Incongruous India!

I realized as I got off the plane last night from China what makes India so overwhelming.  It is the abrupt contrast. 

When you fly into Delhi, you arrived in a brand new airport.  It is clean, air conditioned and fairly well planed.  The customs line moves speedily and with the occasional exception, the airport employees do not smell.  The duty free shop, through which they make you walk to get your bags, is fully stocked, brightly lit and staffed with anxious sales people eager to sell you a bottle of Johnny Walker Black Label.  Overall, you could mistake the experience for any airport in the world.

As you walk through the exit doors of the airport, though, your experience changes dramatically. Your first sensation is that you have walked into a blast furnace.  The heat is so overwhelming; you actually need a moment to catch your breath. It seems almost man-made, but you realize quickly that you are outside and it is simply India in the early morning.

The second sensation is the staggering mass of humanity that greets you.  It is 2:30am and there are hundreds of people huddled outside the exit doors, held back by the miles of aluminum railings design to separate the hoard from their prey. They stand there packed behind the barrier in almost complete silence simply staring at each new person that emerges. It is an eerie feeling.  As each traveler appears, their counterpart, whether it is their driver or family, wave and race to the corridor that cuts through the hoard to grab their bags and escort them out of the crowd.

After breaking free of the mob, you realize that the airport, in addition to being a conduit for travelers, is also home to thousands of people.  There are people sleeping beside every pole, in each nook and on top of every ledge.   As well, in every available open space around the airport, there are makeshift cities consisting of tents, corrugated huts and people sleeping under nothing, but the smog which hangs in the dank air.   For the novice traveler, this must be jolting - Huge expanses of unfinished, dirt tracts surrounding the ultra-modern airport full of people whose entire portfolio consists of a rag to wipe the sweat as they sleep in the mud.

I am pretty sure this is not the first impression the tourist board had in mind when they came up with the slogan “Incredible India!”