Monday, September 16, 2013

Airports

This is the first time I am blogging in direct response to a blog I read. The particular blog being referred and responded to is here - Airport City.

"I think we're meant to feel this way about life in general, every minute of it - that there is just so much to look forward to. An airport perhaps is the place where the mind is able to pause, stop being mindless, and reaffirm that there are potential new beginnings, all the time, and everywhere." - Manjot Kaur


The blog for me beautifully captures a moment of a happy trail in my mind when I am at the airport. Thanks to the writer for wonderfully articulating the promise that the unknown beholds and can almost be physically felt at the airport. There is excitement in uncertainty and endless possibilities await us.

But while I was reading the blog, it struck me that there is more. When I try to think why airports move me, I am reminded of the scene from Love Actually where the congregation at the airport is shown through the lens of a romantic. That image, which I saw nearly a decade ago comes back to me every single time I am at the airport - departures or arrivals!

This brings me to an observation - the amplitude of human emotion at airports exceeds any other place. People departing from a place they love, finding it hard to let go of an anchor. People reuniting with their loved ones. People traveling for work, lost in thoughts about the meeting they have prepared long and hard for - going over the final drafts of the presentation anxiously. There are others who love walking across the airport, exploring the various shops. Other who are lost observing the variety of emotions being exhibited before them. People waiting for their flights, with the longing of soon being in the arms of their beloved. A girl with thick glasses immersed in her novel, trying to put a leash on that fervor in her heart. A kid running care-free on escalators yelling, "Dadu, we are coming!"


The veritable vestibule of vivacity, that's what an airport is to me. It's a place where you feel more alive than most others.

2 comments:

Grey Inks said...

An airport also reflects the transient nature of life itself. Where there are arrivals and departures of so many people in our lives, each to teach us a lesson, evolve us and enrich our lives. This includes the people we hate, the people we love, the people who inspire us, the people who teach... A long stream that makes up this beautiful dream. Great observations on humanity...

Manjot said...

Wow! There's a whole community of us out there, us the Lovers of Airports. Love this post, thanks Kartik!