Once again it has been proved that Hyderabadis are big time suckers. It takes just the promise of a little 'tamasha' to draw hordes of Hyderabadis. I was part of the hordes that descended on the Begumpet airport on Saturday to gawk at the airplanes. Ever since I bought the 'Flight Stimulator' game for my kid, his interest in flying and planes has reached sky high levels. It was impossible to avoid taking him there. Also, like any other kid I too grew up dreaming about planes and flying. I bunked office on Saturday and my kid bunked shool to go to the Aviation Expo 2008. What a show it was!
After the 'attention diversion' gangs, the 'gold polishing' gangs that have been conning Hyderabadis regularly, it seems to be the turn of FICCI to take us for a massive ride that many of us will remember all our lives. We stood in a line for a couple of hours just to get in. It was damn hot but luckily we had caps and a water bottle with us. Apart from this, another smart decision was coming early to the airport- we could park and get tickets easily. Even then we had to wait for almost two hours to get in and to catch a glimpse of just half a dozen aircraft on display. Of them only three were planes and the rest were choppers. There was no airshow, only a lone plane that did some basic manoeuvres and disappeared.
It was surprising to see aged persons at the show. There were lots of them shuffling along slowly. Then there were entire families fully equipped with lunch boxes and water bottles. Then there were some dressed as if they were flying to a fashion show. There were all kinds of gawkers. One guy stopped me after we emerged out an hour later and breathlessly asked me if they were allowing people to get inside the 'flight' which is Hyderabadi for 'airplane.' His face fell when I told him there were barricades all around the aircraft.
The Gulfstream GC 450 was just the sort of jet I had in mind to buy if I had a couple of million dollars in my wallet but after paying the three hundred for tickets I had very little left. So I did the only thing possible in that situation- I took its picture. That was the only exotic aircraft I found interesting. The choppers were routine so were the commercial aircraft. Inside, the stalls it was too crowded to look around. It was really a disappointment not to see the A 380. The airshow that was held a couple of years earlier was far less crowded and a lot more interesting than this year's show.
It is being touted as the biggest traffic jam Hyderabad has experienced, but we were lucky to get away just as the jam was building up. The traffic was stuck for hours together until seven in the evening I read today in the papers. But that won't deter Hyderabadis from rushing to the next tamasha that someone will inevitably come up sooner or later. There's never enough drama for us Hyderabadis.
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