First flight fright
With two days of packing and celebrating my birthday I was so tired yesterday. The tiredness had a drugging effect on me resulting in deep sleep for today’s early morning flight.
People call 3 am as early morning but for me it was midnight. Alarm was screaming and I was yelling at it as “What is your problem?” and all of sudden reality trespassed my mind. Taking up the ice bucket challenge of the recent trend in the midnight, Oops! sorry in the early morning. I was ready by 4 am.
Taxi has arrived. If it was evening or night I would have definitely cried hard core but early mornings are better. You feel less emotional and more sleepy. Tears are out of question replaced with yawning. Hugging my mom and bidding goodbye was strengthening my mind and yet deep down inside me I was mumbling “I am gonna miss her hell lot for three months”.
Taxi departed towards the airport. Even the radio station has favoured my flavour of songs and there we saw the beautifully lit palace in the dark early morning which a common Chennaite call as “Airport”. Early morning too didn’t matter to a single person over there. Over styled air hostess, casual wearing Japanese and Americans, selfie snapping our Chennaites. Oh God!! These are the last memories I behold in Chennai.
We checked in and were waiting for the flight before boarding. There were absolutely two sets of people, sleepers and technocrats. While I’m always the third type of person observing both of them. As time passed from 5 a.m. to 6 a.m. darkness wore out and there came the sunrise. From tube light to sunlight, the morning turning calm and lively, I cursed myself how many mornings have I missed out watching the epic view of sunrise.
The nearness of flight starting its engine was adding excitement inside me. Jeans’ Aishwarya Rai, Nala Dhamayanthi’s Madhavan and Nanban’s Srikanth have already occupied my mind in varied patterns helping me to overcome flight fright. Luckily I jumped through to get a window seat to still feel deep of my first flying experience.
In an inclined position, the flight took off from my Chennai. My hands were terribly sweating. Even roller coasters have never scared me this very way. There I saw tiny Chennai’s view, Chepauk stadium and Marina was easily identifiable. Oh then I was zoomed out of view. Now all the houses were like toys and then a microscopic view of just vegetation and buildings like Google Maps. Finally flying 38,000 above ground, below puffy clouds and inside me was cloud eighteen (twice of cloud nine). I thought sky and clouds were friends but it was not so. I was flying sandwiched between them. When the clouds were so hazy I thought I’m somewhere near heaven and I tried looking above. How would Kalpana Chawla felt to travel space and see earth tiny? Oh thank you Wright brothers! Your inventions had made me feel like a minimal version of Kalpana Chawla.
The flight was slightly tilted while landing and the flight was not flapping its wings though. Before we could even land, I started loving Delhi. Not for its tallest buildings or paved highways but for its greenery and monumental view. Bahai temple really resembled a white lotus flower from above and many of the temples and mosques had rich heritage & stunning architectural patterns. Landing was less exciting because I know the flight journey has reached its end. But Delhi was welcoming me with slippery coated streets of chilling rain.
Thank you Indigo for making me run through these all excitements of first flight fright and yet making it worthy!
Dated from 4/Sep/2014
—
Bharathy
