Converging on the airport in great numbers nowadays is so customary that no-one even bats an eyelid.

Sarvat Jabeen Khan explores our love affair with the Airport run.

We all love visiting countries far and wide and we try to explore destinations that are not seen as traditional haunts.

We deliberately do this to expand our experiences and to enrich ourselves culturally.

So far so good, but hang on a minute. If a poll was taken on the street today of the most frequently visited place why then would Manchester Airport win hands down?

We as a community have invented a culture, almost an unhealthy obsession, and are seen as having a fixation with the airport and PIA flights in particular. Be it to greet or send off we are a nation of airport addicts!

On a lazy afternoon the phone rings, a call from Pakistan. Panic and elation are felt as either someone has passed away or someone is coming.

The three-minute call that has been booked relays the information that it is the latter. Pandemonium ensues. Firstly lets get out the diary to see what day the date falls on (thus dictating who will be on airport duty) and secondly lets grab the phone book to inform every single person we know.

You see for us Asians going to the airport is a big deal, I would even say it's on par with attending a wedding. Why is this so? Is it just that we are carrying on with family tradition?

The day finally dawns and the ladies are decked out in their flashy ensembles (especially bought for the airport!), the men are all wearing three-piece suits.

The children are wearing new outfits. All have been given a day off from school as 'Uncle Abdul' is coming. To see the women parading around in their finery would lead you to believe that today is Eid. It is the equivalent of ladies day at Royal Ascot only a hell of a lot more colourful!

The horses are replaced with planes and the impressive extrovert hats with a duppata!

Six cars and twenty-four individuals have come here today. Little Salim with his bifocals has been given the duty of watching the arrivals board. Although we checked the teletext before setting off the plane is delayed, no surprise there then!

In another corner of the terminal the exact same thing is taking place. Again men and women impeccably dressed, sproggits dashing around and the sole individual scanning the arrivals board.

There is a group of around twenty-five greeters to every passenger disembarking. To say the place is heaving is like saying the cheer that went up for Bono on the G8 concert was timid!

Looking around the unanswered question rears its head. How long has this been going on? In the sixties and seventies there were not as many people in the country or cars so a person coming over to our shores would have been a low key event but this tradition has been growing in both strength and numbers since the Eighties.

Speaking to a friend I am told that this is more a 'Pakistani' thing than an Indian one. I completely understand the necessity for a whole family to go to the airport when seeing off an elderly member of the family who resides abroad, but the number present to greet a sprightly cousin?

So again the question. Will things ever change? No I seriously think not, as tradition dictates we will always feel compelled to make an appearance. I actually believe we revel in the ritual.

Is it right or wrong? Again a matter of opinion, those individuals of the older more traditional mindset would say 'when you know there is a family member coming then not going to the airport is not an option'.

Then there are the opposing group who say why not just wait at home to greet them? I feel there is also a degree of politics going on with the head count taken of those who came to greet you at the airport and this reflecting on your importance.

So in conclusion - no, things are never going to change, and right or wrong well thats a matter of opinion!