Air terminals
Much has been said and written about the new domestic terminal at the airport (unfortunately mostly negative) with the latest to join the chorus being MM (June 16th). Most of the comments pertain to the functioning of the terminal as such – glass panes breaking, poor maintenance, stinking toilets, steep ramp not suitable for baggage, etc.
A key issue that has been overlooked is whether this is how a terminal should be. After spending two thousand crores, one would expect a terminal with all features and facilities that are required for comfortable arrival and departure by air passengers and also the people who come to receive and send them off. Sadly that is not the case.
The concept of an Arrival Hall does not seem to exist in India. Consequently we see people including drivers standing and waiting behind the railing just outside the arrival area to meet incoming passengers. Chairs have not been provided. Consequently some people simply sit on the raised edge that protects the plants. (Bangalore Airport has several steel chairs outside the terminal.) One needs to go no further than Colombo (just an hour's flight away) to get an idea of an Arrival Hall. Colombo Airport has a huge, gargantuan Arrival Hall which is probably 200 feet X 150 feet X 150 feet. Yes, that's right, the height of the hall is the same as the width. There are only a few hundred chairs.
Does the new terminal have a telephone (STD) facility? If yes, it is certainly hidden from view. You will not believe the number of people who require a phone upon arrival (mobile ran out of charge, etc.). Delhi, Calcutta and Hyderabad have a phone facility. Once, in Delhi there was a queue of ten people waiting in line to use the public phone.
Emerge from the Hyderabad airport and you will be greeted by eateries, shops, etc. Go down one level and you will encounter the ubiquitous McDonald's. Come out of the Madras airport and what greets you? Nothing! Yes, that's right! Nothing other than the drivers holding placards with the name of the passenger. How long do these poor fellows usually have to wait, I wonder. Cannot something be done for them? At least provide a TV fixed high on the wall. There is supposed to be a Snack Bar in the arrival area but I am yet to find it. If it does exist it is hidden from view; the signage is certainly poor. It can be argued that the Hyderabad and Bangalore airports being greenfield constructions, facilities such as restaurants, shops, etc. were included in the design and executed. However, with a little imagination and planning, these much-needed facilities could have been incorporated into the new terminal, topography notwithstanding. The best joke is that any new facility is described as world-class!
The new terminal does not have art work unlike the new Delhi air terminal. Art in the form of paintings, sculptures, etc. enhances the beauty of the terminal. One gets a feeling that the new terminal is drab, dull and lifeless. It does look modern, though, and also attractive when viewed from a distance.
What can be more quintessential than the traditional South Indian filter coffee? Imagine being greeted by the sound of 'sooda kaapi' upon arrival. Imagine a mobile counter (or fixed, it really does not matter) moving around the four baggage carousels dispensing hot coffee. What a hit it will be! Needless to say the coffee must be of the highest quality. Reputed restaurants such as the one named after the six-headed God (to plagiarize MMM) should be considered. If at all there is a debate on this issue, it will likely be the number of cups that can be sold daily – 500, 1,000, 1,500 and so on. It requires a lot of imagination and out-of-the-box thinking to create something novel, new and innovative which at the same time is beneficial. Traditional governmental thinking will not suffice (which the new terminal is perhaps the result of). (This letter focusess on the arrival portion of the new terminal since I have not yet used the new departure portion.)
No article on airports and airlines (in newspapers) is complete without a quote from the president of the Air Passengers' Association. Interestingly it is the same person who gets quoted again and again making one wonder whether he is the life-time president. What has this association done for air passengers? The answer is perhaps a closely-guarded secret. Does this association participate in meetings concerning air travel? Are the office bearers on the various committees constituted by the government? Does this organisation influence the planning/ decision-making process? Did it provide any inputs into the design of the new domestic terminal? Does this association have a website? Sadly one does not get a sense that this association serves the needs or protects the interests of air passengers. When the government allowed airlines to unbundle services thereby enabling them to charge for seats, etc., this association should have been in the forefront to oppose such measures.
B. Gautham
137, Wallajah Road, Chennai 600 002
Unintelligible names
Further to my note (MM, June 16th) on the Duke of Wellington, I wish to commend the excellent sense of intuition of your special correspondent, in the light of some fresh information I have stumbled upon. His intuitive guess that the Duke's Indian military experience might have wrested his Waterloo honours is certainly not mistaken.
According to a modern day historian, John Keay (2000), the Duke always regarded his Maratha encounter a stiffer contest than his victory at Waterloo where he lost 15,000 of his men while the French lost 40,000. The Battle at Assaye (Ahmednagar) which the future Duke fought against the Scindia is said to be the fiercest campaign that Arthur Wellesley, ever waged. Wellesley, commanding his Madras troops consisting of 5,000 Infantry and 2,000 Cavalry (which included 1,300 Europeans), vanquished the Marathas consisting of 42,000 soldiers at the Battle of Assaye. The insignia of Assaye Elephant that was awarded, later replaced the Royal Crown in the Madras Regimental Crest. After the departure of English troops (garrisoned here since 1853), the Madras Regiment came to be cantoned at Wellington from February 1947.
The proposal to name this Military establishment after the Duke of Wellington (d.1852) was first made by the then Commander-in-Chief, Sir Richard Armstrong. This was because the Duke had always advocated establishing a health resort in these hills for the English battalions in India. But this proposal was vetoed by the then Governor Sir Henry Pottinger who held that "the name would be unintelligible to the natives". A future Governor Sir Charles Trevelyan, however, okayed it in 1860. A bridge connecting the cantonment to Ooty road was originally known as Waterloo Bridge, which subsequently came to be called Black Bridge after iron girders replaced the original wooden construction. Now a broadened bridge has been re-christened as Manekshaw Bridge. These new names had to be provided because the local name for the ford across the watercourse on the road happened to be "unintelligible" to the Europeans and their successors!
Rev. Philip K. Mulley
Anaihatti Road, Kotagiri 643 217
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