The Ideal World of Airports

The entire mankind since the beginning of the Universe is in pursuit of unity within humanity and World Peace. Great Men have strived hard, won Nobel Peace prizes in the process, but different factions of homo sapiens strive harder consciously or unconsciously to widen the fissures. Right on the verge of cementing a fault line another one opens up. Sort out religion, and there is colour and status and education, ideology and so on. Strangely, this behavioral pattern is not seen amongst other animals. Cows don’t discriminate by caste or colour and neither do they doubt the bull when the calf is of a mixed colour. A stray dog may feel pity but doesn’t mock another pet on leash for being subservient.

Ideal World

There is, however, one man-made space where all these differences and discrimination is deemed nullified, which is commonly called an Airport. So much so that in future airports may well be designated the future non-religious places of worship. That is one place where the worlds meet, cross and unite and humans don’t fight except with the erring Airline staff.

Appearance

There is striking similarity and uniformity in their construction world-wide. The modern-day airports are similar looking, steel and glass structures with smart use of natural light during daytime to reduce the guilt of over consumption. The country where it is built doesn’t matter as major directions and instructions are written in English in addition to any other language.

Primal Needs

The three basic needs for humans to survive viz. food, shelter and clothing is available at all the airports. If you have enough money to buy a plane ticket to somewhere or work for the airline industry, then there is access to abundant food, adequate & expensive clothing and airport roof provides shelter unless of course it falls during storm.

Sea of Humanity

Airport is the space where humanity converges and diverges in a peaceful mechanical cyclic process. The brightly lit aisles, stores and the pleasant smelling environment put each and every individual in spotlight. Human beings usually behave well, there is no discrimination based on caste, creed or religion. The discrimination is only by class. First class, business and Economy. It is inevitable from the smile on the cabin crew which shrinks from a propitious smile in the First Class to a forced pretense in the Economy.

People Watching

The entire process of getting inside the airport and boarding a flight is like a an assembly line. Travelers are processed, assisted by numerous helper human beings in the form of airline staff, security etc. They are queued into the flight and made to sit in order like kindergarten kids and served some meals and then deboarded at the destination where the reverse procedure is applied before releasing the travelers into the big bad world. There’s also efficient and arguably better assistance for the old and the sick than some hospitals.

Food

The All you can get for Rs 2.00/- lounges which are full of travelers who appear to be traveling only to use the lounges. Ironically, the banks have now realized the trick of the trade and recently changed the conditions for utilizing the lounges; requiring an upgrade of credit cards. If one does not have access to Lounges, then there are enough overpriced restaurants and food courts. What could be better than waiting to board a plane chomping on choice of food and beverages?

Undiscriminated

It could be Abu Dhabi, Istanbul, Changi, Mumbai, Delhi or any other airport in the world. The cornucopia of human interactions at these places is synonymous to what comes close to an ideal world. The inequalities in incomes and the riches are brought closer and the status gaps are reduced. Except for the exclusive and expensive lounges everyone is the same.

The milieu at the airport is soothing and most of the people are teeming with excitement to reach any destination. Except of the occasional scuffle for missed baggage, delayed flight etc the travelers generally mind there own business and behave in a civilized manner.

Climate Control

The temperature is controlled and its mild; far removed from the polluted, cold, hot, wet atmospheric conditions. In certain airports there are landscaped gardens where a traveler could relax in the lap of an artificial greenery and read a book. The floors are carpeted and cleaned frequently. Same is the case with toilets.

Conclusion

Airports are great levelers. Despite the resourcefulness and athleticism while deboarding; the 26th row passenger who has skillfully left behind the front row passengers still has to wait for the checked in baggage to arrive on the travellator. The arrival of baggage is like a game of roulette. Your bag may arrive first or at the last. It might confuse you with similarity to other bags in shape, size and color. It may be riding with another airline baggage. It happens when it happens.