We land at the airport which is all of 3 luggage trolleys, 1 bus to ferry passengers between the tarmac and the terminal, 1 aircraft (which happens to be the only one that lands and takes off after 30 mins from that place, in the day) and about 50 or more people standing buy the fence watching the aircraft land ! I wonder where these people have come from and what they are doing there - bang in the middle of the day - since the airport is about 4 kms away from the city and at a place which feels like the 'middle of nowhere'. As far as I can gaze in any direction I only see vast empty stretches of land...growing weeds. Weeds that sway with the force of the wind that comes with the aircraft taking off or landing. Outside of that time, everything around that place is still and quiet! Something about this whole place and experience makes me feel I have alighted from a space ship and not an aircraft. Ladies and gentlemen...welcome to Surat ! It has been just about six months that the airport has been operational so its only fair to give them some time to settle down, though what beats me is that the departure lounge - with place for exactly 15 people to sit and little room for expansion from what one can see. How could someone miss something so obvious. Even as of today at anytime there could be more than 15 people at a time in the lounge and we're not even talking about scaling up for the future !
Outside the space station meant for 15, I see the road to the city dotted with grey grim looking buildings, most of them with cracks running through the facade in a criss cross pattern, interspersed by colourful bright new shiny structures...the now ubiquitous malls ! The contrast creates a jarring landscape of sorts. I have often see people pose in front of malls getting themselves clicked with cellphones and have wondered why. Perhaps malls have become tourist destinations of the present day. We spend our weekends not at the park or by the beach but at a mall. In new city, when i ask people for recommendation on which places to visit, 3 out of the 5 on the list are malls. Its a sad reflection of how times have changed.
Going further I happen to spot a hoarding, with a woman bending backwards on what looks like gigantic puri, with the tag line in gujrati that says 'har bite mein
wellness'. The product in question - Trupti...a local brand of oil I guess. Though what is striking is how English words have infiltrated everyday lingo even in smaller cities. On an earlier trip to Lucknow, I came across women from a relatively lower socio-economic strata using words like
coaching,
diet,
solid during the course of conversation
My last memory of Surat is walking into the house of the couple I am supposed to interview. A well spoken, seemingly well off couple, though living in a house that bears the same muddy grey look as what I found in the rest of the city. Something quite does not feel right ! At the end of my interview, we accidentally get talking about the floods in Surat a year ago. The lady of the house recounts her experience....of the water gushing into the house with just 2 hours of rain.....of not being able to save anything nor prepare for this situation....of running on the upper floor of her house with just a pressure cooker and a bag of potatoes from the kitchen...of living up there for 4 days eating just boiled potatoes cooked with newspaper as fuel. She points to the mark on the wall, the mark that runs throughout the house dividing each wall into two shades of grey...remains there as a reminder of how much water had collected in there. Silt that has settled itself into nooks and corners of the house and obstinately refuses to go! Her story interrupted by sudden burst of crackers and street celebrations as India defeats Pakistan and takes home the world cup. Next morning the newspaper headlines...Surat celebrates an early Garba !
