Well...it depends on which side of the kick r u. If you are the receiving end, you will complain, else you will ignore. And thats what has been happening everywhere..Mostly in India. Even if you say we lack civic sense thats becos we never feel like having one unless we encounter some instances where we can "UNDERSTAND" and compare what is civic sense. Every school had classes for social studies and moral science..but we study only for the purpose of scoring marks out of them and not learn anything..and those who do learn..they write the article as above. Above this, most of the public is uneducated forgive them of having civic sense when the learned dont have it. We should learn from our own mistakes and strive to be as positive as we can rather than taking a negative if others are going the negative.
The Indian airports have an aura (smell - mix of urinal, a/c) the moment you walk in to it , which is where they probably have to start to clean up the mess! The callousness of the airport management staff is just unimaginable and they really kill the spirit of the travellers. With so many passengers flying, for sure AAI should be getting a lot of money as Airport Tax. What do they do with them...?!?
I understand the frustration of dealing with flight staff and airport cleanliness. However, writer is correct in saying that most of the indians are very unruly, uncivilised towards their fellow passenger. I have umpteen number of bad experinces starting from bus to train to air travel and I can only say this: As an individual, indians might be good when they are known to you, however travelling with strangers they are very unruly and behave sort of callous and uncivilized.
No use blaming the people. This is a country where the resources are limited and citizens are a billion. With our large numbers it is _not_ possible to be courteous. The citizens are not to blame. Their numbers are - much as we may hate to admit.
I totally agree with the author. But lets think again. If you ask all the passengers flying 90 may be 95% will respond instantly in the same way we are responding without any guilt.
We Indians individually condemn all these misbehaviour but collevtively we are doing it, atleast we are encouraging it or atleast we are not discouraging it.
Lets think again not individually but in a collective manner.
I agree totally. Flying is no more the "thrill" it used to be.
About people behaving rudely, it is the ingrained culture of "survival", which has just moved from bus stand to airport. Basic values, discipline and behavior are taught from childhood in Western countries; in Indian schooling, I have never seen or heard about it in anyschool.
About airport staff (AAI?) behaving arrogant, I believe privatization will possibly take care of it in the long run. Right now, AAI staff think they are doing us a favor by allowing us to use "their" airports to board an airplane!
I would like to debate the thought express by the authors. It seems like the author likes to wear the western cap and happily go about bashing India and Indians. The article doesnot mention the qualification of the author for making comments so I assume the author has adequate qualification and authority in this area. I have extensively travelled in US so I will speak only on my experience in US. What I have experienced in US is during time of mass cancellations of flights due to inclement weather the scenario in US is not a very pretty one. Having personally experienced these scenarios, where tempers and words fly in every direction on every counter, trash overflow, indifferent airport staff. Just multiply the number of passengers by atleast 10 and that is exactly the situation in India is now. What do you expect to see? I don't see the scenario as bad as it is described in the article. Some things take time to get accustomed to. With the new found wealth Indians will also get that eventually. This does not give anyone (including the author) the right trash everything at Indian airports. Would love to see more balanced views from the author in future. Happy New Year Vijay
RE:Air Travel
by Jothilingam on Jan 06, 2007 09:09 AM Permalink
Yes, you are correct, I agree
Last one year our Indian Government is struggling to find space / place for the expansion of Chennai airport. Still our people are doing good.
This NRIs are not understanding the problems and situations. Simply writing .......
All educated / cultured NRIs, are you ready to develop India????? India is need like you people. Come man ........ come .......... we will develop India.
I totally agree with the author.Any thinking india will vouch for the disgraceful state of affairs our public managemnet sysytem is. The notion of civic sense is to an average indian is too remote and far fetched to comprehend. Its is the utter lack of self respect that gets manifested as civic abuse in trying situstions like airport queues. The management inturn is made of the same people as the rest of the country, and the vicious cycle goes on. god save india
The world is becoming increasingly flat. Bus passengers of yesterday are taking planes, and novue riche areemulating the uncooth. We have a tradition of lacking civic sense - and are used to cleaning the house and dispose the garbage right outside the house - which eventually ends back in the house. Lack of concern for fellow human beings is no different. If inly family units and schools instill a message of "politeness cushions the bumps in life" we all would be better off and expect the same behaviour at bus stop or airports.
