Well I am back in KL. I am so used to cribbing about my own dear India and its condition, let me crib about some thing (body) else.
I left Desmoines (Iowa) surrounded by snow and landed in LA taking another flight at Denver. All fine and great and I am in the Domestic terminal at LA around 10 p.m and am to take the Internation flight Malaysian Airlines which is at 11.30 p.m. Very surprisingly unlike any other major airport which I have seen (I have seen quite a few) the International terminal in LA is to be approached from outside about a kilometer or so. (something like in chennai, the domestic and international airport ) . I was told I can take a bus or simply keep walking towards the International terminals. As there was so many cars and other vehicles which were there to pick up passengers, I preferred to walk. I kept walking and arrived at a dark place which was supposed to be the place where I had to go. I found out it was arrival hall and was asked to go to the third level. When I stepped out of the elevator for one second I was really shocked to see a big pandemonium in a big hall. People, people every where and it was like a bus station or may be a fish market. I just elbowed everybody and managed to go towards the malaysian airlines counter. There was a big crowd waiting with lots of heavy suitcases and I did not know where the queue ended or for which flight they were all checking in. I was supposed to be a transit passenger whose luggage had already been checked in and all I needed was a boarding card. There was a counter for that but there was no one there . I just elbowed my way telling who ever cared to listen that I am a transit passenger and plonked myself squarely near the counter which was open. (when it comes to survival read it as catching a connecting flight you forget your manners and queue jumping and what not) By then I was quite agitated and worried. To my woe the lady at the counter was talking to the passenger about some hotel accomodation on their return journey.
I was like what is happening here??? At last I was issued a boarding card and when I asked the lady if this is what it is like every day, she just raised one of her eyebrows and said how long have you been waiting madam in a tounge in cheek expression.
Job done now I rushed out from the crowd in search of the entry point to the innumeable gates. Here again lot of people with lot of luggage and no end or beginning to the queue. All luggages have to go thro' the x ray machine and then only it is checked in whether it is hand luggage or the check in luggage. I managed to find a queue which was for people with only hand luggage by shouting transit passenger(again), and entered the checkpost. As usual we are the ones targetted due to our color at the supposedly random check they carry on and the chains and bangles we wear beeping like crazy and at last I was out cleared and ran to my gate. At last I could see that the passengers were not yet boarding and I could call anu and tell her that I have reached LA.
So conclusion every thing is due to the explosion of people. While catering to more people you end up in confusion. India is no exception with such large population to cater to.
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Talking about crowds.Remember what binni used to say about handling number of patients in op in government hospitals and also what she handles everyday for the last 2 decades. Doctors from the west just cannot comprehend how doctors here handle such volumes.My neighbour had gone to child trust hospital last week as their daughter had unabated high fever. There was such crowd and hardly even standing place as children were coming in by the hundreds, due to various ailments(yes, weather and flooding and all else that go along have contributed). What she said later shocked me. She said babes of few months old need to be put on saline drip and there were no beds, no floor space; hence mothers were holding the kids in their palms and a drip was being administered!!!
And she was commending the efficinecy and effectiveness of the entire establishment, even in these traumatic times.Whom to salute? the mothers, the doctors or the administrators?All of us know whom to blame; the city planners in particular and every one of us who contribute to this state of affairs for decades on end.
Mother Nature will soon start a new ice age to end it all - my theory of evolution..
here's the reason why its overcrowded and needs poorly attended to in LAX. MOST OF'EM ARE NOT AMERICANS .... and thats not where the tax payers want their money. The state is already in a huge deficit ... and most of america dont care abt outsiders. their need (domestic airport the ones without immigrations) comes first.
As for crowding is concerned ... i believe there is a balance ... ie. for every other species being endangered ... humans are compensating. Way to go eh ... lets see how intelligent design explains our future.
I prophesize that the human beings will soon be endangered and the apes will take over like in "planet of the apes".
what was this blog on again??
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