While I have complete empathy with Ram and Alpana's disappointments, I must share MY own experiences. NSB airport 's domestic terminal at Kolkata, I thought was a whole lot better than Dilli's or Mumbai's. Ram's description of the dark alley from the international to the domestic terminal was no alley at all. It was the wide, paved driveway that connects the two.. Sure it is dark. But it is so everywhere in India. There is a shortage of electricity. That is the bad news. The good news is that my many experiences of traversing that two hundred yards or so of darkness during the wee hours was never scary. The only hassle was with having to deal with the dozens of waifs who wanted to ferry your luggage over from the international to the domestic terminal. Fortunately for me, my Kolkata experiences, ancient as it is, and Bengali language proficiency :-) always tided me over fine. I do realize that to the unfamiliar it could be a tad bit unnerving. My recommendation: Stay at the international arrivals lounge till daybreak, before venturing out into the foreboding darkness. I have done that a few times. I was never alone. There were dozens of others in the same predicament, every time.
I am surprised to hear about the state of the toilets. My own experience was that the Kolkata domestic terminal toilets used to be kept spotlessly clean, including the squatting ones. The toilets flushed. And there was no human waste, solid or liquid, on the floors, that I spied at any of my many transits thru the facilities. Best of all they never were any more stinky than 'phenyl' in the toilets ( the trademark aroma of desi privies and airport arrival lounges) or naphthelene balls (mothballs) in the urinals. Sorry to hear about Ram's experiences. At 9:16 PM -0600 1/10/08, Ram Sarangapani wrote: >Nano does look good. I read somewhere it can reach upto 65Kmph at 50km per >liter. So, it looks like its just for Indian conditions and possibly a >future export to other 3rd world countries. It sounds more like golf cart on >steriods. > >On a different note, here is a page from our recent visit to India. >We landed at Kolkata International at 3 AM (around 4 after immigartion and >collecting our luggage), and since we had a morning flight to Guwahati, we >decided to go over to the domestic. We thought it might be better to wait at >the airport instead of checking into a hotel for a few hours. > >Well, the scenic walk to the domestic was basically thru some dark alley >(the airport is under construction). We somehow reached the domestic in one >piece. >It was crowded with people sleeping all over the floor. The airport felt >like Howrah station (maybe worse). >The next order of business was to wash up, and so I headed toward the mens. >Well, it was crowded, and there was water all over the floor. >Silly me, I thought, well some water main must have broken, and hence the >the inch or so of water. >It was only after I was well inside the bathroom, did I realize that the >water a good healthy mixture of water and take a wild guess of what else! >(Note to self: take a hot 2 hour shower upon reaching Guwahati) > >For the womens (which was out of order), one had to trek past a couple of >burly sardars & thru some dark pathways etc etc. > >We did go thru the airport a few days later and during the day time. This >time, we took advantage of the restaurant upstairs (fairly good). The idea >is to order some food and make sure to use their rather clean restrooms. >Unfortunately, the restaurant stays open only 9-9 and if you happen to land >at the airport at some outlandish hour, it is your own damn fault. The >International airport is no different. > >These past few years, we have been travelling frequently to India, and our >experience, Delhi and Mumbai airports are not much different. They are >basically chaotic, unkempt, dirty, and totally unbecoming of being called an >airport. Its a surprise, planes take off and land at these things. > >The sadder part is, when I relate this to friends, they seem surprised. They >in fact think that these airports are actually really good. So, I guess, I >must be the one thats expecting too much. > >IMHO, India needs to get its act together. Infrastructure development, >quality airports, good roads, and last, but not the least of all, make sure >women visitors are safe in the macho streets of Mumbai, Delhi & Kolkata. > > --Ram >_______________________________________________ >assam mailing list >assam@assamnet.org >http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org _______________________________________________ assam mailing list assam@assamnet.org http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
