In her book Airport Stories, Asha Ponnachan turns the familiar chaos of airports into a quiet theatre of hidden lives, often not explored by passengers or the outside world. Each story departs smoothly, lands unexpectedly, and leaves you wondering. There are six stories in the collection with a variety of themes, unique plot structures, and many memorable characters. 

Each story opens and closes with a purpose. The first line itself sets the tone quickly, “She hated working Wednesday evenings”, and the endings leave you thoughtful or smiling, as with “How does my hair look?” from The Travelling Professor. It proves that Asha does not take readers for granted and considers them mature enough to get her hints. 

About a century ago, William Faulkner criticised Ernest Hemingway for not using “a million-dollar word” in his writing. And as readers and writers, we know such words come with a cost — if they are misplaced, they can destroy the narrative, the flow and the mood of the reader. But that’s never the case in Asha Ponnachan’s Airport Stories. She uses rich and unique words with confidence and control. Reading her book not only entertains but also makes you curious about language again.

The small phrases she uses to describe her characters’ moods and habits are the cherry on the top. Phrases like “Pesky pebble in one’s shoe”, “Gentle is my middle name,” or “Mimosas mixed with morsels of workplace mischief” make you smile, and admire her skills of blending colloquialism with rhetoric.  

The efforts Asha puts into sentence structure are observable across the text. Despite her use of unique words or inventive phrasing every now and then, her writing always feels smooth. She knows when to keep things simple and when to stretch a sentence for the effect. She does not take assistance from one school of craft. But her style blends several approaches. She is not hesitant to give readers, in her short stories, a paragraph that extends over a page.  

The imagery used is also vivid and consistent. As you read, you can almost see and hear the world of the airport come alive, emerging out from the pages and taking a shape in front of you. The detail feels real, not because you’ve seen it some other day, but because she builds it convincingly, with the careful arrangement of her words. Her characters, Ameena, Aanya, Bipin, Shafa, Ed, feel like people you might meet if you worked there yourself.

Asha’s strength also lies in how she goes beyond surface description and sensory details. On every given chance, she takes the reader inside her characters’ mind, showing their inner thoughts and emotions and what they feel beneath their professional routines. The internal monologues of the characters are relatable and memorable, often staying with you after finishing a story. 

The airport setting itself becomes a character, not the rushed, faceless space usually seen, but a place full of quiet stories. Asha writes from the perspective of those who work there: the sales manager, the inventory keeper, the security guard. She describes the details minutely. You’ll get to see how Ayman, the inventory keeper, would react to the ‘Ding-Dong’ of an airport announcement system. You’ll see a character struggling to decide whether she likes her colleague or is jealous of his abilities. These are the stories of the people whose struggles the passengers often overlook. 

There’s also a subtle layer of social commentary underneath the whole structure. Without preaching, Asha touches on themes like patriarchy, workplace politics, and greed. In stories such as ‘Varalakshmi Travels Abroad’ and ‘Yes, but…’ Asha builds empathy for people caught in difficult systems, difficult times.  

In the end, Airport Stories brings together lives, emotions, and moments from all around the world into one shared space. The airport becomes a stage for human connection, full of hopes and quiet struggles. After reading it, you’ll never look at an airport, or the people who keep it running, quite the same way again. 

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