Being the snobbish, selfish and proud Bangalore techie that I am, when Ms. Inform-me-delays went ‘Kingfisher regrets to inform you of a further twenty minute delay in its flight IT 611 flying to Bangalore from Goa …’, I had my laptop out in a jiffy. That’s where I met Martin, a German (or a germ, as he likes to be called) who was on the same flight, coincidentally in the adjacent seat, mercifully not in the same one. Marty was on the lookout for a wireless access point to check his mail, so I lent him the ‘berry for a bit.

The guy looked like he did a lot of traveling, so I popped a few random questions, from German racism to education, engineering and eventually the airports in Europe. He talked about Heathrow, what he believed was one of the worst airports in the world.

And, just as if to prove him wrong, a second consecutive security-check announcement for our flight was made. The fuck up? On the airport’s other PA system, Indigo’s departure was being announced too - simultaneously. It doesn’t take a genius to guess that neither the Indigo passengers nor the Kingfisher ‘guests’ could hear their respective announcements.

At this stage, Martin decided to draw a comparison with Heathrow. I was shocked when he said that Heathrow was just as crazy.

“Certainly, it must be more organized?”

“Yes. But it’s just as crazy.”

I didn’t know what to say, until he broke the silence again.

“But you know something? India is so messed up in these matters, yet, the funny thing is - it works.”

Before I could ask him, he answered for me.

“At Heathrow, it doesn’t work.”

It’s so horribly true. The worst part about indiscipline, corruption, bribery and every other shortcoming of this nation is that, somehow, it all seems to work.

That has been our success story, and ironically our biggest failure over the years - to adjust with our shortcomings instead of attacking the root cause. Because everything fits in anyway.

So, do we need the change at all?