Things You May Want to Know About The New Terminal 2, Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi: MondayMusing #MondayBlogs

New Delhi airport has a brand new terminal: Terminal 2. A few of my friends who are traveling from outside India during this long weekend have been asking, where exactly is this terminal and what is it all about. I got to experience it first hand yesterday morning. So here ‘s my two annas: cents if you please; on T2.

Terminal 3, or T3 managed to create quite a splash and still grabs eye balls with its world class, state-of-art infrastructure, swanky looks, sprawling walkaltors, innumerable shopping outlets that include M&S, Accersorize, Swarovski and cafes like Starbucks, Chocolat etc and how could one miss the the creatively designed Yog mudra figurines.

Terminal 2, is not even an inch close to Terminal 3 or it’s cousin closer home , Terminal 1, which in itself has been improvised to a fancy, smaller version of T3. But I’m not here to draw parallels, but at the same time this is bound to happen when a tigress has tasted finger licking blood. Please note I’m the tigress and the terminals are blood of some sort. Ewww! Bloody Mary could have been a better choice actually!!!

Terminal 2/T2 fails to impress. Here is why:

1. T2 is on the same route to T3, but if it weren’t for Google maps, one would have a tough time finding ones way as there are barely any road signs yet. We had to take two U- turns to get in and for a moment we thought we were going back to National Highyway 8.

2. The terminal has four gates, though given the smaller air traffic it should suffice for now. As I began to enter gate number 1, I was misguided by one of the staff there to go to gate number 4 instead. He confidently informed me the Go Air counter was closer to Gate number 4, which it wasn’t actually. It was equidistant to both! I ended up standing in a longer queue and for a moment I thought I’d miss my flight as I was already running late. Thanks also to the U turns enroute the airport. Phew!

3. We have been spoilt for choice by T3 and T1 in the last ten years or so. We have forgotten the old, dilapidated Indira Gandhi International Airport where government officials would puff up there chests, interrogate and unnecessarily insinuate; while checking our documents or otherwise. The stench of the rest rooms would repel even rats away. T2 on the other hand has a very basic infrastructure in place for now, nothing state of the art or fancy. Yes, I know you are probably thinking; “Who wants fancy as long as we can reach our destination on time!” I agree yes, but at the same time I feel that “the airport experience”, the burst of happy, bright travel vibes does add up to our travel experiences. T2 is much like any small town airport I would say. Will pretty much suffice your travel needs, but will not give you a heady travel high that a T2 or T3 or a Banglore airport will give.

The flip side:

1. Or the saving grace you could say is that; T2 has no unending queues, as of now. A faster security check too, unlike T3 and T2 that have long snaking queues.

2. And guess what!!!! They have Banglore’s famous Tiffin Room. My sagging spirits rose and my happiness quotient increased at it’s very sight. After all I could get my dose of favourite filter coffee and button idlils. It was almost time to board, and I had to forego drooling over the idlis and they were not meant to grace my palate. Little did we know the flight would be delayed by half an hour. Thereafter I chose to give the “buttons” a miss as we had asked for a meal on the flight. That meal in itself turned out to be a damp squib, but I won’t go there as I don’t want you to call me Ms. Whiny or bore of with such inane details and digress.

3. The washrooms are neat and clean. There is a prayer room too. And a few eateries that will do justice to your ravenous stomach too.

Have you travelled by T2 yet? What did you think? Is there something I missed noticing or did you have a different experience than mine? If so do tell me about it. Also was this post of any help to you? Do share your views.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in the above blog post are solely mine and do not reflect that of any officials or public in general.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Linking up with the lovely Corinne Rodrigues