Delhi AirPort Express: Reality Check-In

Indira Gandhi International Airport, DMRC (Delhi Metro Rail Corporation) and Reliance Infrastructure have recently started a seemingly time saving and convenient service from the heart of New Delhi for fliers who wish to board a flight from IGI’s Terminal 3 (T3). The service is called the Airport Express or the Gold Line.

Since, we (me and my wife) had to fly to Pune from New Delhi last week and the flight was scheduled to take off from T3, we decided to give our routine ‘take-a-cab’ option a boot and try the Airport Express this time around. Although, it was not very convenient to first change two Metro lines to reach the New Delhi Metro station and then board the Airport Express, our earlier experience of the Airport Express in Hong Kong had been so pleasant that we could not help but think that it would be a similar experience here as well.

Traffic Menders or Benders !?

I secretly took this picture from my iPhone while going from Janakpuri to Dwarka in New Delhi. There was a small traffic jam at the "Dabri Mod" crossing and most bikers opted to stray their bikes on the footpaths out of impatience. Unfortunately, a Traffic Police Cop who was also on a bike preferred to follow suit instead of stopping the bikers from breaking the law.

Click on the thumbnail to view a larger version of this picture.

Vicks

Full Traffic Blockage for the President, PM and Sonia !?

As per the new VVIP gradation done by the Special Commissioner of Traffic on the request of Mr. Y.S. Dadhwal (Delhi’s Police Commissioner), Delhiites will now face traffic blockage on full route only whenever India’s President – Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, Indian Prime Minister – Mr. Manmohan Singh and Congress Chairperson – Smt. Sonia Gandhi will be passing by. Although, this will come as a relief to both the public as well as Traffic in general, it however definitely does NOT mean that if other VIPs like the Chief Minister of Delhi – Smt. Shiela Dikshit and others are travelling, the public won’t face traffic woes. Public will still be at the receiving end as the usual de-touring and blocking of limited traffic will be done, it’s just that the blow won’t be as harsh as a full route blockage.

The inclusion of Sonia Gandhi in the list comes as a shocking surprise at least to me. Agreed, that Mrs. Gandhi has a history of assassinations targeting her family members – both her Husband – Late Rajiv Gandhi and her Mother-in-Law – Late Indira Gandhi were assassinated in public, but that really doesn’t mean that she enjoys the same privileges or for that matter even same security measures as both the President and the Prime Minister of the nation. If she would’ve been the President or the Prime Minister of India, this move by the Traffic Commissioner was justified. The fact of the matter is that she’s currently just a political party’s chief – period. Is the Traffic Commissioner willing to extend the same privilege to other Party Chairpersons like Nitin Gadkari (BJP) or for that matter Behenji (pun inteded) Mayawati (BSP)? If not, then in my opinion this kind of partiality is simply unjustified and should be opposed.