I spent the night at Changi airport,Singapore on one of my regular bi-yearly trips back home and the following is an excerpt :
They say that if you want to experience the depth of human emotions,you have to go to airports.The place brims with raw human emotions. I see tears of joy and laughter all under the same roof.At the departure gate, I see tearful adieus and parting hugs, while the arrival gate is full of over-joyous families eagerly scouring the sea of passengers for a familiar face.
I see love, of re-united partners after long months of living apart. I see happiness, in the eyes of those who are finally heading off to adventures they have planned for years. I see anxiety,the fear that sits in the bellies of those who hate flying. I see a sense of urgency - busy clerks typing away boarding passes, hurried passengers running to their final boarding call, and excited passengers buying duty-free presents for their loved ones. I see a microcosm of the world we live in,of so many cultures, backgrounds , languages and ways of living : the super-elite frequent flyer, the adventurous teenage backpacker, the young man ready to start life anew in a foreign destination, the excited family on their first visit to a new country, the dreamy honeymooners eager to know everything there's to know about each other.
It's a place where life's small moments loom large. For a person who finds joy in the unknown, airports are the best places to have conversations with random people and to learn about life from new perspectives. It's a life in limbo, a temporary place where you can choose who you want to be. It gives a renewed sense of direction ,spirit and adventure. There's something surreal about leaving a place behind,bidding adieu to your loved ones, walking alone through security , and watching the plane takeoff from a land you have begun to call your own. You leave it all behind to start all over again in a new destination. One cannot help but feel so many emotions, one cannot help but feel alive!
They say that if you want to experience the depth of human emotions,you have to go to airports.The place brims with raw human emotions. I see tears of joy and laughter all under the same roof.At the departure gate, I see tearful adieus and parting hugs, while the arrival gate is full of over-joyous families eagerly scouring the sea of passengers for a familiar face.
I see love, of re-united partners after long months of living apart. I see happiness, in the eyes of those who are finally heading off to adventures they have planned for years. I see anxiety,the fear that sits in the bellies of those who hate flying. I see a sense of urgency - busy clerks typing away boarding passes, hurried passengers running to their final boarding call, and excited passengers buying duty-free presents for their loved ones. I see a microcosm of the world we live in,of so many cultures, backgrounds , languages and ways of living : the super-elite frequent flyer, the adventurous teenage backpacker, the young man ready to start life anew in a foreign destination, the excited family on their first visit to a new country, the dreamy honeymooners eager to know everything there's to know about each other.
It's a place where life's small moments loom large. For a person who finds joy in the unknown, airports are the best places to have conversations with random people and to learn about life from new perspectives. It's a life in limbo, a temporary place where you can choose who you want to be. It gives a renewed sense of direction ,spirit and adventure. There's something surreal about leaving a place behind,bidding adieu to your loved ones, walking alone through security , and watching the plane takeoff from a land you have begun to call your own. You leave it all behind to start all over again in a new destination. One cannot help but feel so many emotions, one cannot help but feel alive!
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