Airport names in India are a lesson in sociology

 

 

As Planman Media has expanded at an explosive pace over the last few years, I have found myself in airports literally all over India almost every week. One day, it is a quick fire trip to Cochin and then Chennai and then back to Delhi. Some other time, it is a short trip to Ahmedabad followed by a slightly longer trip to Bombay and then back to Delhi. Late last week, before the Air India flight touched down in Bombay from Ahmedabad, I was reading about the mob frenzy unleashed selectively by Raj Thackeray on north Indians in Mumbai and Nashik.

After a few heated debates in the commercial capital over identity politics, I took the flight back to Delhi and kept wondering about what drives a bunch of young people of a state to attack people from another state. Soon after the flight thudded down on the Delhi runaway, there was that announcement in that voice and accent that only airhostesses can manage: “Welcome to Indira Gandhi International Airport….” As she droned on about the weather and admonished us not to switch on our mobiles till the aircraft doors were open (Have you ever seen a fellow passenger follow that rule?), I suddenly started thinking about the names of the various airports I have been visiting.

Up in the North East, you land at the Gopinath Bordoloi airport in Guwahati. Bordoloi is considered to be the father of modern Assam. When you take a flight from Guwahati to Kolkata and land there, the air hostess trills a welcome to Netaji Subhash Bose airport. Go from Kolkata to the land of temples in Bhubaneswar and you land at Biju Patnaik airport. Patnaik is the tallest political leader of Orissa of the 20th century. In Raipur, the airport is named after Ravi Shankar Shukla, who happened to be the first chief minister of Madhya Pradesh. In Chennai, I think the airport is now named after Annadurai, one of the key Dravidian leaders. Of course, what else could be the name of the Ahmedabad airport but Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel airport? In Patna, the airport is named after Jayaprakash Narayan. a people's leader from Bihar whose influence transcended state borders.

I really can’t recall all the names; but I am almost certain that virtually all major airports have been named after local leaders who have dominated the scene in the 20th century and are now remembered fondly and with nostalgia for their achievements. For most Indians, the quiz coming up now would be a cakewalk. Still, which is the only major India city whose airport is not named after a major 20th century political figure? You guessed it right. The Mumbai airport is called the Chhatrapati Shivaji airport-just as what was once the Victoria Terminus is now Chhatrapati Shivaji railway station. Sure, Shivaji is an icon and a hero to most Indians. But was there no one from 20th century Maharashtra to get that honour? What about B.R Ambedkar? Or maybe Y.B Chavan? Or even Baba Amte?

As I walk out of the flight at the Indira Gandhi airport, I can't help wondering if this coincidence is in some way responsible for the manner in which workers of Raj Thackeray's party have been behaving of late. What do you think?