The Flying Bulls aerobatic team whizzed overhead in their ZLIN 50 LX aircrafts , did a dare devilish looping in an inverted G, leaving the crowd below gasping in awe. The sun was beating upon us harshly. The breathtaking aerobatic antics nothwitstanding , Aneesha and I were still wondering if the largest Aero show in Asia was worth it's salt. The brave woman also stood in a queue for 3 hours to sit in the cockpit of an Eurofighter typhoon. I had already given up by then. We had started early in the morning to reach the Yelahanka Air force station. Even discounting for the heavy weekend traffic towards the air force station, the parking arrangements were a mess. The “shuttles” supposed to transfer visitors from the parking lot to the aero show venue were nowhere to be seen. Unlike more dilligent visitors like us who read through the aero show website clearly laying down instructions not to carry handbags for security reasons, the milling crowd around us ( a lot of them who later gatecrashed without a valid pass!) were let through with all kinds of bags with a cursory check. Inside the venue itself, the organisers definitely had civilian convenience at the bottom of their list , or maybe in an asterisk somewhere.My two cents on the whole circus affair:
- Anyone coming to the largest aero show in Asia would expect a minimum standard of organizing, not childhood nostalgia of visiting town fairs ( the latter also had cheap food by the way)
- If you do not want civilians to come, please say so.Don't ask us to pay for “business visitor” passes (what were they exactly?), lay down a whole lot of rules starting from what to carry and what to wear and make a sham of it at the end of the day.
- Yes I liked your aircrafts, their antics and the men in jumpsuits ( Oh and the top gun music). Next time, I will watch your trapeze acts on TV (and suggest everyone do).
The Bryan Adams concert at the Palace Grounds was a relief in comparison. Long queues, huge crowds, but well managed and no unpleasant surprises. Adams's voice, age nothwitstanding and his guitarist Keith Scott had the crowds up on their feet to every number they belted out. The fledgling rockstars in my team gave tough competition, crooning away to glory untill we asked them to shut up. Completely loved the pulsating vibes of a 90 minutes high octane performance, definitely worth the wait and the money. The only glitch for the evening was lack of dinner options post 11 p.m in the city and hence a mad dash to catch the last order at McDonalds on the way back home. Thank God for the little mercies of Mcgrills!!:)