3-min goodbye hug at Bagdogra Airport

Fixing Farewells

• When you drive down the Siliguri-Purnia highway to the Bagdogra International Airport in the district of Darjeeling in the northern part of the eastern state of West Bengal, you find a queue of cars lined up by the service road
• The drivers of these vehicles are busy chatting with each other, sipping a cup of smoking-hot milky-sweet cha, or just walking around.
• Soon, one of them takes a call, and you take in a bit of the chat:"Landed? Ok. Call us only after you've got your bags. We will take 2/3 minutes to reach, depending on the jam at the checkpoint. No, no, cannot go earlier. We will end up paying a fine for overstaying!" A few minutes later, another call follows. The bags have been collected and the flier is now out in the airport foyer.
• The car sputters to life, takes the left, and disappears out of view. Another car takes its place.
• This game of car-oulette is an everyday occurrence. All through the day as the flights land and take off from the Bagdogra International Airport, a queue of relatives and drivers wait for their turn to make it in. Next to the service road is the Bagdogra tea estate. A blinding green stretch of tea gardens that stretches till the airport.
• The airport serves as the gateway to North Bengal and Northeast Bihar, the state of Sikkim, and some parts of Nepal and Bhutan too. So, you have cars from the Bengal districts of Cooch Behar, Alipurduars, Jalpaiguri, Kalimpong, Darjeeling, Malda, and Bihar's Purnia and Kishanganj all waiting for their call from the airport.
• The airport has a cap on how long a car can wait at the pick-up point. 3 minutes. Beyond the 3-minute dwell time, you will need to pay a hefty fine.
• Sure, you can park your car, but when middle-class India flies or goes to receive someone from the airport, parking fees are an extravagance that you have no appetite for. Especially when you've devised a service-road jugaad.

New Zealand Airport Sees Similar Farewells

• Emotional farewells are a common sight at airports, but travelers leaving the New Zealand city of Dunedin will have to be quick. A new three-minute time limit on goodbye hugs in the airport's drop-off area is intended to prevent lingering cuddles from causing traffic jams.
• “Max hug time three minutes,” warn signs outside the terminal, adding that those seeking “fonder farewells” should head to the airport’s parking lot instead.
• The cuddle cap was imposed in September to “keep things moving smoothly” in the redesigned passenger drop-off area outside the airport, CEO Dan De Bono told The Associated Press. It t was the airport’s way of reminding people that the zone was for “quick farewells” only.
• The signs had invited wrath from the social media to a substantial level. They accused the authorities of breaching basic human rights and how dare they limit the duration of an emotional hug.
• However, the signs were meant as an alternative to those at other airports warning of wheel clamping or fines for drivers parked in drop-off areas. Some in Britain have imposed fees for all drop-offs.
• De Bono addressed the concern from a biological point of view. He stated that three minutes was ‘plenty of time to pull up, say farewell to your loved ones and move on.’ A 20-second hug is long enough to release the wellbeing-boosting hormones oxytocin and serotonin. Anything longer was “really awkward.”
• Visitors might, however, be asked to move their lingering embraces to the parking lot, where they can cuddle free of charge for up to 15 minutes.

Editor’s Note