Comments on: Rants From Delhi Airport

By: Nimit Kumar

Nimit Kumar — Sat, 16 May 2009 03:50:52 +0000

One of the purposes these registers serve is during an emergency, such as fire. I am not sure how it works in the US, but in India most companies have a fire evacuation team. This team undergoes certified training by a professional organization.
In case of an emergency, everyone inside the office is asked to assemble at a common point where a roll-call happens. For the employees carrying a swipe card, this is roll-call is trivial because the list can be quickly generated. For the visitors, it can be tricky and you may not know how many of those are trapped inside. It is even more critical for visitors because they may not be familiar with the office lay out.
Visitor registers do serve some purpose for these emergency situations. However, for a lounge in the airport this is nothing but a legacy we have conveniently gotten used to.

By: Kumar

Kumar — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 08:58:31 +0000

We Indians seem to have a fetish for stamping/documenting registers and documents (and without no purpose whatsoever). Just one attestation at a Notary/Govt-official takes away half of the page with multiple stamps and signs.

I travel back and forth between India and Europe a couple of times a year – and EVERYTIME when I enter India, there is a stamp on my passport – eating away valuable pages for visas etc. Why would I need a stamp on my passport while entering my own country? They could just scan my passport and/or enter my arrival/departure in their centralized system. (only if they have any… Currently the arrival/departure forms that we fill must be getting stashed up somewhere, without being updated in a computerized database)

Speaking of misinformed govt. employees, I was once kept waiting at Ahmedabad Airport departures for 15 mins bcos the Immigration desk could not find a visa for 'Germany' on my passport, while I was boarding a flight to Frankfurt. (There was a visa which said 'Deutschland', but the official had to call in a senior to confirm if that was the same country )

But yeah, its probably the experience of this chaos and disfunctional systems in India that make our lives so smooth and easily manageable when we live outside.

By: Nikesh

Nikesh — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 18:06:11 +0000

Basab

While you must admittedly rant,
the darned lounge was always there
before the security um right here
it didn't move – it can't.

the real airport redesign alas,
is happening elsewhere
this is just an ol' bugbear
so no neon signs or a xenon smile lass.

so step up and sign the register
with a smile close to sinister
remember one day the lounge will move
till then dude, just wifi in the groove.

By: Vijay Basrur

Vijay Basrur — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 09:13:28 +0000

I understand the sentiment totally. In my first workplace we had a register you had to sign if you left office late. The security guard had no clue about what anyone would enter into the register. For months together we used to get away by faking our names as Donald Duck, Billy Joel etc. with fake employee ids and no one gave a damn. My guess is no one EVER looked at the register.

PS: I owe you a hat tip for the blog theme. I started using it a few months back after I bumped into yours. Only if you had a "online register", I would have left an entry on it

By: Vanthi

Vanthi — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 01:02:27 +0000

Vanthi,

I remember this incident in bangalore…

I was stopped by cops mentioning i drove in the wrong way… I asked him to notify where was the onw way signal… The signal was facing wall… I fought with the constable that he cannot charge me as the signal was not correct…

My wife is a lawyer from bangalore… She spoke in Kannadiga… They did not fine me as police generally will not fine lawyers.. They (Sargent and constable) advised my wife "Ask your husband to be little cool… else he will have BP problem".. The state govt officials are bas****s number 1

By: Basab Pradhan

Basab Pradhan — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 12:33:28 +0000

Rustey – I may not have 'read the manual' on Delhi airport before I arrived, but I did provide for enough time for snafus. But it still deserved a rant especially since the airport was recently redesigned. If you have to put the lounge before security, at least put some neon signs so passengers won't miss it.

RTri – I see where you are going with your question. It has been 14 years since I came to the US but because of travel and what not, I don't feel disconnected from India. And I certainly don't feel like a guest who can't criticize the hostesses' cooking.

By: Anu

Anu — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:42:09 +0000

Visitor registers! A very good thought, Basab. But I think it is something we cannot dispense of – at least not yet. I cannot imagine a company where anyone and everyone cannot come in and out without any sort of control. Visitor's register do not block the unwanted – agreed. Neither can they, the way they function now, stop anyone with any planned mal-intentions. However, it gives some control at least. Imagine the Infosys Mysore campus without a visitor's register (electronic with a photograph or otherwise). I am sure there will be a thousand outsiders just roaming through the campus for no purpose whatsoever. Remember the IIM-A campus? At least 5% of all people you find there in the evenings there have no business to be there. That was my observation while I was there. Not that they are causing any serious problems inside. Occassional thefts are often attributed to these people (I myself lost a cell phone once). What a visitors' register can ensure is that at least those people with no business (good or bad) inside are at least discouraged from entering.

By: Bharat

Bharat — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 02:27:25 +0000

True, we seem to have a lot of pointless security with very poor exception handling. I had a weird (but positive) experience at Bangalore (old) airport. I had a bottle of wine in my cabin bag, which the security guy said he wouldn't allow. Fair enough. It wasn't particulary expensive, so I was about to leave it behind. But the security guy insisted that I should check with Jet airways if they would pull my checked in bag back and put the bottle in! Whether this was out of genuine concern to save the bottle of wine or whether he was just following some instruction to the letter I couldn't tell. Sure enough, I got my security stamps removed, walked back to check in, got my check in bag retrieved, re-examined (in X-ray) after my bottle went in and re-checked. I had some spare time, so it worked well and I didn't have to part with it.

By: Rustey

Rustey — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 07:13:54 +0000

Basab, I am on the same flight a couple days later, but knew the layout of the Delhi airport better! There is a clear opportunity for "common sense" based design consulting out there.

Things are certainly getting better in India, though. The same Delhi airport lounge was cramped and crawling with people in my last visit there, but seemed more civilized this time around.

I have to agree with @RTri, though. Fore-warned is fore-armed! Since we grew up in the mother country, we should allow for chaos and confusion as part of everyday life in India!

By: RTri

RTri — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 07:54:36 +0000

Just curious – How many years have you people lived in India before you went abroad??