On Saturday, I had the opportunity to travel in a plane. To do that, I had to go to the airport in Jaipur. I already talked about the train station in Jaipur, which if you need a refresher, check out here.
To put it simply, the airport was the complete opposite of the train station. Where as the train station is packed with people sleeping on the floor, on the benches, hanging out, talking, standing, peeing, and doing lots of other things, there was almost no one in the airport. The airport had armed guards at the entry way to the parking lot, the entry way to the airport terminal, through bag check, and once more through personal screening.
There were some clothing boutiques, a bookstore, and multiple snack vendors inside to serve the tiny number of airplane passengers, which seemed odd considering you have to chase down must food at the train station, or at least yell your way into service. All in all, the difference was bizarre.
The journey seemed especially political this week because the tax on train tickets went up, to much guffawing and political out roar. To quote my host dad, it was a tragedy of epic proportions because "The train is the way that India's middle class travels. Planes are for the rich!"
[Side Note: ..while I completely respect his opinion on affordable transit, I am not sure how much I agree with his general opinion on taxes ( they are bad). He was upset at recent tax increases for other goods, even when levied against things that you try to deter purchase of (namely, cigarettes) which seemed pretty logical to me.]
So, about the plane itself - what a wonderful time! Classical music while we boarded and landed played through the cabin, and it generally felt like being in the 1960s with some very attractive young women as our flight attendants. And one had a lovely bob!
To put it simply, the airport was the complete opposite of the train station. Where as the train station is packed with people sleeping on the floor, on the benches, hanging out, talking, standing, peeing, and doing lots of other things, there was almost no one in the airport. The airport had armed guards at the entry way to the parking lot, the entry way to the airport terminal, through bag check, and once more through personal screening.
There were some clothing boutiques, a bookstore, and multiple snack vendors inside to serve the tiny number of airplane passengers, which seemed odd considering you have to chase down must food at the train station, or at least yell your way into service. All in all, the difference was bizarre.
The journey seemed especially political this week because the tax on train tickets went up, to much guffawing and political out roar. To quote my host dad, it was a tragedy of epic proportions because "The train is the way that India's middle class travels. Planes are for the rich!"
[Side Note: ..while I completely respect his opinion on affordable transit, I am not sure how much I agree with his general opinion on taxes ( they are bad). He was upset at recent tax increases for other goods, even when levied against things that you try to deter purchase of (namely, cigarettes) which seemed pretty logical to me.]
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| Not my picture, but you get the idea. Very Pan Am. |
So, about the plane itself - what a wonderful time! Classical music while we boarded and landed played through the cabin, and it generally felt like being in the 1960s with some very attractive young women as our flight attendants. And one had a lovely bob!
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