
If this cowshed is the best airport in the country, then it shudders to think what the rest of the airports will be.
I am covering both the Santa Cruz and the Sahar airport in this revu, because in international airport section, there is no Mumbai Sahar Airport.
The Santa Cruz airport is a bit better than the international one in services, span and organization. But then the domestic airport do not need to have some services of international airport; for example, the immigration counter. 3-4 months back I was travelling from Mumbai to Hydrabad and I had some large luggage. One airport personnel helped me, and then asked for ''chai-pani''. Is not this nonsense?
The international airport, which handles 40% of the international traffic of the country is in a pathetic shape. Now, someone has renamed it to ''Chattrapati Shivaji terminal'' from the small-and-sweet Sahar and has created enormous difficulty for foreign airlines. They find it difficult to pronounce it in the first place. Shivaji is one of the greatest Indian heroes, but if he was living today, he would have ordered the killings of his own followers when he sees what they do in his name.
Now, the approach is over the slums (did someone say Slumbai for Mumbai?) and therefore your initial impression about the city is well made there.
Well, now you land in the airport, and the moment the plane halts, people dash towards the immigration counter to be early in the queue. A unholy scene results, and if we are (un)lucky, we may see some scuffles on the way. For foreigners of some more disciplined countries, the sight and plight is more unfortunate.
Well, get past the immigration and then you face a group of touts, porters, agents, custom officials, consultants, sweepers all trying their tricks to extract some ''resources'' from you. Recently, things have improved a bit, 1-2 years back it was more pathetic.
Now, come out and book a pre-paid taxi, which is anyway, 1.7 times costlier than the usual post-paid taxi. And invariably, the taxi driver will ask for more money when you get down at destination. You should consider yourself lucky in this case, because you at least reached your destination. In case of one of my friends, the taxi broke down in the middle of the road. The time at that time: 2 a.m. Place: Western Express Highway.
Welcome to India.
