Yes We Can - Go India Go

In the past year or so , lots has been spoken about the 2G corruption and also about the common wealth fiasco.

What's not spoken though is were the positives that India had manage to achieve  at the same time.

Given that i have just passed through the Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport i wanted to write this blog about developments in that space.

Way back in mid 2001 was my first direct contact with westerners or people from countries with good infrastructure.

My first contact was with people from South Africa. At that point in time i was working in Mumbai , there were three instances where we had visitors from Johannesburg and the constant moan was how bad the airport was and how bad things are at the airport as compared to their airport or countries that they had visited.

Following their visit , some of my friends visited Johannesburg and they were at awe about the airport. This infuriated me as a teenager  but alas i could do nothing.

The anger stayed with me.

As years went by , there was only news of corruption and non development, there was constant squabble among each parties in power in one way or the other.

I was tired. Then in May 2004 i had my first glimpse of truly international airport. I left for Europe and my first stop over was at Frankfurt, the worlds second largest airport. Truly gargantuan , dwarfing Chennai airport from where i had departed.

If that wasn't enough , my next stop, Amsterdam Schipol airport , another mega airport with state of the art technology and facilities.

Another couple of years went by nothing seemed to be working, just few gimplse of infrastctural improvements.

Come June 2007 it was my first visit to London Heathrow, truly a mega airport. I felt sick at heart getting mocked about the airports in India.

However there was always hope, during the same time Mumbai revamped ts airport and expats working in my company now started to speak more positively about the improvements in airport infrastructure.

Just in early-mid 2009 i started to hear about the Delhi international airport expansion/redevelopment to prepare it for the Commonwealth games. The airport was completed in record time and was opened with lot of fanfare just in time for the games , it is owned by GMR group and was built by L&T.

To appreciate anything one has to see it so goes a saying. It was no different for me . I saw the airport first hand yesterday in May 2011, ten years after i first stepped into any Aerodrome in my life and i was in for a shock in a pleasant way.

I was mighty pleased and had my head high with pride.

It was not perfect as is the case with everything but i was happy with what i saw. Just as you come out , you can see dirty little tiles, just to bring you back and say to you that you are in India. The airport has all facilities, Walkalator built by Thyssen Kruup, lounge facilities, various other facilities one can find in top airport.

The airport has been built with our tradition in mind, which was a big plus. I was so proud to see it.

At least i can say to myself , although its taken time however we are getting there.

If all of us put our heads together we can make this country reach its ambitions which we find in India's growing young and with so much diversity and capability , i have no doubt we can compete with any country on all levels.

Yes We Can! Go India Go!

Ps:- I know i promised in my last blog that my next blog would be about Loyalty but i could not resist writing this post. Will write about that later.