(Ishwari Bajpai is Senior Advisor at NDTV; he has been a journalist for 30 years, and has covered the elections since 1984.)The fog descended with a vengeance today in Delhi and brought the airport to a standstill. Strangely an SMS to the airline at 6:34 said all was well and flight for 8:35 was on time.
We crawled to the airport, especially after Vasant Vihar, as visibility was down to 5 metres at times. Of course that did not stop trucks from overtaking from the left.
Once we reached the airport, we were again told that no worries we were on time. On time is the official line of the airline so how can anyone say anything different.
Once in the rather full departure hall, we discovered that all was not well. In the only set of screens in the main hall all flights were delayed. Why there is only set of tiny screen only authorities can answer. Every 10 minutes you march to check the status. There are no announcements as announcements only take place in the lower concourse. Why? Ask the airport guys. So back to the screens.
Eureka! This time it says we are ready to board. But when you go down you discover you can hardly see the bus so why are we boarding? To be in queue?
The bus to the plane is like a journey in a sea of smoke. You can't see anything. So why are we boarding?
On the plane the captain announces that we are 76th in line to take off which means two hours after the first plane takes off. So why are we being made to board?
With boarding complete we ask why we have been made to board? Oh well, the capacity in the terminal is needed for passengers checking in so the airlines have been asked to fill their grounded planes with passengers!
So we have to sit in an aircraft with the doors open (they aren't allowed to close them unless ready to take off) so that others can sit in the comfort of the terminal and get coffee.
The question is why is there no space in the terminal? That's because airport authorities has been on a four-month expansion of shops in the main departure concourse. With more shops there is less place for passengers. But who cares about passengers, for airports shops are first, airlines second and people last.
Meanwhile, the fog lifted slowly. And the queue of planes to take off moved even slower. People stood in the doorway watching the sun emerge. Finally at just after 11 the captain said we were ready to go. Of course, what he meant was we are now in the active queue. 11:40 and we were airborne.
The journey ended a little after 1:20 pm. We landed in sunny and warm Mumbai. And as we battled traffic into Bandra our ordeal that began at 5:30 in the morning was over. Five hours on an airplane most of it grounded was best forgotten.
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