Making a difference!

I was supposed to catch an early morning flight back to Pune from Chennai today. I reached the airport exactly one hour before the take-off time i.e. at 4.30...yep I reached 4.30 in morning. As soon as I went inside I stood in this long queue for screening the check-in baggage. It was a sluggishly moving line & mostly because passengers of almost 3-4 airlines had to stand in the same queue to get their baggage screened in that single spot. The next queue was to get a boarding pass and check in the check-in baggage. And it was moving very very slow. On top of it, to increase my frustration, I saw a guy (well actually a well educated man of about 35-40) cut the line of the second counter and directly move in the front with 13 bags to check in & to collect 13 boarding passes! And the worst part was that nobody in that line objected!! I mean COME ONNNN!!!!!! I finally got my boarding pass and sighed in relief, cos I knew the next part was simple and does not generally take much time. I was supposed to go for security and then board my flight.

But again, just when you think things are going well, we all know life has a way of screwing things for us. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. There were two (not one but TWO!!) very long queues for security, encompassing almost half of the HUGE lounge. And as luck would have it, I went and stood into just the one which was progressing slowly. I mean its not like I felt the other queue was moving faster, but it was in fact moving faster! I saw our very own policemen do the job of a monitor of class 3rd here, as they were asking people to form a single straight file and trying to stop people from cutting in and go ahead. I mean, they are supposed to be there for security purposes not to discipline the passengers. It’s high time we learn to stand in queue and respect people who are already standing there patiently. You are not the only one in a hurry man!! After an excruciatingly long & painful process of standing in the queue and watching people try to cut in and trying to not let them do that without getting into a row, finally I cleared the security check. As I had already guessed there would be queue to board the flight too, but it was fast-moving and progressed without much hassle (thankfully!). After I finally arrived to my seat and sat there looking out the airplane window to see other planes gearing up to fly in the dim morning light, I reflected on whatever had happened in the last forty-five minutes. I sadly realized that this was happening everywhere. I mean people in India are always looking to cut through any & every queue (physical OR virtual). Instead of doing their jobs, the police of our country have to invest time to discipline a bunch of well-educated citizens, who are in fact just literate but not really educated as they claim to be. And that’s when I decided I am going to write about this. This is a thing that happens with us almost everyday. Sometimes we are the victim, sometimes even the culprit. Sometimes we protest, sometimes we don't. And this post is my effort to make a change in our attitudes, because I believe in this country and it’s potential. I believe that this is a great nation and we can & are moving ahead and this is my contribution to its improvement. I don't want to just sit and crib about what is wrong. And this is my way of making a difference (apart from dissuading people who try to cut in ;)). I will be happy if reading this makes even one person change, because I will know I have not just sat and cribbed but actually gone and done something to make it right. So anybody who's reading this, please please don't do this. Please respect that other people are waiting too and it’s for our own benefit that we follow the rules and discipline. And just imagine, by your little patience you may be making a great difference in the bigger picture!

Cheers!