Kingsport

Airports are not just spots where airplanes arrive and depart in order to transport people.They are international meeting places where people arrive for the first time in a country.Their first impressions of the country are therefore made in airports.

I was in Bangkok airport which is called suvarnabhoomi international.Until then I had the idea that Thailand is a laid back little country but my view underwent a sea change when I saw the impeccably clean airport and walked along its corridors, meeting people who were brisk and smiling.

The contrast between that and Chennai airport was spine chilling.Chennai international airport was small,congested and disorderly.The queues where they existed had four people in a row trying to get past each other.The people had a harried appearance and were shabby.Everything had to be done by word of mouth because the signs were insufficient.The stink from the harbage bins was matched by the swarm of flies.And we are complaining about acquiring land for its expansion,as if we did not have enough land left elsewhere.

Airports are also places where one could showcase the culture and heritage of a nation by displaying objects of art.This is the case with Bangkok airport where there is a beautiful ancient temple with palm trees constructed right in the middle with enough room for people to get themselves photographed against its backdrop.Chennai which boasts of being a littoral temple town close to the shore temples of Mahabalipuram does not have any thing remotely like it.It is neither ornamental nor functional and mirrors the people of the land accurately,I think.

I am sorry for myself for having to be so critical of my country but whenever I get out of the country reality slaps me in my face.And Chennai, with all thy faults, I love thee still!