Aping the West can be an exercise in folly. After the "yes we can too" faus pax of the Commonwealth Games preparations I was in for a nasty surprise when I arrived at the spanking new airport at New Delhi, the Indira Gandhi T3, from Kathmandu. After disembarking from the Indian Airlines jet onto the airway bridge all 150 passengers had to wait on the bridge for at least 20 minutes as the receiving Indian Airlines ground staff had gone AWOL. Desperate mobile phone calls from the irate pilots notwithstanding, nothing happened at all reflecting the timelessness of ancient India until the seasoned traveler took over the herd mentality in me and I went a floor up the ramp to the embarkation gate and knocked. Thank God the policeman on duty was alert and he was good enough to open the glass door to find out why I was knocking. He transcended the doubting Thomas in me and came down the ramp to the arrival gate and with a quick swipe of the security card opened the gate to none too r