Industrialist Harsh Goenka recently sparked a debate on civic sense and public responsibility as he shared a viral video from an airport in Vietnam which showed a group of Indian travellers sitting on the terminal floor to eat food together. The video quickly grabbed attention online, drawing sharp criticism, with users pointing out that airport terminals are shared public spaces meant for international travellers, and turning them into ‘picnic spots’ creates inconvenience and litter.
“Vietnam has become a favourite new destination for Indian travellers. But if we turn their airports into picnic spots, spreading food and litter, we risk becoming very unpopular tourists. When will we learn to travel with civic sense?” the caption of the video read. “A trip is not about photos. It’s about tasting local food, understanding local culture, and talking to local people. Travel to explore, not to carry home with you,” another user shared their perspective, noting that people must explore the local food instead of packing home-cooked food. “People can eat food they brought from home at the airport. In Indian culture, people carry home-cooked food with them when travelling.
What is the point of travelling 3200 km with home-cooked food?
If there is no littering and the airport is not too crowded, then there is no harm in eating there,” a third user defended it, saying there’s no harm in bringing home-cooked food, but it must not cause chaos, according to me.
