TIA - The Incompetent Airport

ओहो बल्ल घर पुगियो... (Wow, finally reached home). This is the thought among most of us when we land in Nepal after a trip anywhere else in the world. After all home is home. Same was with me. I was happy to be back home after a very enjoyable but tiring trip to Thailand with my wife.

Let me take you about 5 hours before landing at TIA. We entered the Suwarnabhoomi airport and almost 90% of the people there were Nepalese who were going back after a vacation in Thailand. They all had loads of bags after a hell lot of shopping. Obvious. And they were all so well disciplined. Saying sorry for small mistakes. Saying thank you for small helps.

So we all board the plane and after about 3 hours land at TIA. We check into the immigration, fill up the forms and start heading to the counter. My wife had to go to the restroom so was waiting for her and didn't care to stand in line till then. Suddenly within 5 minutes the line grew long and all the lines were jumbled up. Actually 5 planes from different destinations had landed simultaneously and there was a huge crowd and chaos at the immigration.

Then came a couple with an officer of the TIA and I could see that the husband was asking the officer to get their arrival formalities done sooner than the rest. The officer who could have been a friend or a relative of the guy diligently did so. That's when I intervened. I asked him as to whether it was ethical enough for the officer to entertain such requests, or was it ethical enough for the couple to ask for such a favor, or was it ethical enough for the lady at the counter to accept such a request by a fellow passenger and her colleague?

(This is the lady at the immigration who didn't even flinch while accepting the request. I made sure I told her in a loud enough voice that what she did was absolutely wrong).
The officer instead of backing out started offering me the same facility of having my immigration done along with his good friend. I obviously refused and asked him if that was how they treated our guests. Then he said that his friend and the couple who'd travelled along with us all the way from Bangkok had some kind of emergency. The couple was just behind me at the Bangkok check-in and they showed all the courtesy they could and stood in line throughout without any complaints. And suddenly when they arrive in Nepal they turn into the same old beings? I thought they'd come back with some level of education after travelling in a foreign land. Something positive to take back home. But no it was exactly opposite. And the sad part is that they were young and well educated couple. The wife I guess was even a popular model as I remember seeing her somewhere.

So that ended there and the couple without any guilt left the immigration counter. Then standing in line I turned back and saw two young guys. On asking they said they'd just come back from Malaysia. And I asked them when they were going back. To which they answered they're NEVER going back to Malaysia. And I asked why. To which they again replied that Nepalese workers there were treated like animals or even worse. So they swore that they were not going back to Malaysia at least. They told me they were coming back after 3 years. It just dawned upon me that the emergency of these two young people, who'd slogged their balls off in Malaysia with all the disrespect and exploitation, to meet their family members was more important.

Then I waited till I reached the counter for my turn. Suddenly at the very moment another officer from the immigration department came there and started counselling people and the literal words he spoke were, "धन्ना नमान्नुस, विदेशमा जस्तो ढिलो हुँदैन यहाँ" (Don't worry people, it won't take long as in foreign countries). Now everyone started laughing as this guy was telling it seriously.

I just called that asshole towards me and sarcastically said the delay was because his fellow colleagues were picking up their near and dear ones without respecting the people standing in line. He tried to justify by saying that that officer was not from the immigration section. But I just simply pointed out to the lady at the counter and said, "is she also not an officer of the immigration section?" He mumbled a bit and asked me to just take it lightly and go as his justification was "it happens sometimes". The only sad part is this sometimes happens everytime.

Well I made sure that I was loud enough for everyone to hear me and if possible act to it. The next destination was the luggage collection counter. The luggage had to go through an X-ray machine and the officers there were again asking everyone to put their belongings in their handbags. I refused as there was a stack of trays, just like in any other international airport and I asked for it. The officers refused to give me the tray. They said it was compulsory to put your belongings inside the bag. I said I won't because it's not compulsory. They again warned me that my stuffs could get lost inside the s-ray. I laughed and asked them if there was someone inside the x-ray machine. I took the tray and used it. Coming on the other side of the x-ray machine I realized why they were not letting people use the trays. They were just lazy enough to transport the tray back inside for reuse. That's it. And now you can imagine the mentality or the level of maturity of these people. I felt sorry for the families of these people because I was worried about what values were these people teaching them at home.

And yes now comes the interesting part. The couple who'd crossed the immigration half an hour before me were waiting just beside me at the luggage collection counter. And ironically my luggage came earlier and they were left waiting. I don't know what happened to their "Emergency" then.

The last thing I told him after a short argument there was, "people like you don't have the right to complain about our government".
Upon reaching home I also realized that a watch I'd bought had been STOLEN.
And hence I made it a point to raise my voice against it and write about it. Some people think I'm just complaining on social media. But social media is the best platform for general public like us to make ourselves heard. I've always considered Social Media to be PEOPLE'S MEDIA.

Note: The small video uploaded at the beginning of this write up is to show you about the situation at the airport which is an everyday affair but still our officials who live by our tax money, tend to ignore shamelessly. And also refer to my earlier blog about why we need a better airport.
http://mampaga.blogspot.com/2016/10/why-do-we-need-better-airport.html