Trying to leave India...
Leaving India ended up being rather more difficult than we had imagined (and we had already imagined it to be pretty difficult)! Our flight was scheduled to depart at 1:15pm. We managed to check ourselves in on-line the night before, so we weren't in a huge hurry to get to the airport. In fact, before arriving at the airport, we managed an all too brief visit to the Baha'i House of Worship in New Delhi, named the Lotus Temple, and attracting well over 3 1/2 million visitors each year (some photos are below). We spent a quiet hour in prayer and reflection and had a brief look at the impressive information centre, which wasn't there 5 years ago when I first visited. We hope to come back for a few more hours during our stopover on the return leg of our journey back to Perth.
Anyway, we arrived at the airport at around 11:45am. There are no signs telling you what to do or where to go, and it was only previous experience that told us that the first thing we had to do was get our bags scanned. We did this fairly promptly and then proceeded to find our check-in counter. Again, no problem, though the queue here took about half an hour. As we were lining up to check-in, we noticed an alarmingly long line of people waiting to go through the security checks. Hoping the queue would be somewhat diminished by the time we had to line up, we completed the rest of the check-in procedures swiftly. By this time however, the rather long queue had multiplied phenomenally and was now coursing through the entire departures terminal like a gigantic human snake! A little bit startled, but nevertheless good-humoured (after all, we thought, we are in India), we proceeded to try to find the end of the line. This in itself took a good few minutes, as the human snake had doubled and re-doubled on itself in an attempt to create some semblance of order in a fairly chaotic situation. Taking our place at the end of the queue, it was now our turn to observe the looks of sheer bewilderment and horror as fellow travellers also realised the full extent of the queuing scenario that was about to greet them.
The queue was moving fairly slowly and we had just made our way around one coil, when two parts of the line decided to merge into one. Not ones to get too worried by this we kept in line and went with the flow. However, with the finishing line just in sight - the inevitable happened - queue jumpers appeared and decided that instead of lining up at the end they would try to sneak in at the start! Understandably, this incensed a few fellow-queuers - one American lady started yelling at the little sneaks to "Go away", and suitably-chastened, a large party of shame-faced Finnish passengers took their rightful place at the end of the huge line. However, this didn't stop others from trying it on, and finally, with the camel's back well and truly broken, an Englishman decided that he had a cause to champion on behalf of his fellow sufferers who had, like us, patiently stood in line for an hour and a half already. He took his cause up with one family - mum, dad and son, and things, inevitably got quite fiery, with the Englishman refusing to give up, and the man and son raising their voices and getting very upset. The beleaguered Indian airport officials, when called upon to intervene, did nothing - you could see in their eyes that this was a situation that happened frequently and they felt powerless to deal with it. The stoush continued for a good fifteen minutes, until finally the queue-jumping crew were removed to the back of the line. Small victory indeed, as many of the on-lookers themselves had pushed in and were probably hoping that no-one would point the finger at them too.
Anyway, by this time, our plane should have taken off an hour ago, yet we were still in the line. Obviously no procedures to speed up the processing of those passengers whose planes are first to depart. A few times, a lady came around calling for Turkish Airlines passengers. We eagerly identified ourselves to her, but it was no more than a head-counting game and we resigned ourselves to the fact that we may never end up leaving New Delhi after all. By this time, we realised that "foggy conditions" are really just a convenient cover-story for the Indian Airport Authority - delayed flights have got nothing to do with the weather at all - it's all just the complete lack of proper procedures and systems to deal with passenger arrivals and departures!
Finally, when we had been waiting for over three hours, together with another couple travelling on the same flight as us, we were bumped up to the front of the line (much to the annoyance of others!). We cleared the security checks in a flash and raced towards the boarding gates. Two hours after our scheduled departure time we were in the skies, quite happy to be leaving the chaos and confusion of India behind us...and no doubt to happily return again many times in the future!
Anyway, we arrived at the airport at around 11:45am. There are no signs telling you what to do or where to go, and it was only previous experience that told us that the first thing we had to do was get our bags scanned. We did this fairly promptly and then proceeded to find our check-in counter. Again, no problem, though the queue here took about half an hour. As we were lining up to check-in, we noticed an alarmingly long line of people waiting to go through the security checks. Hoping the queue would be somewhat diminished by the time we had to line up, we completed the rest of the check-in procedures swiftly. By this time however, the rather long queue had multiplied phenomenally and was now coursing through the entire departures terminal like a gigantic human snake! A little bit startled, but nevertheless good-humoured (after all, we thought, we are in India), we proceeded to try to find the end of the line. This in itself took a good few minutes, as the human snake had doubled and re-doubled on itself in an attempt to create some semblance of order in a fairly chaotic situation. Taking our place at the end of the queue, it was now our turn to observe the looks of sheer bewilderment and horror as fellow travellers also realised the full extent of the queuing scenario that was about to greet them.
The queue was moving fairly slowly and we had just made our way around one coil, when two parts of the line decided to merge into one. Not ones to get too worried by this we kept in line and went with the flow. However, with the finishing line just in sight - the inevitable happened - queue jumpers appeared and decided that instead of lining up at the end they would try to sneak in at the start! Understandably, this incensed a few fellow-queuers - one American lady started yelling at the little sneaks to "Go away", and suitably-chastened, a large party of shame-faced Finnish passengers took their rightful place at the end of the huge line. However, this didn't stop others from trying it on, and finally, with the camel's back well and truly broken, an Englishman decided that he had a cause to champion on behalf of his fellow sufferers who had, like us, patiently stood in line for an hour and a half already. He took his cause up with one family - mum, dad and son, and things, inevitably got quite fiery, with the Englishman refusing to give up, and the man and son raising their voices and getting very upset. The beleaguered Indian airport officials, when called upon to intervene, did nothing - you could see in their eyes that this was a situation that happened frequently and they felt powerless to deal with it. The stoush continued for a good fifteen minutes, until finally the queue-jumping crew were removed to the back of the line. Small victory indeed, as many of the on-lookers themselves had pushed in and were probably hoping that no-one would point the finger at them too.
Anyway, by this time, our plane should have taken off an hour ago, yet we were still in the line. Obviously no procedures to speed up the processing of those passengers whose planes are first to depart. A few times, a lady came around calling for Turkish Airlines passengers. We eagerly identified ourselves to her, but it was no more than a head-counting game and we resigned ourselves to the fact that we may never end up leaving New Delhi after all. By this time, we realised that "foggy conditions" are really just a convenient cover-story for the Indian Airport Authority - delayed flights have got nothing to do with the weather at all - it's all just the complete lack of proper procedures and systems to deal with passenger arrivals and departures!
Finally, when we had been waiting for over three hours, together with another couple travelling on the same flight as us, we were bumped up to the front of the line (much to the annoyance of others!). We cleared the security checks in a flash and raced towards the boarding gates. Two hours after our scheduled departure time we were in the skies, quite happy to be leaving the chaos and confusion of India behind us...and no doubt to happily return again many times in the future!
Photos of the Baha'i House of Worhsip in New Delhi
One of the paths leading to the Baha'i House of Worship in New Delhi
Thousands of people from all faiths visit the House of Worship every day
A view of the interior of the House of Worhsip
Aerial view of the House of Worhsip, about 1/2 hour from the centre of the city
The House of Worship at night
Labels: Baha'i House of Worship, India, Lotus Temple, New Delhi, Perth, Turkey
posted by rainwolf @ 3:19 am
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