Astonishing Airport: Every person is a threat to the country

I started from my home and reached airport by 5-30 in the morning for a 6-30 flight. I dint have a faintest idea of what next is going to happen to me. I reached to the International section of the NSCBI Airport, Kolkata. Where is the lounge? There isn't any, because the seats are broken, AC is out of order, toilets are not cleaned and floor is like a dirty barn.

No, I am not exaggerating, but these are all true to my knowledge at the time I entered through the main entrance.  Security check, wow, ordeal would be an understatement. I had to explain about my deodorant as well. "Why don't you carry a smaller deodorant?" What does if matter when I am checking the baggage in? "What are these lights for?" Asked the lady at baggage scanning hold pointing at the strobe units I was carrying. I am a photographer and I am going for an assignment "Do they have battery, do you have a permission to carry them, what are these sticks (pointing at the light stands), why are you carrying so many wires, are you a military person?" I was literally puzzled by the bombardment.

After a quirky fight with supervisor at the baggage check-in counter, I somehow managed to check my baggage in by paying cash. They don't have any merchant machine for plastics. When insisted another set of threatening answers were ready for me and delivered on silver platter. During this I heard the supervisor directing his subordinates, that if someone is traveling to Dimapur or some place extreme east with an identification revealing regional root to those places then they can carry as much as 100 kilo of extra luggage without any baggage allowance and no one will screen their bags and will ask questions. So probably they are the only people who are model citizens of India and pose no threat to the nation. Well, this makes me try finding (read fake) my roots as well now.

By the time they were finished with me, I was convinced that every person (except the ones enjoying special privileges) is a definite threat to the country.

Then it was a nature's call, an honest one. "No, there is no toilet here, please relief your self on-board" were the words that came from the smiling face at the security check hold. Is there any water available was my next question which I myself restraint as I already knew the answer.

After waiting silently in a queue of about 60 people I was directed (read 'driven like a hard of cattle') towards a bus which was all shabby, worn off and looked older than me. The door dint close properly after everyone was on-board. I had smelled the most horrible putrescence ever in my life that day inside the bus. The only thing I saw which made my day was a rising sun on the eastern sky with a flock of cloud jostling around it and a Boeing 737 standing in the foreground getting washed by the crimson tides.

I was on board and offered a bottle of water with a pale and bland tasting sandwiches. Tea tasted like horse-p!$$ and the dessert was already rotten. I couldn't even use the washroom as some intelligent person occupied it for almost 45 minutes. But I was determined and after a trial like 3-4 times, I managed to occupy the toilet. Then after some time I realised that the seat I occupied is broken and it was moving violently as the ATR jet was taking the blow of air pockets. The Deafening sound of the jets made my head burst with headache.

After a 'memorable' experience of 2 and half hours I landed at Tezpur airspace. When I saw the car waiting I was a little skeptical about the next journey I was about to travel. But to my utter surprise, It was not so 'memorable'.

P.S. I just completely forgot to mention that I was traveling by an 'Air-India' flight from Kolkata to Tezpur for an Industrial photo-shoot at Tinkharia Tea estate, Assam.

If you want to see what photos I went to click, FIND it here.

The big day

The big day of my life: I got married. Do I need to say more.

After a highly tensed courtship (read drama, rephrase, melodrama), we tied our knots legally. Yes, that's the glitch, we did a marriage registry and expecting to get it wrapped up by January 2014.

I am happy today........ :)

To see the photos CLICK here.