Globalization........

Seated at Heathrow’s transit lounge in Terminal 3 waiting for the display to light up the Gate Number for boarding my next connection, I think of  globalization and its contribution to the change of the world that we live in today.

Globalization; the process of building up connectivity and inter-dependencies of the markets of the world; that’s a very short way to say it….. and yes it sounds economic.

The trickle-down effect is, people are traveling about more frequently and in numbers. So was I; seated with my eyes scanning the thousands of people going by; eating, drinking, dozing on seats, some in conversation on mobiles, some with eyes glued to the display boards?

Seated for over an hour the board changed to say the gate number is to be displayed at 10.30 AM.

It's more waiting and more thinking…… The change in the display was noticed visually and understanding the change was because of a common language medium between the changer and the viewer. That is communication. Old Egypt had Hieroglyphics.... a picture text.  Today it’s English; the common medium by default.

English language is the second most widely spoken tongue in the world today. More people speak Chinese Mandarin, only because China is more populous as a nationality. English language seems to  have a bigger impact on the world as a whole and has become the global de-facto standard used in business, cultural and political exchange.

It's 10.15 AM says the clock on the display; a little more waiting time....... and how do I know it’s a little more waiting? It’s the technology that link the changer and the viewer; electricity the ubiquitous source of power the link medium, without it there would be no globalization no connectivity no communication and there would not be a display for me to know where to go from here.

10.30 AM .....The display lights up a change and says its Gate Number 21…….. a walk of 20 minutes.  Not bad….. that's  almost a mile at average speed in a modern day airport.