I come out of international arrivals at Chennai airport at 3.30 local time. The temperature is 80 degrees. There is a soldier with a rifle at the door and two airport workers lolling sleepily on a pallet, with their sandals off. Outside, about 20 m away are some plastic barriers - as for road works - and there are seemingly about a hundred people looking towards the airport and waiting quietly in the dark. Are they there to meet pople?
The immigation officials seem to be mainly sullen and potentially agressive. But perhaps they are just tired and bored.
People in the airport are dressed in a mixture of traditional Indian and western dress. The women wear traditional saris - beautiful lengths of material, with jewellry including toe rings and ankle bracelets. The young men wear jeans and T shirts or shirts. There are some older men with white beards and tight white cotton rimless hats.
I sit in a seat in the domestic departure longe. Opposite me is a man with some sort of white paint across his forehead. he is wearing a loose white cotton shirt and a length of white cotton material round his lower half like a skirt. The material has a border striped like a deckchair. He has a length of the same material as a loose scarf around his shoulders. He reads a news paper. A smart caually dressed young man sits down next to me and starts checking his e mails on his laptop.
The immigation officials seem to be mainly sullen and potentially agressive. But perhaps they are just tired and bored.
People in the airport are dressed in a mixture of traditional Indian and western dress. The women wear traditional saris - beautiful lengths of material, with jewellry including toe rings and ankle bracelets. The young men wear jeans and T shirts or shirts. There are some older men with white beards and tight white cotton rimless hats.
I sit in a seat in the domestic departure longe. Opposite me is a man with some sort of white paint across his forehead. he is wearing a loose white cotton shirt and a length of white cotton material round his lower half like a skirt. The material has a border striped like a deckchair. He has a length of the same material as a loose scarf around his shoulders. He reads a news paper. A smart caually dressed young man sits down next to me and starts checking his e mails on his laptop.
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