So I landed in Delhi on 9th evening of November and I was staying at my CouchSurfing friend Ranjana's place. It was the 2nd time at her place for me and this time it was at her newly constructed house. Just one night but we had some interested conversations bout each other's life and stuff. After lunch I left for the market and after a quick visit to Chandni Chowk to have the delicious Samosa and Kachori with Alu Subzi I headed to the IGI -T3 terminal to receive my friend Dorota who was arriving from Nepal along with a group of tourists from Poland.
Her flight was delayed by 2 hours. But still since I had nothing to do, I left the market at around 18:30 on a Pedal Rickshaw and decided to take the metro from Ram Krishna Ashram metro station. The pedal rickshaw drive started to become like an ever lasting one since there was a huge traffic jam at the Sardar Bazaar cross roads. Pedal rickshaws bumping into each other, hand lorries everywhere and pedestrian's finding just about any spaces to walk past. Finally after managing the traffic, the streets filled with garbage and pot holes, I reached the metro station after 45 min. and soon boarded the metro for Dwarka sector 10. Luckily the metro was not very crowded and I even got a seat to sit.
I got down at Dwarka sector 10 in about 30 - 35 min. and asked the Pedal rickshaw guy to take me to a place from where I can get an auto rickshaw for T3 terminal. And he readily agreed for Rs. 20/-. So we headed for the main road and unfortunately there were no rickshaw's there as since last few days Delhi roads were filled with traffic jams. So I thought why not call for a radio cab. I called one Quick Cab and explained them my location that I'm at the cross road between sector 9 and sector 10, but the representative asked me to give an exact location. Alright so now I went to one building and told that guy my location. The rep. goes on for 5 min. explaining the rules and then asks me to wait for one confirmation SMS. Fuckers. The moment I go back to the main road I spotted one rickshaw, stopped it and luckily it was empty. He agreed to take me to T3 but asked for 200 Rs. Everyone in this country is opportunistic, I said to myself. Even the pedal rickshaw guy said it was too much. After a bargain the guy agreed for Rs. 130/-.
So now my 3rd journey to the T3 terminal began. The pedal rickshaw guy had explained the auto rickshaw guy some way through a small village where he believed there won't be any traffic jams. So after another 30 min. drive the rickshaw dropped me at the T3 shuttle service where I just saw the shuttle bus leave. So now a wait of another 20 min. Finally boarded the shuttle bus at 21:00 and reached the arrival terminal of T3. Its quiet a huge terminal from outside and very impressive too. But it definitely lacks some facilities and also the glamour factor. There are just couple of coffee outlets and Lays stands. Nothing else if you are hungry. So till the flight arrives I had around almost an hour to wait.
I grabbed one seat on those steel arrangements with a cup of cappuccino and 2 samosa's. So here's the first impression.
I was having my delicious samosa's with not that good cappuccino and there were passengers arriving with sets of Samsung and Sony LED and LCD televisions. Not a single one below 32 inches which suggested flights from Bangkok have arrived. Its very common this days to come back from Bangkok with big LED televisions which are at least 40 % cheaper than in India. A family somewhere from the African continent had landed for some treatment with Apollo hospitals. The representative from Apollo was wandering why just one family landed when he had information for two.
Cabin crews from Indigo, Thai Airways, Jet Airways, Air India, Emirates were coming out. Never understood the fact that why Air India recruits cabin crews that are above 40 years old when all over the world the cabin crews are of much much less age. They definitely need some lessons on glamour. Many passengers were in such a hurry to catch a cab that instead of taking the ramp to get on to the road, they were just pushing their baggage trolleys down and there went down all bags. It was not just one passenger, but many did the same thing. Some while talking on their mobiles tried to get the trolley down with one hand and the result was the same. One lady seemed to be talking with her family member, asking for the transport tried it and all her 3 bags went down along with her phone. One of the taxi driver helped her to put the luggage back on the trolley, while surprisingly she still was trying to put her phone together, not even bothering to say THANKS to the guy who helped her.
Two passengers while waiting for the cab, one of them asks the other - you've got some cigarettes ? The other one asks, is it allowed to smoke here ?
Finally I got tired of sitting and took a stroll on the terminal and came back to take my position right at the front of the arrival gate no. 6. One family was standing there waiting for someone to come to receive them. Parents and 2 daughters. The younger one was playing around and enjoying. The elder one was way busy throwing tantrums at her parents. One of them was, Mommmmmyyyy when will get my iphone ? And both mom and dad looked at each other pretty much shocked. Shocked or surprised. Well only they know it better... ;) The next the girl shouts at her mom, what sort of clothes you have made me wear ? Its so hot.
Suddenly a foreign girl waiting to receive someone jumps the bars and decide's to wait right next to the exit. Guess she was tired behind the bars ? ;) Well if an Indian would have done that the security would have send him back immediately. So why this discrimination ? Is the Indian security intimidated or overwhelmed by foreigners ?
And finally my wait got over as my friend came out waving and it was great to see her again after almost a year... :)
I grabbed one seat on those steel arrangements with a cup of cappuccino and 2 samosa's. So here's the first impression.
- Seating arrangement : Not comfortable.
- Food outlets : Not enough outlets and variety
- Taxi arrangement : Excellent
- Spacious : Very much
I was having my delicious samosa's with not that good cappuccino and there were passengers arriving with sets of Samsung and Sony LED and LCD televisions. Not a single one below 32 inches which suggested flights from Bangkok have arrived. Its very common this days to come back from Bangkok with big LED televisions which are at least 40 % cheaper than in India. A family somewhere from the African continent had landed for some treatment with Apollo hospitals. The representative from Apollo was wandering why just one family landed when he had information for two.
Cabin crews from Indigo, Thai Airways, Jet Airways, Air India, Emirates were coming out. Never understood the fact that why Air India recruits cabin crews that are above 40 years old when all over the world the cabin crews are of much much less age. They definitely need some lessons on glamour. Many passengers were in such a hurry to catch a cab that instead of taking the ramp to get on to the road, they were just pushing their baggage trolleys down and there went down all bags. It was not just one passenger, but many did the same thing. Some while talking on their mobiles tried to get the trolley down with one hand and the result was the same. One lady seemed to be talking with her family member, asking for the transport tried it and all her 3 bags went down along with her phone. One of the taxi driver helped her to put the luggage back on the trolley, while surprisingly she still was trying to put her phone together, not even bothering to say THANKS to the guy who helped her.
Two passengers while waiting for the cab, one of them asks the other - you've got some cigarettes ? The other one asks, is it allowed to smoke here ?
Finally I got tired of sitting and took a stroll on the terminal and came back to take my position right at the front of the arrival gate no. 6. One family was standing there waiting for someone to come to receive them. Parents and 2 daughters. The younger one was playing around and enjoying. The elder one was way busy throwing tantrums at her parents. One of them was, Mommmmmyyyy when will get my iphone ? And both mom and dad looked at each other pretty much shocked. Shocked or surprised. Well only they know it better... ;) The next the girl shouts at her mom, what sort of clothes you have made me wear ? Its so hot.
Suddenly a foreign girl waiting to receive someone jumps the bars and decide's to wait right next to the exit. Guess she was tired behind the bars ? ;) Well if an Indian would have done that the security would have send him back immediately. So why this discrimination ? Is the Indian security intimidated or overwhelmed by foreigners ?
And finally my wait got over as my friend came out waving and it was great to see her again after almost a year... :)
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