Order In Chaos At An Airport

Airport Observations ✈️

I was at the Delhi Airport a couple of months ago, early morning flight, sleep deprived, bored, so I decided to do some people-watching. Airports are a mix of chaos and order, full of stories colliding in real time hellos, goodbyes, nerves, excitement. While waiting for my flight, I found myself observing the little dramas, habits, and quirks unfolding around me.

• Airports probably have the highest density of cute and fashionable people, like everyone got a memo that this was a runway show.

  

• Class divide: economy vs business, priority vs normal boarding, basically rich people vs the rest of us pretending to be patient.

• Emotions flying everywhere:

  • Families reuniting after long.
  • Folks going away from families for long.
• People pretending to work on laptops aka staring at Excel sheets while scrolling Instagram.
• People actually working on laptops, RIP to their work-life balance.

• The WFH warriors secretly traveling without telling their team “Sorry guys, I’m facing network issues” while sipping mojito at the airport lounge.

  

• First-time fliers: some look terrified, some are excited.
• Proud middle-class kids taking their parents on a flight for the first time!
• People walking around acting 20% cooler than they actually are, sunglasses inside, of course.

• Uncles watching WhatsApp videos on full volume without earphones, national nuisance since 2010.

  

• Half the crowd debating whether that ₹400 coffee is worth it or not and I’m simply eating the Aloo Prathas my mom made ❤️.
• Luggage check: trying to guess people’s net worth by their bags and wondering what you are doing wrong with your life.
• Kids screaming like they’re auditioning for a horror movie, both at the airport and mid-air.

• Sleep-deprived zombies everywhere. Basically, the terminal is one giant group yawn.

  

• The over-prepared families who reaches the airport 5 hours early and still panics.
• The “business trip cool kids” carrying only a laptop bag like they own Wall Street.
• Newlyweds being cute & all, definitely en route to their honeymoon.
• Confused foreigners looking around like they opened the wrong video game map.
• That one aunty on the phone narrating every move: “Haanji, abhi boarding ho rahi hai…abhi gate pe khadi hoon…” (entire terminal knows her status).
• A couple with a baby, but they themselves look like they just finished 12th grade.
• All those 10/10s you’ll spot once, fall in love with, and never see again. Pain.

• And finally, me:

  • Chose to board the flight instead of shooting my shot with that cute girl.

  

  • Flying economy, normal boarding, because… reality check.
  • Didn’t bother standing in line. Sat back, watched the chaos, and joined when the line disappeared.

  

Going to board now. AMA.