Up in the air

Throughout my childhood and teens, I stayed near the airport. While most would consider this a nuisance, given the drone of an airplane taking off or landing every fifteen minutes (or whatever is permissible as per ATC regulations), I went on to love airplanes and everything associated with aviation. Each time a plane took off, I would go running to the window to see which one it was and conjure stories about the passengers aboard. If it was a particularly fancy one, i.e. an Alitalia/Air France/British Airways, I wished desperately that I could be on it too. 

I grew up and the fascination for airplanes faded (Kandahar and 9/11 to be blamed), or rather metamorphosed into a love for airports, one that lasts until this very day.

I absolutely love the thrill of anticipation I feel each time I go to an airport. The buzz of activity that goes on 24/7, the aroma of coffee (I am told the CCD at the Mumbai Airport brings in the most revenue from all the CCDs in India), the distinct feel of duty free shopping, the ever changing status boards of airlines…bliss. I remember standing in front of many of those status boards and day dreaming about where my next vacation/work trip would be…Cebu? Melbourne? Geneva? Not a single one has materialised, but the day dreamer in me loved the indulgence.

It’s also the place where I get the maximum thrills over silly things-bags showing up first on a baggage belt, not having to wait in serpentine security/boarding queues since I showed up with my foot in a cast, getting my name announced all over the airport since I was busy finding billabong chappals for a friend and completely forgot that I had a flight to board, doing a little jig with a Santa in his grotto before a Christmas flight, getting a free coffee voucher since my reservation was mistakenly cancelled..the list can go on and on.

But what I love most about airports is that they are the best place to see love exhibited in its purest and truest form. Children jumping up and down to meet the father returning from a business trip, A husband stowing away his laptop bag with reckless abandon as he rushes to meet his pregnant wife, A girl crying buckets as her best friend leaves for further studies…I have yet to come across another place where such unadulterated emotions are on display. It makes one believe that the power and beauty of love, friendship and family bonding still very much exist.

So the next time you feel down on the world, I urge you, unless you are aviophobic (I looked that up and it does exist), to go the nearest airport, take a coffee and sit down. Let the warmth of all the love you see around embrace you. Take a flight of fantasy (pun intended) to some exotic location. It will do you a world of good. Or so feels this self-proclaimed philosopher of the twenty first century.