Jan 2, 2009

Looks like my 2009 is going to be exciting! Part 1

Hello Blogville :)

Wishing all my readers a very happy new year :) Welcome 2009! May this year bring Success, Joy, Love, Compassion and Happiness into all your lives :)

I thought I would begin my first Blog entry of this year by sharing how I spent my new year. I spent the New Years' Eve with Ash in New Delhi. I had thought that I would decorate the room with candles and we would have some nice Wine and music and maybe watch a movie or something. But it is so cold in New Delhi, I ended up sleeping till late and by the time I woke up it was already 7 PM. So we had to skip that idea and we just went out for a walk. I did not feel bad about not decorating the house since I have learned my lesson from my previous post. We bought Bacardi Rum and some snacks and sweets. And then we decided to watch some TV. We watched a show on NDTV which was a musical tribute to the 26/11 victims, alongside Pirates of The Caribbean on the other channel. At 12 AM we wished each other Happy New Year and also sang the National Anthem, the whole emotional rush made both of us shed a few tears. We then watched FRIENDS and I passed out. I woke up fresh on the 1st, and I was watching the news where to my utter surprise, they were showing how most of Mumbai and India celebrated their New Year by saluting and praying tributes and holding silences for the people affected during the 26/11 Siege. I felt happy and content, that India has not forgotten. And I hope we don't forget it this time. We have got to get things right!

I had to leave on my flight back to Mumbai too. I had a choice between two flights, 1PM and 5PM. I decided to take the 5PM flight and we headed towards the Airport by 3 30PM so that I get there on time. And surprise surprise! My flight was delayed to 6PM! Ash was kind enough to give me company till 5 15PM after which he had to rush back home. I went inside and waited in the so called "Lounge" of the Delhi Airport. And in a mixed emotion state, I started writing... Here is what a wrote.. And I quote...

" January 1st, 2009. And I am having a rather tiresome and a different day. I am right here at the Indira Gandhi Airport, New Delhi, waiting to board my flight back to Mumbai. It is 6 10PM now, and I was supposed to be departing New Delhi by 5PM. My flight has now been delayed to 6 30PM, and I have not the slightest clue as to what time will the flight actually depart. Just because I have a lot of free time on my hands, and my cellphone is void of any credit, I decided to take a tour of the "Lounge" I am waiting in, a few minutes ago. No points for guessing that I started off with having a McVeggie Burger and a Cappuccino at the McDonalds outlet. That was a decision made in a complete fix of mind. On one hand I was a little sad, I was saying goodbye to Ash. And on the other hand I was hungry :P The two things I love the most put me into a fix :D There was a third one too, I am awfully conscious about eating food, alone, in public! But I am happy coz I managed to eat it all, without getting bothered too much. Guess my hunger over powered the other 2 aspects :P Since I was Belly-Full after the meal, I decided to focus on my next important thought which was calling Ash up. And like I mentioned earlier I had no credit on my cellphone so I decided to use the public phone. To my surprise, and not a pleasant one, there is only one public phone booth in the New Delhi Airport Lounge, which has only 2 phones, one of which does not have a dialing tone and the other one which does, has a network failure. So basically you cannot make calls. You're just cut off with the world outside unless you have a cellphone :P They should really do something about this, you know. Oh and BTW, as I am reaching this part of my essay [or whatever you choose to call it] I am sitting in the aircraft. It is currently 6 30PM and we should be taking off soon! I cannot believe we are almost on time :O

As I entered the Aircraft, I had to pass through the Executive Class seats to get to my seat, 11F. The flight, IC810 was in an Airbus 321 [Lovely Plane!] from Ranchi - New Delhi - Mumbai. I entered the plane and I see this young lad, with a navy blue t shirt and torn Blue jeans, and he was just sitting on his seat, lost in thoughts. He had a very familiar face. I looked at him again, closely. Then I thought to myself, where have I seen this guy? Do I know anyone from Ranchi? I had reached and belted myself securely to the seat when I realized that he was none other than MS Dhoni! [The famous Cricketer and the Indian Cricket Team Captain] I felt like OMG coz I am his fan. I also felt glad to see a star [spoiled by the media] sporting such a casual and simple look. He did not have the attitude on his face like what Jimmy Shergill had on his face when he passed by me while I was waiting at the Airport. Uber glamorous, he was wearing a white comfy lucknowi and wearing a leather jacket on top, and his glares. He was with his wife and kiddo, and that was the only pleasant sight at the Delhi Airport.. :P

Now here I am, on my 11F window seat, it is 6 40PM already now, and as expected Indian Airlines is keeping up with their history of bad service by not even serving their guests with water. I wonder why we pay so much! There is a very sweet, old couple sitting on the middle and aisle seats next to me, and they seem to be unusually delighted to have a lady sitting besides them. There is a baby on the other end of the row. I love babies. As much as I love babies, I HATE crying babies, especially when traveling!OMG! This small kiddos mom just gave him a slap on his butt and he is screaming his lungs off!! Arrrgggghhhh!!! The screeching voice!! Please STOP!!!!!!....Aaah! The good news is that the plane moved, even though it is just like 30 cm or so :P I am just guessing :D But it did move. I think they were taking the chocks off. There is a weird silence in the aircraft since the plane moved just that bit and the child has stopped crying. OMG he started again :| But this time, it is the cute crying. He is like "Mamma"... Awwww!!

Ummm... What else... The night is beautiful with all the taxi lights around. So colorful! I am missing Ash... OMG! The old man next to me just went "Shhhh...!!!!" to the baby. Hahaha! Anyway I was saying that I am missing Ash. Cannot wait to see him again! I am also mentally gearing up for all the trauma I have to undergo since I am going back home. Grr... It is like The Shawshank Redemption! But I am going to try and be calm this time around :)

It is 6 50 PM now. The captain just announced, "Cabin Crew, close and armor all doors, please". That means we will be taxiing soon :) But with this delay, I don't know how long it will be before we take off. The flight attendant is now announcing the usual stuff, seatbelt and all that. It is 6 59PM. We are still not taxiing :( The kids got tired of shouting and crying too, I believe. Aaaah... There we go! we started taxiing now. Finally! I see the green, yellow and blue lights outside. For a change, I am also glad that I know what they mean now too :):P The haze and the fog look beautiful outside. But there is no doubt that is is the first day of my life that I have hated both these weather phenomena the most!

I hear the engine running, I am looking outside the window and I see beautiful lady birds landing on the runway parallel to us. They look oh so beautiful and shiny with their sparkling make up on them [Lights]. This is one sight I can see forever... Planes landing! I'm feeling so fresh suddenly. Not lethargic anymore.We are now holding short of the runway 10-28 on Charlie and we will soon be flying off to Mumbai :)

It is 7 10PM now, we are on the runway. We start rolling. I am looking outside the window and the speed with which we are moving, I am suddenly getting an illusion that all the lights that I saw are mixing up together, and I wonder to myself, how fast has life become? We tend to think that the dots on the runway which were so colorful, they get mixed and signify nothing but just a trail which seems third party to us. Just like how we, in this fast life of ours, tend to forget about the people who once mattered so much to us and then start looking at all of them as one single third party, whom we call.. well.. People. We have taken off now. New Delhi looks beautiful with all the lighting. Plus the haze and the fog and the smog make the lights sparkle even more! But I am more excited about reaching Mumbai. It is my Granny's birthday today. I am so eager to go and meet her :)

As I finish my sight seeing and we get high enough so that the lights fade away, I lean back on my seat and try to resume my writing on a piece of paper resting on my purse. I think I should just open my seat table now. I lean forward to open it and my trousers are caught into a rod under my seat! My first thought : OMG is there a bomb underneath there? Then I suddenly get these flashes from an Air Crash series I saw earlier. And it strikes me that my seat, 11F is right where the fuel tanks of a plane usually are situated. If a bomb was fixed in here, it would have the maximum impact and blow the plane off in no time! Then I looked around, I did not want to bend down and see what it was. I looked at the lovely old couple next to me, completely engrossed in the movie they were watching on the screen. I saw the baby, sleeping on his mama's lap. I saw people who were having the expression of frustration and tiredness and probably just wanted to get back home. I gulp, and I decide to reach down and check what it is...."


More in the next part :P I am very much alive now so you know there is no bomb :P No suspense :D I just did not want it to be too long a post...


6 comments:

Sarsij said...

nice post....esp the Dhoni part

^_^ SENO ^_^ said...

First of all I HATE EATING ALONE TOO !! :D

and Dhoni ;-) hmmm hmmm :-"

and last but not the least :P, i want to tell dat , if i had been in the situation , ma blog can almost be similar to yours :P but PILOT madam ur exp/ profession shows LOL

m glad u din write abt how he took off , his landing was not smooth r watver LOL...d fuel tank was :-@ enuf LOL 8-|


m waiting for d continuation tho ;-) :P

^_^ SENO ^_^ said...

and yea nice to know the passenger exp frm a pilot ;-)

IceMaiden said...

DHONI!!!! OMG OMG OMG...*gasps... someone get me waterrr*...

nice post. as i was reading the last para, i realized ths is EXACTLY wht i hav becum too... all the attacks n everythng... everytimn i travel to college on the local train. i get flashes of things... n i keep imagining wht MAY happen if there wud be a bomb rite underneath the seat...

*sarcastic smile* if nt nethng else, the bastards really got us on this one... make fear in our hearts abt mundane things lik travelling...

post soon. want to know wht happened next...

Ashrita said...

Thanks Sarsij

Thanks Seno :D This is from the perspective of a passenger plus an aviation enthusiast more than a pilot :)

Thanks a lot Annie! And I feel insecure... I wrote more about it in the second part.

Glad you all liked it

P.S. I love Dhoni.

Amit said...

U met Dhoni...wowo......i Have met Ashish nehra, Saurav, and a few cricketers from the past like maninder singh, chetan chauhan etc


i didnt knew about 11F,thanks for sharing it !

Nice post with lot of details!

Cheers!