The Nazi use of the swastika stems from the work of 19th Century German scholars translating old Indian texts, who noticed similarities between their own language and Sanskrit. They concluded that Indians and Germans must have had a shared ancestry and imagined a race of white god-like warriors they called Aryans…
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The German airlines is called Lufthansa. ‘Hansa’ in ancient Hindu language Sanskrit means ‘swan.’ ‘Luft’ means air. The Hindu-German connection is very intriguing. In fact in the Heidelberg university in Germany, there is a full fledged Sanskrit department devoted to research. North Indians are of Aryan stock and the south Indians are Dravidians.
But its very unfortunate that the sacred Hindu symbol Swastika got misused by Hitler for genocide purposes. Now swastika is misrecognized as symbol of hatred around the world. Because of this, people mistake us passive Hindus for fascists. Originally from ancient Hindu culture also used by Buddhists, the symbol captivated the west who started using it more freely in the 20th century.
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Ironically, the two inverted triangles over one another which is a Jewish holy symbol is also a very ancient Hindu sacred symbol. In fact its the basis of much advanced Sri Yantra, a set of 9 (5 and 4) triangles overlapping each other representing Shiva and Shakthi.
the Sri YantraOmsome sacred hindu symbolsswastika, sacred hindu symbol swastika with Hindu temple in background
The Swastika is symbol of lucky charm for Hindus even today. ‘Swasth’ in sanskrit means wellness, goodness. The swastika is a very sacred, holy symbol to us that we adorn our homes and temples with. It is important to spread awareness about Swastika so that the lost glory of the swastika is restored.
Hopefully the bereaved parents get justice for their son. Why does India care. Many of us have our children in the US, our families in the US. What happens there affects us back in India. Indian lives matter/Hindu lives matter. Especially after the careless way a kid was mowed down within varsity campus in Seattle last year by a police car, we realize what it means to be Indian in America and how precarious the condition of our kids may be.
Meanwhile watched this video on spurt in anti-India anti-Hindu sentiment in America, not because the community poses terror threat but because the Indian community is highly successful and is giving Americans a stiff competition in every field. India is lived in for 10000 years and we are not bothered whether the scientists in American universities can come up with carbon dating to establish facts. Well, let them tell us who founded Hindu Dharma, in which date. That is the antiquity of the faith that came from Shiva, the universal father, straight. Which is why we don’t have prophets or sons of God. WE HAVE THE GOD. Any civilization lived in for such a long period and invaded for centuries is bound to have traces of the trauma like India does. Its a miracle we still survive. And our ISRO scientists to medicos today have not run to America for some extra millions of greenbacks. They stay put right in India and do good with what they have. Little girls in India still are not keen to lose their virginity by 10-12 years like American girls and get laid by half a dozen boys by 20th year. Divorces are happening only in this generation in India. Almost zero percentage in my parents’ generation. Indian women are not getting into relationships by 50, 70, even 80 years with boyfriends. We live like ascetics and think of renunciation once our children grow up. We don’t wait for our children to leave home by 18. We spend our life savings on their education and future. We don’t start our day with beer instead of coffee. We are not okay with out children becoming KFC or McDonald waiters (no offence). Our kids succeed because of the monumental personal sacrifice on part of the parents. A three bedroom apartment in Chennai or Mumbai or Delhi may be more expensive than an independent villa in most cities in the US. Right mix of culture, heritage, modernity, conservativism, knowledge and more than that ancient wisdom – this is what makes us tick. I would underline the Hindu spirituality as the sole reason for our success. I was watching or perhaps reading this bit on ancient civilizations. The Egyptian, the Mesopotamia, the Greek, the Roman everything crashed because none of them produced the great Mahaans or saints like Hindu Dharma did. That strong sense of spirituality in Hindus is what keeps us going to this day.
So, throwing this open challenge to world researchers: WHO IS THE FOUNDER OF HINDU DHARMA. WHAT IS THE FOUNDING DATE. Why cannot you establish this simple fact when you can do carbon dating for millions & zillions of years old fossils of dinosaurs? You cannot because, Hindu Dharma was not founded by any human. Dharma existed in another plane of time which is what is continuing today. Its not easy to make outsiders understand anything about India or Hindu Dharma. They see the poverty and the crowds and the heat and the dust. But this land was the land of gold and diamonds over 3000 years back with established universities and dams and reservoirs and courts and poets whether Europeans were swinging from tree to tree.
A tourist guide in an Islamic country was saying this about Algebra. Of how Al Jabber was the name behind it. Its because even when calculus and trigonometry were invented by Hindus over 2000 years back, nothing was patented or claimed as our own. Whoever claimed anything first because the inventor/discoverer! Aryabhatta and Bhaskara were our earliest known astronomers who ISRO named our first satellites after.
Googled this:
Aryabhata’s major discoveries in the works not lost were the value of pi, that is 3.14, the heliocentrism of the solar system wherein he estimated the axial rotation of planets around the sun.
What was invented by Bhaskara?
Among the first discoveries made in his works was the computation of sines of angles of 18 and 36 degrees. Bhaskara-II is credited with discovering spherical trigonometry, a branch of spherical geometry used in astronomy, geodesy, and navigation calculations.
They were probably the world’s firsts to talk about space. Distance between the sun and earth was mentioned in Sanskrit scripture. However Hindus claimed nothing as their own as one by one everything got patented in Europeans’ names. Read this account on vaccination history: a British officer visiting an Indian village hit by small pox witnessed how blood was drawn from one afflicted with pox and anointed into another unaffected person slashing his skin, by village people. Quarantine was self imposed in the village which stopped the spread of the pox. Soon the small pox vaccination was announced in matter of months in Britain as their finding. India lost many of her discoveries/inventions over centuries to Europeans. From Jaundice medication to most ailments treated by Ayurveda, most are patented by the west as their own.
After centuries of subjugation, finally the Hindu has woken up. Broken for 1500 years almost by the moslems and the British.
A normal/regular temple in south India:
The richness of some nations cannot be measured in terms of currency or even bullion. India is one such a unique nation. Its also the responsibility of Indian govt to change the image of India prevalent in the west. The same Americans who cannot afford to wait for months and years for cardio bypass, knee/hip replacement are also traveling to India for medical tourism! Chennai, my hometown, is a big draw with US citizens.
The way they discuss H1B really tears our heart apart. Its not worth it. Why are our kids flocking to this ungrateful America. What is in it for the soul there? NOTHING, A BIG ZERO. There is nothing holistic about America. Its too materialistic and fake. I can enjoy my holidays there but cannot even think of making a life there. Why can’t our children work for the mother country. It takes not just investment on part of the parents/mother country in economic terms, it also takes temperament, patience, atmosphere, nourishing environment of family values, strong sense of spirituality, inclination towards arts, crafts, classical music, dance everything, harmony that comes with contented living – to create a sweet great kid. This is the package India is sending abroad to the US, NOT JUNK LIKE I have seen in America. Look at their obesity! Half of them go for shopping to Walmart in buggies/carts because of overweight, living on disability pension.
I have never imagined myself poor, never thought of myself as poor but always have believed that I live in one of world’s richest countries with the best food, best family values, spirituality, art, classical music/dance, crafts, ancient temples over 2000 years old spread over acres the sculptures of which cannot fit into any museums, best clothes in natural cotton and silk fibres with ethnic vegetable dyes/prints/motifs rather than machine printed, – you name it, we have it. Bestest of jewelry. Its irritating when these Americans assume you are poor just because they live in a vast continent where space is abundant so that its cheaper for them to afford big villas. We in India have one of the best standards of living. Many tourists realize this soon.
Love your mother country: our children must realize this. Why do you want to work for these foreigners/foreign countries where you can never become the first grade citizen. Its okay to live in cramped homes and crowded cities and work for the progress of your mother country. The Indian community in the US is suffering for their own Karma of greed and selfishness of not giving back anything to the mother country that made them what they are today. They are stamping on your dignity, self respect and they air so much of open hatred for you – for being good and successful that is – and you want to work for America? For what? For having an empty 6 bedroom house? To die in hospice with nobody around you in your old age? To destroy your soul with no spirituality consumed by mindless materialism? Is this what our children are going to America for?
Interesting to watch the MAGA civil war going on in America! Just remember, either way India wins! Suppose the lottery is to go and with no cap on H1B, there can be no stopping meritorious Indians. Many are now turning to Australia, Canada, Germany and the UK. From Sundar Pichchai to Satya Nadella and Indra Nooyi, Indians benefited from the pre-lottery system. The cap on H1B proved to be a dampener but on hindsight its been good for Indian nation as it acts like a stopper to incessant braindrain from India that is harming our country. Meanwhile Indian ethnic population constitutes about 1% of total American but contributes to 6% of the American GDP. A very literate and forward community, its not a surprise that Indian origin people are doing well not only in the US but also in UK, Australia wherever. Even in Middle East, the NRIs (Non Resident Indians) win hands down topping all other nationalities put together. Indian diaspora in general is one successful and upbeat community doing India proud. If you ask me the reason, I can cite only a couple from my own observation: Discipline chiefly, traditional family life with preserved values, and keeping out of controversies not wanting to get embroiled in trouble, choosing academics/economic development/arts and crafts/family life to fast life/vices. Nothing really special and very much the ordinary. But I do also see on other side how some nationalities ‘live it up’ once they can lay their hands on money.
The talk is about H1B. How about sending the Indian doctors home?? India can do well with that move really. You know what it takes to produce a single efficient doctor in a third world nation like India? Do you know the cost we shell out to produce an IIT graduate/IIM graduate. Ask Indra Nooyi and Sundar Pichai. These are exactly the kind of people who bled our nation raw and then chose to give back nothing to motherland. And here these guys now debate on H1B. Who do you think will be the loser if you cap H1B? Who do you think will stand to gain if you turn our kids back from America? That guy Sriram Krishnan from SRM, Chennai – what do you think made him what he is today.
These Americans have nothing to say about the mother country that loses Her sons and daughters to utterly materialistic societies with no concern for humanity or social welfare. Its painful at times to think of what India is losing big time.
On the other hand, it can also make a mother happy to see her children prosperous and living a life of dignity and success.
How many thousands of old and aged parents back in India living a lonely life. They save every penny sleeping on thin mattresses, eating humble meals, forgoing holidays, cutting back on comforts and luxuries, living in cramped homes so that their children can have a better education and better future. Have you seen Pichai’s house that was sold by his father recently? Just 2-3 km from my home. Do you know what it takes to send an Indian kid to the US for MS/Phd. More than the tuition fees paid through bank loans on pledging your home, it takes a heavy heart on the part of the parents to see off their kids in the airport flying thousands and thousands of miles away across oceans. Mothers bleed from their hearts. Fathers don’t know what to do with their sparse savings and investments on retirement and the small house they worked for a lifetime to build. Visits to America become rarer with age. Home is EMPTY. At first the children visit home/India annually. Then slowly the visits stop. How many old people die alone in India with their children living in luxury villas in the Bay Area or wherever. Father dies, mother dies – and then go into freezer box until the son arrives from America for cremation. This is what India is giving America. This is the sacrifice of Indian parents behind every H1B that is issued by the US. If America can turn down some Indian kids, they will be doing a big favour to their poor Indian parents.
STEM also includes the medical aspirants. Curiously America never talks about sending back Indian doctors or cutting their quotas. Medicos from India receive red carpet welcome wherever they go. Easily our Indian doctors outclass others as we observe in foreign countries. The medicos are the hardest to create, cultivate/train. They are the priciest.
In spite of giving so much to America, India is still preparing to take on the world with the second line of defence. So long as our own children don’t turn against us with their policies and politics, its fine.
To most of us who have our children in the US, US also feels like home. Especially me, I am a resident of three countries India, Qatar and America (visiting), that borders blur for me nowadays. When you live half your life outside your country, it becomes increasingly less and less important to alienate between nations, people, culture, languages and faith. Its this point I am reaching in life.
The history of Delhi could be heartwrenching. Invasion after Islamic invasion for centuries beginning with 7th century CE from Sindh left the city in ruins. May be the city was cursed. Indhraprastha as Delhi was called in Mahabharat times, was throne of contention for which the Mahabharat battle was fought. One of the worst and bloodiest invasions of Delhi was that of Timur from Samarkand, today’s Uzbekistan. Its said that after the ransacking of Delhi, jackals and vultures filled the city streets and skies for years. It took almost a whole century for one of the oldest capital cities of the world to limp back to normalcy. Its not just Delhi. Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and other states of India too bore the brunt of brutal attacks of invasions lasting many centuries before the British took over. Hindu temples held tonnes of gold and diamond jewelry that became reason for attacks. Hindu society was also already civilized that rendered the community weaker compared to the untamed barbarity of the invaders. Mohammad of Ghazni attacked Somnath for a record 17 times and succeeded only on the last, plundering the temple wealth and leaving a trail of destruction in his wake. For centuries Bharat/India was the richest country in the world. Columbus set out to discover India, not America which is why the natives even today are referred to as Indians, who he thought they were.
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I have done a copy & paste job here from Google.This is on Ghazni Mohammad who ransacked Somnath. This is to show what invasions meant for nations through the times we have lived through. Indian history especially could be very traumatic. I would prefer the word, HINDU HISTORY.
“So to plunder the wealth of India he made very first attack in 1001. He attacked India 17 times on India. He made his 16th attack on the Somnath temple in 1025 just to plunder the gold. Mahmud Ghaznavi was the king of Ghazni who ruled from 971 to 1030 AD.
Forgotten Chandela Rajput King Vidhyadhara and the story of how he stopped Ghazni’s advance in India. When we talk about the expeditions of Mahmud Ghazni ,we seem to only give importance to the fact that he invaded India 17 times and plundered the temples, their huge wealth and took slaves through these barbaric raids. “
Its funny when they talk about Timur attacking the Delhi Sultanate, the Tuglaqs are presented as benevolent rulers of Delhi. In truth, all of them were invaders in whose times Hindu blood flowed like river with their wealth stolen, and their women taken over. Timur was most extreme of all.
So it was not with an open mind at all that I toured Uzbek. Coming face to face with Amir Timur’s tomb was not easy for me. In the complex is a small circular stone tank which Timur reportedly filled with pomegranate juice. His soldiers were asked to drink from it to get used to the colour of blood. On return from his battles, he once again filled the tub with the juice and asked his soldiers to drink the juice again. The difference in levels of juice told him how much was casualty on his side.
Finally this man too lay in his grave which was also supposedly desecrated by Nadir Shah of Iran, who for some reason decided to return the remains to the original site. This country Uzbek is full of mausoleums. Turkey was full of galleries with instruments of torture. I have already blogged about how I found the Sambaji (of Shivaji fame) museum in Tanjore. The Marathas spread upto the Kaveri/Cauvery Delta. The museum of the Hindu emperor was in contrast holding exhibits of small machines used in granaries/fields in the 16th century, copper and brass utensils of those times, measuring units, barn storages, jewels and gems, art, creativity – in general anything and everything relating to a rich peasant life – the way India was.
So imagine a leading Bollywood actor naming his son ‘Timur.’ You have to be a sadist to do that, a psycho. But given his faith, its no wonder. This place Tashkent is a hit with Indian tourists ironically today. Its been so for a while. In the 60s, Raj Kapoor made India famous in Uzbek with his ‘Avaaraa.’ I had the pleasure of applause of Uzbek locals, singing ‘mera juta hai japani’ in a local train from Tashkent to Samarkand recently. Centuries later what we have here may be two friendly nations whose populations love and respect each other. There is an enormous goodwill for India in present times in Uzbek. I forgave Timur for Uzbeks of today who cannot and must not be held responsible for his bloody deeds over nearly a 1000 years back. Someone walked upto me in the street asking if I was an Indian. I said ‘yes.’ Selfie followed with a big smile. I can see the impact of India on this new nation of 35 years, that was born after the Soviet revolution of 1989. It retains memories from the Russian days. We dined at a restaurant named after Raj Kapoor whose popularity was equally shared by Mithun Chakraborty. Locals today seem to have no connection with the barbarity of Timur’s army. In fact the converse is true: Modern day Uzbeks come across as most non-controversial and peace loving people.
Indian economy despite centuries of having nurtured a broken back, is resurgent and buoyant today. Hindu Dharma is seeing a revival as well. Hindus/India lived a nightmare from 7th century CE to 1947 until we won our independence from the British. You are looking at a nation whose Hindu genocide shall never make it to the history text books of the world. What a comeback for India/Bharat. Kudos to fellow Hindus. Even the Indian christians and muslims are Hindu by culture.
As for Timur, one can imagine what a wasteland his country must have been in those bygone eras. Plunder and looting meant survival and self-defence, especially given the powerful Mongols next door. Timur’s great great great grandson was Babur who established the Mughal empire in India which was equally ruthless and bloody even if some Mughals patronized art and literature. Ayodhya recently witnessed the resurrection of Ram Janam Bhoomi mandir that was desecrated and razed by Babur. Aurangzeb killed at least two Sikh Gurus burning one alive at stake. Today the irony is that the Sikhs in Canada are collaborating with Pakistanis against India. India today enjoys good diplomatic relations with most of our past conquerers including the Afghans and Uzbeks. Its the converted Pakistan that was largely Hindu that is pain in the neck for India. India is also quietly prosperous and more progressive and advanced today than the nations that conquered us. It looks like none of the looted wealth from India has helped them anyway.
I want to round off this post with a mention about our second prime minister Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri. Its an open secret that his death in 1965 just before the Tashkent agreement with Pakistan in the capital was not natural. Soviet Union was the peace maker in the aftermath of the Indo-Pak war of 1965. I would like to borrow someone’s words here: who stood to benefit from Shastri’s death. That can give us a clue for the motive. Took a picture with Shastri’s bust in Tashkent. The capital has a street named after him. Somehow its very difficult for me to associate today’s Uzbek with Amir Timur of Samarkand. I wish this peaceful nation Uzbekistan all prosperity despite Timur! They are proud of him naturally for his conquests. It was not easy for me to hide my pain listening to his exploits. Uzbek today is 80% muslim but they are moderate or what we may call modern muslims.
A local told me that his sister had a major open heart surgery at Vedanta, Gurgaon (from the same Delhi devastated by Timur) some 15 years back and is doing well. That is the gift Bharat/India has given back Timur centuries after what he did to Delhi. I am sure Timur then turned in his grave.
Got to watch Meyyazhagan (or is it Meiazhagan) in Netflix and Amaran in cinemas today in Doha. After a long time, watching meaningful films without an iota of violence or sex felt good.
Meyyazhagan: Hero Arvind Swamy once our heart throb omg can’t believe! Now he looks like our neighbourhood mama but I have to agree that we all too have become typical middle aged mamis! Finally seeing Arvind Swamy like this was kind of satisfying! Loved the flow of this picture which some found to be dragging and pointless. Exactly for me this was very much appealing. Such a ‘yadaartham.’ Kudos to Karthi who practically lived his role. Such a happy-go-lucky character. Is it a coincidence that he lands this kind of roles. After PS 1 & 2 and Meyyazhagan, one feels compelled to think so. He is too good and comes off as a natural. In PS I did find him to be a bit overacting. The overenthusiastic character play just fit him perfectly in Meyyazhagan.
Amaran was simply great. How many young men lay down their lives for Mother India so readily. And we are here squabbling about petty things living materialistic lives not even aware of the men who guard our borders so that we can go to sleep in peace every night. A moving picture throughout and a heavy subject, it brought instant tears to my eyes in some scenes. Wonderful or rather realistic picturization even if it may be make-believe sets erected for the purpose (for the climax scene for instance). How the director mobilized those frenzied crowds for some shots is unbelievable. Logistics simply beats the logic! Looks like a group of Kashmiris were brought to Chennai and were actually trained to act in the film! Kashmir has been Hindu for 10000 years. The change is there only in last 400 years. 9600 years of peace and 400 years of bloody violence. Tell me what went wrong there and why.
Adi Shankara established one of the (Shankara) Mutts in Sri Nagar in the 7th century CE. The dating is by the British historians. Poorna river was mentioned a a hundred kilometers away from its current location as per original Shankaracharya life history. The river probably changed its course after a few centuries. It means, the original lifetime of Adi Shankara as per most ancient scriptures, could have been around 1st or 2nd century CE or even earlier in the BCE but the British put it at &th century CE. Anything older than Christ they cannot admit! For them world functioned only since Jesus came to earth! So the Shankara Mutt in Sri Nagar is that historic. For whatever reasons, Adi Shankara got the vigrahas (idols) back to Sringeri. It is said that he had visions of Islamic invasions and feared the destruction of shrines, so after establishing the mutt, he got back the original moola vigrahas back with him. You cannot disconnect history completely from the land. Even today Hindus continue to live in Kashmir. In last few years, Kashmir is thankfully returning to normalcy shedding violence. This is mostly growth driven. Economics is the base reason for trouble in any part of the world.
So many young lives wasted out there. Its deplorable that young men in productive age take to stone pelting and arms training and terror there completely misled by the militants. Generations of Kashmiris have lost their way and their lives for this reason. If you cannot co-exist with fellow Indians, you cannot live with anyone else in the world. But the picture is amazingly neutral. We have to give credit to the producer-director and for the screenplay-dialogue writer for carefully steering away and staying clear of politics, especially international politics. Not once Pakistan is mentioned or even hardcore terror is mentioned. No reference to religion. Maintaining that neutrality is very tough given the scene of action. I liked the way they treated this subject lightly yet profoundly. It shows that you can treat sensitive subjects so thoughtfully without having to affect anyone badly. Its important for those in media and in entertainment industry to stay unbiased and neutral. Its understandable why there is this representation angle even in Hollywood pictures giving token representation to every single minority group. That inclusiveness is what will sustain peace in the world.
Having said that, proud to be born in this punya bhoomi Bharat (INdia), the one and only country in the world with 10000 year unbroken Hindu civilization. Richest culture, rich in every way. I don’t want my nation to chase plastic prosperity. May humanity and culture prevail which are the best gifts we can leave for our future generations. Its okay when you are lived-in for millennia and millennia, you tend to be overcrowded and poor. My heart swelled in pride seeing how the sons of Bharat, Mother India, are defending her, laying down their lives in her defence. Not everybody is after money. Armed forces are one of India’s poorest paymasters. Services are not exactly lucrative. Yet when young men and women want to choose serving in our armed forces, it means they put nation first. If India can get aggressive at all, if Hindus can get aggressive, then it means its for a very good reason. I don’t want to talk more on Kashmir than this. But not a square inch anyone can wrench from India: our brothers and sisters in armed forces will see to that our territorial integrity is protected whatsoever and howsoever.
Finally, Major Mukund Varadarajan will be remembered as one of the bravest and selfless sons of India. You feel guilty and sad that such a young and brave life is snuffed out so early. Fate is cruel. My heart goes out to Indhu and and their little daughter.Theirs is a beautiful and inspiring love story.
Sai Pallavi slayed it literally! Siva Karthikeyan was good too. The one who played his mother was a pro. Was it Rahul Bose. He is probably curated for this kind of motivating roles. That the picture could be shot in Kashmir locales involving hundreds of Kashmiris by a Tamil director-producer from down south with a dusky hero, is testimonial to the fact that Kashmiris are changing for the better and are with India. I can’t believe the Kashmiris turned up in droves to partake in the filming of such a courageous story. It means they belong with rest of India without a second thought.
Sai Pallavi – the natural beauty with no make up, no glossy costumes, simply down to earth and such a natural all the way with no faking: she is my kinda heroine! After seeing the loud brashy types jingling with no stuff, she comes across as someone with grace and substance and of course, understated elegance.
When I flew in the first week of September, things were as usual at Chennai International. I got picked up comfortably at the terminal arrival T2. When I returned to Chennai Domestic after a local trip by the last week, already dead tired, I had no awareness what a nightmare awaited me.
I was asked to take a buggy to the multistory parking lot a km away. Sounded simple. Now this is the new pickup point for Ola, Uber, pre-paid airport taxis or even private cars. Those who want to transfer to Chennai Metro Rail can always do so from within the airport without having to step out – whether domestic or international. Both have direct connectivity to Metro.
But the problem is, you reach your destination after a tiring travel. There is not a regulated queue for the buggy. I was a lone traveler. I have health issues, I am middle aged, and I can never haul weights. Maximum I can pull up my bags from the conveyor belt and shift them to the low level trolleys. Mostly at this, I am helped at by fellow passengers. The buggy line is long, if at all there is one. People rush to get into the buggy not wanting to wait their turns. Absolute chaos with no discipline or order. Those with light cases manage easily to board the buggy flinging their bags to the holdall in the back. I had a great difficulty hauling my bags on to the back of the buggy that cannot hold big suitcases. Mine had to be put on top jutting out and shaking all the way. Moreover mixed luggages of passengers are piled up precariously one on top of another. I saw ladies struggle to haul their bags to the buggy and get in at the same time. By the time some women successfully placed their trolley bags over the buggy, their seat in the buggy was taken. With the buggy full and leaving without them but with their bags, the women were perplexed. After over 20 minutes of trying to get into one, I summoned someone probably in-charge there to help me. Finally a kind man hauled my luggages to the back of the buggy and I could take a seat in the buggy at the same time. But not after a terrible argument with the driver of the buggy. That by itself was a feat. It took me over 30 minutes just to get from outside the terminal to the parking lot. Here you have multistorey parking and the cars are parked at various levels. You have to take an elevator to reach whatever floor, in case of prepaid taxis. God knows where to wait for Uber. I was told the waiting place was the same as the uber/ola drivers only could drive through. Such a confusion and MESS. Totally harassed.
I thought the international terminal would be different. My husband who traveled last month went through the same nightmare on landing at T2. Early morning, no buggy was available. Trolleys cannot be wheeled beyond a point. He called his cabbie who thankfully walked upto the terminal from the parking. Both of them wheeled the suitcases for over a good half to one km to the parking lot at morning 3 am. It totally drained his energy. Is this what to expect on landing in our hometown after a tired journey. In my case, even if the buggy may be available, I just can’t haul the bags to that height of the buggy holdall. My international flight bags weigh over 18 to 20 kg each. What am I going to do. What brainless people have put such a harrowing system into place? Its not only impractical, it is sheer harassment, nightmare. This is now going on for over 2 months and I wonder whoever has registered an official complaint.
If for security reasons the government wants to keep the taxies and cars at bay at the parking lot, then something like a shuttle bus must be arranged where there must be conductors to handle luggages. I have seen such a system in place in the US. One can board the shuttle to reach parking lots as far as few kilometers without hassles.
Hopefully by the time I return the old way of exiting airport is back. I give up, I just can’t. Wonder how the wheelchair passengers cope up. Its not a straight level ride with their carts to the parking at all. A lot of work needs to be done on warfooting basis. Airport authority need not have to turn our airport into 5 star hotel. At least the basics they must take care of. What is the use of building a swanky new airport and putting passengers through sheer harassment on arrival. Basic amenities must be covered first. You see the airports in the US. They keep the artefacts there in museums not in airports. Airport can be plain but functional and user-friendly. Arrival in Chennai is now a big headache be it international or domestic.
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