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Sandhya Vasudev
Ihad read that Indians, more than others, avail the facility of wheelchair assistance at airports. I am a quinquagenarian and have had occasions to frequent airports, but never felt the need to request for such a facility, although I needed to walk several hundred metres from one terminal to another during transit, or till the exit.
Once when I landed at the New York airport, along with my daughters, I was taken aback when a young Indian-origin airport employee cajoled and led me to her wheelchair and forced me into it. She zoomed across pathways and elevators, busy chattering away in Hindi, even as I sat under silent protest, disliking being pushed along, with the daughters being thoroughly amused at my situation.
This set me thinking why Indians are infamous for misuse of this facility. What makes people avail it, apart for genuine reasons of old age, or being nursing mothers? I got my answer several months later, when, after a strenuous long flight from the US and a hectic stopover in Hong Kong, my leg refused to bend, and I was forced to hire a wheelchair, much to my embarrassment. I was whisked through immigration channels on priority, and that was when I lauded the ingenuity of my fellow country folks who opt for such services for no apparent reason. Additionally, it struck me that while it is a hassle to locate the next flight during transit, especially at large and busy airports, this is obviated when one seeks assistance.
At another international airport I observed a well-built tall woman sitting with her husband in the row earmarked for those needing wheelchair assistance. I wondered what could be wrong with her, as I had seen her get up and walk briskly to the restroom. As she returned, the helper who had been on the lookout for her, offered a wheelchair and she gracefully sank into it, asking her husband to follow her with an impatient wave of her hand. Even as I stood in the serpentine queue, I saw them sailing past in a line of their own with hardly any contenders. When I finally entered the cabin, jostling with others, I noticed that they had settled down comfortably by then. The real reason for the assistance hit me then!
There was an announcement by the flight chief attendant on landing at the Paris airport, ‘Persons needing wheelchair assistance need to please remain in their seats until all passengers have disembarked.’ Surprisingly, the woman then was seen standing in the queue, perhaps not to be left behind till the last. Her priority was to get in and out of planes as fast as possible for whatever reason. The hapless husband was busy placating his visibly irritated wife!