Welcome (?) to Incredible India - The Expat Blog

Welcome (?) to Incredible India

Ayeshea Perera - Sunday, July 19, 2009 2:54 PM

 (A traveler’s tale and a plea for helpfulness at airports)


I found myself in a rather unusual predicament on my return to India from a trip to Malaysia a few days ago. I realized I was roughly 30 rupees short of money for a prepaid taxi. I tried both the ATM Machines at the airport and for some reason, both machines were unable to process my request for cash. I walked back to the prepaid taxi booth and asked the man in charge if I could pay the 30 Rupees when I reached my house. He said no. “It’s only thirty rupees” I pleaded. “madam, if I were to listen to everyone with a story, we won’t make any money – this is a government business” he said firmly and proceeded to look at a point past me.  (I was outside by then in search of the ATM’s and couldn’t go back in again – and there were only prepaid taxis out in front)


In desperation I re-counted the money in my wallet and discovered around 20 Ringgit. I ran to the Thomas Cook agent at his booth and asked if he could change the money. ‘How do you expect me to change such a small amount?” he asked pushing the money back at me. “Please! I only need thirty rupees to take a cab! I’ll be stuck at the airport! It’s almost midnight!” I said. ‘Well  I can’t help you” he said firmly. End of discussion.


In the end I was forced to lug my bags, walk out of the airport, hail some 10 mercenary autos and plead in my broken Hindi to be taken home for the amount of money I had. I eventually got home in one piece, but badly shaken and highly disillusioned. Not one person was willing to go out of their way and help out a little. No one THOUGHT about offering me thirty rupees. Instead they watched dispassionately (and I imagine, with a touch of satisfaction) as I grew more and more desperate and frustrated.

Airports are places of confusion. It’s their nature. They’re big, they’re intimidating and they have far too much going on. Between security checks, frenzied shoppers, emotional relatives/ friends of travelers and the confused passengers themselves, navigating through airports are no mean feat. Which is why we need helpful officials and nice people to get us through! Of course what happened to me is not something that happens to everyone, but I think its important that airport staff are trained to help passengers in trouble. Because like I said, airports are fertile breeding grounds for chaos and mayhem, and considering that they are the first point of contact for any foreigner visiting your country, it also makes good PR sense to help out.  

“Incredible India” said the board behind me as I walked out on to the road with my baggage in tow. “You got that right!” I thought.

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22 Comment

From Narendra

July 20, 2009 10:27 AM
I think our unhelpfulness is constitutional, not only institutional! We actually take pleasure in our inability to help. I was returning from Heathrow with excess baggage and the woman behind the counter really helped me ship off stuff home. She needn't have, it wasn't her job, but it improved my travel experience considerably.

From Randev

July 20, 2009 11:14 AM
indians

From Roz

July 20, 2009 11:51 AM
Shame on you India!!!! I remember even in Madras and Bangalore Airports the security authorities were very arrogant and extremely Rude.

From Dinu

July 20, 2009 12:42 PM
In Sri Lanka on the other hand everyone's very helpful from the moment you set foot... the mechanical ayubowan girl from the airlines (who couldnt really careless if you virtually stepped on her on your way out)...the duty free sales hawks who try to cajole your last dollar off the pocket (the 20 ringit still wouldnt make much of a difference though)...the porters near the baggage belts who prey on the lonely female bulk traveller who according to their opinion is never strong enough to push a trolley...the beaming customs officials ever ready to assist you to lift up the very same bulk (with the glistening new cardboard)and place them on their inspection desks...the lo-behold money changers right outside the customs who make it seem a crime to walk out of the airport with unconverted foreign currency...the taxi and pickups folk that line up ceremoniously to stick a MR HEINZ sign at your face regardless of the blatantly Bata rubber slippers you wear...the Foreign Employment Bureau officials who are never short of a word alongside the aisles if they happen to smell an employed rat...AND the airport security who believes that the vehicles that enter the Arrivals Terminal should be man-handled under the logic of a F1 pit-stop...

From aditya

July 21, 2009 5:51 PM
oh dear... a truly nice welcome back to India, try to put that behind you and write up some nice new posts... am already looking forward to that! Ayubowan to India.

From John

July 22, 2009 1:39 PM
Although your situation was unfortunate, I don't think it's fair to generalise that all Indians are unhelpful and that India is unwelcoming. If you were £2 short for a taxi at London Heathrow, would anyone have given you money there? No. Would any officials have helped you? No. Would any taxi driver take you home for less than the correct fair? No. Would any Thomas Cook agent have changed 20 Ringits? No. Both the government taxi stand and the money changer were just following rules - they would lose their jobs if they didn't. Millions of Indians don't have money to get taxis. So they lug their bags and barter with auto drivers or take buses - that's part and parcel of life in India. You shouldn't complain about having to do the same.

From Anand

July 22, 2009 2:26 PM
@Ayeshea: Did you actually ASK any regular people around (i.e., not employees) for help? I am sure that most people who fly would give you Rs.30 if your appearance seemed genuine (I know I would have given you the money). Indians are very wary of being scammed and therefore naturally suspicious of strangers. We don't want to open the door for someone to distract us with their sorry story while an accomplice is lifting our wallet or stealing our bags (very common in railway stations).

From pularika

July 23, 2009 10:10 PM
So John, by your conclusion, Indians are as unhelpful as the English (hardly the yardstick for hospitality these days) AND their systems are far less efficient! (I bet my bottom dollar there would be a working ATM machine in Heathrow, besides, one need not take a taxi from there, as the tube is quite efficient and very safe) I don't think Ayeshea made an all-encompassing genaralisation that all Indians are unwelcoming and unhelpful; but it is unfortunate that a airport - the point of first impression - isn't better equipped to deal with the little day-to-day disasters of travellers

From Ayeshea

July 24, 2009 9:24 PM
@John - I never said all Indians are unhelpful - just the officials at the airport. Maybe in England they're the same way, but I have encountered countless officials in Sri Lanka who have gone out of their way to be helpful which is why I was a little surprised by Dinu's little rant. There was this one occasion in fact, when a security guard offered me his own mobile phone to call my parents because I had been standing there for a while and he was concerned - saying that it was safer if I went inside and sat down. And this was the MIDDLE OF THE DAY. @Anand, no I didn't actively beg :-) But there were people before me and after me at the counters who saw what happened, overheard my conversation and who still didn't bother to offer. @Pularika - thank you - that is EXACTLY what I was trying to say. :-)

From Ashram Guy

July 25, 2009 8:46 PM
Good one! You see you got dark skin and you 'look' almost Indian. Melissa is in the US, call her and ask her to inact the same thing you went through and see how many guy offer her Rs 30 or even a free ride back home! Should make for an interesting story! Not that we Indians/South Asians don't know how much the average brown guy likes to suck up to the gora or the gori but at least the bastards at the airport should be shown the mirror for once! Tell her the exact places you went to and the guys you talked to and ask Melissa to talk to the exact same people! Lets see!

From Husna

July 25, 2009 9:42 PM
@John. Yes they would, and have. White folk are not half as bad or unhelpful as people like to imagine. Comparing negativity to worse examples doesn't make the initial one excusable.

From Sonya Mercado

July 25, 2009 10:38 PM
Ayeshea, seriously, get over yourself. You expect employees at government agencies or private corporations (Thomas Cook) to break the rules for your poor planning and generalize that all Indians are evil. Yet, you're the same expat (worse, PIO Indian) who cries foul when these same agencies and corporations are so corrupt and bend the rules. Is your sensibility hurt because the rules were not bent for you? If so, you display a characteristic found in many expats I have encountered in Bombay and elsewhere. I am half Spanish and half Peruvian and I have had great experiences in most places in India, and certainly far superior to Malaysia or elsewhere you were coming from. You should have asked a random person at the airport. Kindness in India is actually very heartening.

From Melissa A Bell

July 26, 2009 10:47 PM
Poor Ayeshea! I think @Pularika makes a good point: despite the many improvements to the Delhi airport, a lot of amenities just don't work. Atm machines, phone chargers, the a.c. wasn't working for ten days, etc., etc. That being said, I've been in a lot of airports lately (much to my chagrin, since I hate flying more than I hate rats). And, honestly, problems abound EVERY where. Europe, North America, Asia. There are just too many people and too little money and too few well-trained, customer service-oriented folk. At the end of the day, the airline industry should be all about service. And giving a little, bending the rules a little in the service industry makes a HUGE difference in the way a customer feels about the product. You go to lunch, the waiter messes up your order, you're angry, the chef sends out free dessert. Boom! You love that restaurant. My flight was cancelled and no one notified me. They postponed the flight 12 hours and I missed a friend's wedding. I cry. The agent bumps me up to first class. I still miss my friend's wedding, but I don't want to murder every single employee of Lufthansa. Unfortunately, in too many airports these days, people are not about service, but more about just getting people through the place as fast as possible to hustle more people into the cattle cars, or shuffle them off into autos in the middle of the night.

From Sonya Mercado

July 26, 2009 10:56 PM
@ Melissa: We all want to fly, drive, train at the cheapest cost. Something has to give. Air travel was fun in the past and service levels were great. However, air travel was also much more expensive and not in the reach (or repeated reach) of a larger portion of the population.

From Melissa A. Bell

July 26, 2009 11:46 PM
@Sonya totally agree that the lower costs are great for the frequent (broke) flyer (i.e. me). But I still think good customer service can come at a really low cost. Case in point: Los Reyes, the delicious Mexican restaurant I'm going to eat at today. Cheap, cheap eats. Happiest, friendliest staff. The result? I would spend my money there every single meal if people weren't so disturbed by my vast intake of burritos. Giving people good service doesn't cost any extra and usually will make the company a lot more money in the long run.

From Ayeshea

July 27, 2009 9:05 AM
@Sonia - I am not a PIO - I don't have a drop of Indian blood in me. And I don't think it costs anything to be nice. Whether you're from India or Spain or Peru, quite frankly.

From Randev

July 27, 2009 2:13 PM
Does "Sonya Mercado" also work at an airport?

From K Mathur

July 29, 2009 5:50 AM
I do believe that many Indians are easy going, kindly, non judgmental and most of all, helpful. I hope I am right. Although there was this saddening article by Aaker Patel in Mint on the 4th of July, 09 that asked why Indians don’t give back to society. In thia article we come across as aggressive and with an each one for himself or herself attitude. Hope he is 90% wrong.

From aditya

August 18, 2009 8:34 PM
all this for thirty rupees... hey Ram is all i can say!

From Pigeon

August 24, 2009 1:08 PM
The idea of a prepaid taxi is 2 pay d money in advance..not in installments..well..if u had askd som1 4 rs.30 m sure they would hav given it 2 u..

From Adhikari

October 11, 2009 3:13 PM
Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi, India: The Most Unsecured Airport - I am posting this blog for 2 reasons: a) to make aware of authorities for their security lapses and hassles; b) to make aware passengers to suggest avoiding travelling via Delhi Airport. I am a frequent traveler and last September, I was travelling with my family and friends (6 persons) via Delhi Airport (in transit). We experienced hassles and unimaginable security lapses and corrupt behaviors of police and airline officials. For last 20 years of my professional life, I always avoided travelling through India because I heard a lot of complaints and hassles about the Delhi Airport. But this time, we decided to try to travel using Air India. In-flight service was OK, but the ground staffs in the airport were highly uncooperative. All transit passengers were kept (for 10-12 hours) in a room without any basic facilities (no restaurant, no information desk, etc…). Passengers were not informed properly about their flight and almost all of passengers had to wait struggle until the last minute to get their boarding passes. Air India staffs were coming again and again and asking for money (bribe) even for checked in baggage. Thus, all passengers waited until almost the flight time to get their boarding passes. We also got accordingly and we had only few minutes for security check. Therefore, we rushed to the security check, placed our handbags in the X-ray machines. When our handbags went inside the X-ray machine, then the police on duty asked us to pass through another inlet/gate. We asked the reason and he said the X-ray machine is out of order. Then we passed through another inlet/gate and we had to wait few minutes, because of already standing crowed. Then, when we enter inside and looked for our handbags that were sent earlier from another X-ray machine. Unfortunately, our 2 bags were not there. I asked the police, but he was non-responsive to my request. The bags that I lost had valuables inside – ornaments, laptops, movie camera and digital cameras. I requested Police Sub-Inspector; he was also unwilling to help me out. Then I loudly cried and draw the attention of people around me and humbly requested the Police Sub-Inspector again and again to check the X-ray machine, in which we put our bags few minutes back. Then I jumped into the X-ray machine myself and saw my bag inside the machine. Then I got the bag, but did not find a digital camera. We could not find the camera and rushed to the gate and enter into the aircraft as last minute passengers. Inside the aircraft, I also heard from other passengers and came to know that they also had lost something valuables. It was unimaginable event. How can we imagine such incidence by the security officials? I think it was done in a planned way in association with Air-India staff, who kept us until the last minute and police also have similar interest to cheat and make money. I recommend all potential travelers to avoid travelling via Delhi Airport and tell to your friends as well. If you had to travel, be careful about the airport and cheating by the security staff in the airport.

From Dinesh

October 12, 2009 10:38 AM
Thanks for posting the bitter experiences in the Delhi airport. I also had similar experiences and have been avoiding travelling via India.

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