After our three days of orientation in Bangalore, we all split up to go to our assigned schools. Carla, Ashley, and I traveled to Vadodara (Baroda) in Gujarat. We would spend the next week at Navrachana School.
This was our first experience of traveling inside India and our first experience of India's security measures. Security concerns was the biggest difference I saw between my first visit in 1996 and my second in 2012. To get into the airport building, we had to have a photo id and proof of a ticket. Thankfully, I had an itinerary, something I do not do when traveling in the U.S. because my boarding passes tell me all the information I need once I get to the airport. All luggage must have tags, including carry bags. The carry on bags need the tags because they are stamped at security to show that they have been through security. In Bangalore, one of my carry-on bags had to be manually searched because my fruit snacks and granola bars registered a problem when the bag was x-rayed. After the bag was searched, it was sent back through the x-ray again, and then it was stamped. An armed security guard was present at every boarding gate, and after the boarding pass was scanned by the airline personnel, this guard examined the boarding pass and all the carry-on bags for the security stamp. The boarding passes were torn by airline personnel just before entering the plane.
We flew from Bangalore to Mumbai and had to get a connecting flight to Vadodara. We de-planed on the tarmac and rode a bus to the terminal in Mumbai. When we got off of the bus we had to show the airline representative our boarding pass from the Bangalore flight to get into the terminal. Once in the terminal, we had to go through security again and receive another stamp on our luggage tags. At this check, my bags were fine, but Carla had too many electronic cords in hers, so her bag was searched and re-x-rayed.
At each of these security checks, the men and the women are in separate lines. Everyone passes through a metal detector, but it is almost a moot point because everyone gets a pat down and wanded with a metal detector. The women get a curtain, a cubicle, and a female security guard. The men get a platform for everyone to see. The two most thorough pat downs I got on my trip were at the Taj Mahal and at the entrance to the waiting area for my flight from Delhi to Newark.
This concern with security was not just at the airport. At every hotel that we stayed, the guests entered through a metal detector. I never was asked to take anything off when I went through the metal detector, but I went through the metal detector every time. At our hotel in Vadodara, my bags were also x-rayed every time I entered the hotel. At every mall I entered in Vadodara and Mumbai, I went through a metal detector. Every time that someone dropped us at our hotel in Vadodara, that person's car was checked over, with a mirror to look under the car and a visual check of the trunk. The more high-end the location, the more strict the security was.
For my flight from Delhi to Newark, I was questioned about my luggage and any electronics that I had with me before I could check in. To get to my gate, I went through the normal routine of passing through Customs/Immigration and then through security. To get into the waiting area for my flight, I was again questioned about my control of my carry-on bags. I had to take my shoes off to go through the metal detector and then I was patted down also. My bags were x-rayed for a second time, also.
While in Vadodara, I commented on the level of security, and Mamta confirmed that it was due to the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in 2008, but it wasn't until I visited Naina in Mumbai and listened to her recount the attacks while we drove past the places where they occurred that I had some understanding of how those attacks had changed India. Hearing about parents who went out to dinner for the evening and never came back or the police officer who gave his life to capture the only one of the terrorists who was not killed put all of the security in perspective.
This was our first experience of traveling inside India and our first experience of India's security measures. Security concerns was the biggest difference I saw between my first visit in 1996 and my second in 2012. To get into the airport building, we had to have a photo id and proof of a ticket. Thankfully, I had an itinerary, something I do not do when traveling in the U.S. because my boarding passes tell me all the information I need once I get to the airport. All luggage must have tags, including carry bags. The carry on bags need the tags because they are stamped at security to show that they have been through security. In Bangalore, one of my carry-on bags had to be manually searched because my fruit snacks and granola bars registered a problem when the bag was x-rayed. After the bag was searched, it was sent back through the x-ray again, and then it was stamped. An armed security guard was present at every boarding gate, and after the boarding pass was scanned by the airline personnel, this guard examined the boarding pass and all the carry-on bags for the security stamp. The boarding passes were torn by airline personnel just before entering the plane.
We flew from Bangalore to Mumbai and had to get a connecting flight to Vadodara. We de-planed on the tarmac and rode a bus to the terminal in Mumbai. When we got off of the bus we had to show the airline representative our boarding pass from the Bangalore flight to get into the terminal. Once in the terminal, we had to go through security again and receive another stamp on our luggage tags. At this check, my bags were fine, but Carla had too many electronic cords in hers, so her bag was searched and re-x-rayed.
At each of these security checks, the men and the women are in separate lines. Everyone passes through a metal detector, but it is almost a moot point because everyone gets a pat down and wanded with a metal detector. The women get a curtain, a cubicle, and a female security guard. The men get a platform for everyone to see. The two most thorough pat downs I got on my trip were at the Taj Mahal and at the entrance to the waiting area for my flight from Delhi to Newark.
This concern with security was not just at the airport. At every hotel that we stayed, the guests entered through a metal detector. I never was asked to take anything off when I went through the metal detector, but I went through the metal detector every time. At our hotel in Vadodara, my bags were also x-rayed every time I entered the hotel. At every mall I entered in Vadodara and Mumbai, I went through a metal detector. Every time that someone dropped us at our hotel in Vadodara, that person's car was checked over, with a mirror to look under the car and a visual check of the trunk. The more high-end the location, the more strict the security was.
For my flight from Delhi to Newark, I was questioned about my luggage and any electronics that I had with me before I could check in. To get to my gate, I went through the normal routine of passing through Customs/Immigration and then through security. To get into the waiting area for my flight, I was again questioned about my control of my carry-on bags. I had to take my shoes off to go through the metal detector and then I was patted down also. My bags were x-rayed for a second time, also.
While in Vadodara, I commented on the level of security, and Mamta confirmed that it was due to the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in 2008, but it wasn't until I visited Naina in Mumbai and listened to her recount the attacks while we drove past the places where they occurred that I had some understanding of how those attacks had changed India. Hearing about parents who went out to dinner for the evening and never came back or the police officer who gave his life to capture the only one of the terrorists who was not killed put all of the security in perspective.
No comments:
Post a Comment