Delhiwale: IGI’s unmoving frequent fliers

Do you, dear reader, know of the six travellers who for many years have been waiting to leave Delhi from Indira Gandhi International Airport?The four adults and two children have been standing all this time at Terminal 3

Do you, dear reader, know of the six travellers who for many years have been waiting to leave Delhi from Indira Gandhi International Airport?

Delhiwale: IGI’s unmoving frequent fliers

The four adults and two children have been standing all this time at Terminal 3. Around them, other travellers pass by, dragging suitcases, craning their necks to look at the blinking flight display panels, checking phones and passports, whilst hurrying towards the terminals. But these six remain where they are.

These travellers are metallic sculptures. They were fleetingly mentioned in this space about a decade ago, and have stood on the same spot ever since, part of a collection of artworks installed around the hall, though few passengers stop to look at them. In fact, those who travel to the airport by car might never have seen them. The sculptures stand above the airport’s underground Metro station, away from road approaches and the parking area. They belong to the part of the airport connected to the Metro.

The sculptures, by artist Debanjan Roy, depict people frozen in the moment of setting off on a journey. A man with a backpack has sunglasses hanging from his T-shirt. A woman holds a mobile phone to her ear, her other hand resting on a wheeled suitcase. Another man is pulling a suitcase while holding the hand of a girl carrying a teddy bear (see photo). A woman has a baby close to her heart.

They emerge from the backs of the figures. The sight might recall the winged protagonist boy of Anne Carson’s Autobiography of Red, who goes about the ordinary business of living with wings folded under his T-shirt.

More artworks lie in the vicinity. This morning, nobody appears to be noticing them except housekeeping staff passing through the hall. Nearby is artist Gigi Scaria’s wall installation, consisting of what appear to be apartment-style balconies, flanked on both sides by small mirrors. Airport people appear in the mirrors for a few seconds before moving out of view. From a distance, the installation resembles a butterfly.

Another wall is occupied by Farhad Husain’s painting of a stadium: footballers in red, blue, purple and yellow jerseys, excited spectators in the stands, and pink dogs on the field.

To review the quality of these works is the job of art critics. Time, particularly, has added a kind of invisible patina to the six metallic figures that has little to do with their worth as art. Through the years, passengers heading to the airport have passed these figures while leaving the city, and have encountered them again on returning. By now, the sculptures have been soaked into the city’s everyday life, becoming a Delhi landmark.