In her column for the Indian Express, journalist Tavleen Singh writes about the “India Everywhere” campaign in Davos :

“It was such a seductive mix of magic and modernity that many of my foreign friends promised they would come to India this year, no matter what. When I landed at Mumbai airport I thought of this with trepidation. What would they think when they landed? Would they think they had been cheated and take the next flight out or would they try and look beyond the first, filthy impression that India creates?”

You read right. The word is filthy. She writes more :

“I landed in the middle of the strike that the government’s Marxist supporters organised against privatisation, so Mumbai airport was even more squalid than usual. Garbage lay uncollected in the corridors and the smell of dirty toilets pervaded the baggage area, making first-time visitors sniff nervously at the stale, dusty air. The carousels that brought our luggage creaked and groaned with age and on the drive into the city I saw India Everywhere as she really is.”

In one of her earlier columns, she extolls on the virtues of the Indian airport :

” The word infrastructure came up so often at last week?s India Economic Summit it became the conference?s background raga. . .The word rang in my ears later that evening when I arrived at Delhi airport and found it so crowded and filthy it resembled an Indian railway station. People jostled and pushed to find standing room in the departure terminal that remains unchanged since socialist times and in the restaurant we queued for the privilege of sharing a table with strangers because so many flights were delayed. “

Frankly, whether Mumbai or Delhi, whether a strike is on or not, the state of the airports is much the same – apalling. And while the airport privatisation brouhaha rages on, I sincerely hope they’d hurry up and get a move on and reform the airports. The IG airport in Delhi is a disaster. It is more of a bus station than an airport. Someone is always mopping the white marble, but it still never looks very clean – don’t tell me the marble is of poor quality because corrupt officials ate up the money for the good marble (surprise, surprise !).

And then there are veritable louts, who hang around, coming up to you and offering to have you sneaked in (ahead of everyone in the line) in return for payment. Me thinks, what ever happened to security ? if they can sneak you in, how easy is it for an unscrupulous person to actually smuggle in something dangerous ? Apart from the shame of it, a good advertisement for India, hanh ? Let the good tourist see first hand that bribery begins at the airport ! And whatever happened to management ? I don’t believe that the louts can hang around so openly, without a complicit management.

The airport looks and feels drab, like a recently vacated empty space – like any uncared for government building. The only advertising I saw were these very “sarkari” posters of “Incredible India”. And looking at the TVs in the lobby, where Govinda lustily gyrated his hips, you could be forgiven for thinking that the Airport Authority had never heard of it. Look Mommy, – no common sense !

How come Indian malls look so clean and glitzy while the airports look run-down ? You guessed right – the malls are privately maintained. It will indeed be a relief when the airports are too.