So right now I am at the Bangalore Airport and as usual because of my habit of arriving ridiculously early at such places I am here a full 2.5 hours before my flight. So writing this blog post is my way of killing time.
I thought Airport is one great place where we come across a whole lot of strangers, we don’t talk, we don’t pay attention to one another, all of us are calmly (or in some cases not so calmly) going about our business of boarding a flight which would take us to our desired destination. However I have always encountered people which are stereotypes. You would always find these traits at any airport and in most of your flights.
Here it goes Stereotyping while sitting at the airport:
1) The lungs of Mighty Thor – A kid, a toddler mostly not even able to stand but got the lungs of mighty Thor and will keep crying at the top of his/her voice all the time, will not let you work in the flight or at the airport will not let you take a nap but will cry, cry & cry.
2) The Zombie Lady – I always come across at least one lady in the waiting lounge of the airport who looks like has not slept for ages, she would look extremely tired would have dark circles below the eyes and in most of the cases will be taking care of someone who has the lungs of mighty Thor – figures why she is like a zombie. On a separate note have you ever noticed – a girl has a glow on her face if she has been kept awake the previous night by her boyfriend or husband but has a gloom if she has been kept awake by her kid – a couple of alphabets here & there can drastically change the mood just like a couple of decisions can drastically change life - Hmmm Interesting!!!!!
3) Corporate Cry Babies – These guys will be always there in early morning flights travelling on work to another city or country but will always have reason to complaint about their corporate bookings done by their employer organizations – why did they book the flight this early? Why did they book this airline and not the other? What is the point of this travel? Why did they book economy & not business class (how many people do you know who travels Business Class in their own country at their own expense – my honest answer – I know two)
4) Vivacious Vibrant Vibrating Teens – There is always a group of teenagers at the airport, chattering away in a small group, discussing their shopping plans, their assignments, how & for what reasons their parents would murder them. This is the only group who are enthusiastic even for an early morning flight. They are the only ones who don’t bother finding chairs in the waiting lounge but generally find a nice comfortable spot on the floor to sit.
5) Excess Baggage is our Birthright – Yeah we all saw this coming, we cannot travel light, we need to have clothes & lots of clothes, food, & lots of food, back up locks in case the locks of suitcase breaks, jars of pickle, gifts for everyone in the family whom we are visiting, gifts from everyone in the family from where we left to be given to everyone in the family where we are going and the list never ends. You would always see one family hopelessly trying to argue or negotiate at the check in counter for allowing extra baggage without paying for it or people in absolutely hot weather wearing multiple layers of clothing so that it would not be part of check in or cabin baggage. Hilarious!!!!!
6) Visitors in Rose garden – Just by looking at them you can say that they are the newly married couple, you can just say and I am also including non-Punjabi brides, since they are the most easily identifiable by the assortment of bangles which they wear after their marriage for a limited period of time prescribed by their religion. This type are so apparently identifiable that you would generally see a couple of seats on their side being left un occupied at the waiting lounge or are the last ones to be occupied
7) Alice : Lost in Wonderland – These are not first time flyers, some of them are first time at that specific airport and some of them have already been there before. But still they are perpetually lost as to where to go and what to do next. From my experience I can firmly assure that none of the 20 odd airports which I would have visited in my lifetime have given me an impression of being a maze in which I will get lost. But then again I do have a tendency to get lost in car parking lots J
8) The Checklist Couple – Most of the time you will see this couple arguing about who was supposed to do what before leaving the house, or sometimes you would see the husband running through a checklist with his wife – did you close the windows, did you lock the house, did you put the trash out, did you turn the gas off, did you do this, did you do that. I always think isn’t it a little too late to be asking these questions!!!! I always think just for the fun of it the wife should respond – “honey I left the gas on, why don’t you go back and turn it off and I will board the flight”
9) The Loudspeaker – Actually this is the breed which you will find in multiple numbers in a single visit to the airport itself, these are people who talk so loudly on their cell phones sitting in the waiting lounge that one has to wonder why they are using cell phones at all. Slightly more loud and they can have a conversation with the person at the other end without it.
10) The Woman of Substance - Let’s be honest with the arrival of economy carriers & our own daily lifestyles the number of trips to the airport has substantially increased for everyone and with that we have completely stopped caring about what we are wearing when we go to the airport (again particularly early morning flights). However most of the times I have come across one lady at least who stand out as an epitome of grace & class, she would be dressed in well-fitting business suit or a gorgeous dress and would have an aura of class all around her. I sometimes wonder if she is the one paying for everyone on her flight J
Yeah just to leave no room for doubt I have almost never come across guys who could fit in this stereotype – at best they will be in a suit – How Boring!!!!!
11) Last Man Standing or rather Outstanding – These are people who would get their check in done, get their boarding passes & disappear into thin air, they become impervious to boarding announcements and would only re appear once their names are announced on the speakers for the entire airport to know about them. I wonder if they are suffering from an identity crisis and yeah congratulations now you are an airport wide known JERK
12) AAA Classified Advisory Top Secret Group – Honestly I hate this lot perhaps second only to the kind crying their lungs out in a plane, these are folks who would be either speaking on the phone or fiddling with their BlackBerrys till the time a flight attendant comes and requests them to switch it off for takeoff. They will not pay heed to any announcements asking to switch off electronic devices. I always wonder what is so important they are discussing – are they advising Obama as to how to fight against Romney in America Presidential elections, or advising Kim Kardashian to not to date Kanye again, or asking Manmohan Singh to follow the words of Russell Peters “Be A Man”
So that was my second list of stereotypes which I could come up with on my this visit to airport, how many of them can you identify on your next flying experience , feel free to let me know if there are more and I would expand this post to include more.
In the meanwhile Happy Stereotyping!!!!!
On a side note I am really excited about my next post – I am visiting a family wedding and that too attending one after almost 13 Years – So next post is Stereotyping in Family Weddings.
No comments:
Post a Comment