Google doodles Amelia Earhart on her 115th Birthday, that's today. Now did I hear this name quite recently somewhere? I tried to recollect and Oh! Yeah! the Maruti Suzuki sequel "kitna deti hai". Quickly checked wiki and realised that it was Amelia Johnson, yet another aviatrix.
Leaned back on my chair, with my morning cup of coffee slowly
thoughts drifted to the day when I flew for the first time. It was from
Mumbai to Chennai and I was 38 years old then. My brother booked the
flight tickets and I was thrilled as well as slightly afraid. Along with
my mom, husband, and son entered the airport. It was flying for first
time for all of us except for my husband.
I checked in at the airport and waited for the security check. My
wish to fly was so intense, I would have dreamt about flying at least 10 or 15
times. For a person who had never seen the insides of an airplane, in my
dreams I saw it as a bus. There were times when I stood, holding the iron
rails on the roof of the plane, probably to balance when the flight turned
right or left. There were times when, I stood on a long queue to buy
tickets for my flight to the US, and my mom would precisely aim that moment to
wake from me my dreams. And once in my dream, when I was about to enter the
airplane, I heard two men talking in whispers about their plans to hijack the
plane and I call the watchman/police aside and tell them what I overheard and
they stop the flight. But, never once the flight took off and I travelled on
air.
It was a low fare flight and with so many what-ifs running in
mind, climbed the air plane, to be greeted by the air hostess and a dashing
steward. I gave my usual broad smile, wondering why others just nodded
off those greetings. I got into the flight but forgot to bring the cotton
to plug in to my ears. Anyways, I remembered my brother showing me a
pouch with earphones, toffees etc and was waiting for them to deliver my kit.
After a while, I realized they don't provide such kits in low
fare flights. Those flights were meant for everyone to fly and the flight
charges affordable to everyone. I saw an old man carrying an old
polythene bag and thrust the bag inside the cupboard on top of his seat.
He carried on with the flight rituals as if he travelled everyday
from Mumbai to Chennai. I kicked myself for visiting the prominent shop which
sells high class leather bags and paid a fortune to buy one, just because I was
flying the next week.
A pretty girl who sat on the row before me, pressed the switch and
called for the flight attendant. The handsome guy who greeted me walked
through the aisle and asked her how he could help her. She asked for some
cotton and he provided her some.
I coughed and asked him little hesitant if he can provide me some
cotton too. He apologized and told me that they don't have the
cotton and if he could help with anything else. Felt embarassed and decided not to ask him anything until of course he comes back to me with an apology.
I was thrilled when the plane slowly crept to the run way and like
a thunder zoomed past the runway and lifted its wing. Finally my dream
came true and I started to hum, "I believe I can fly; I believe I can
touch the sky", though on a different context, I did fly and tried
touching the sky and with due thanks to my brother.
All the jubilation, remained only for 3 or 4 minutes, all of a
sudden the air plane slowly tilted to its left and then to right and went down
few feet low, my stomach lurched and I knew for sure something was wrong and
waited for the crew to announce we are living the final few minutes of our
life. No announcement came and after few minutes the airplane righted itself. I
was aware of every move of the plane. Most of the time the plane was
tilted and I decided to reduce some weight before I flew the next time.
There was a small commotion, when the air-hostesses dragged a
small pantry on wheels and took the orders, collected the money and delivered
the goodies . I didn’t bat an eyelid when my son wanted a cold drink and heard
the price was thrice the original cost, but bought it with a flourish.
My hands held tight and lips chanting "Ram", the 1 hour
and 45 minutes stretched like one day for me and held my breath tight till the
final announcement came that we are landing the Meenambakkam airport, Chennai.
I was still holding my breath, till the third wheel was lowered with a
thud on the ground. I had heard that accidents happen, when the third
small wheel attached to the nozzle of the flight refuse to lower. It was only
when the air plane stopped at the runway and I stood to get down,
I realized that I had been a fool not to enjoy the trip but spent it
worrying hard. Not that I wanted to smile, but wouldn’t it be considered
rude if I didn’t return the smile of the handsome steward as I was leaving.
Did I tell you that I am now 41 and travelled 7 times after my
first experience and still get little queasy when the wings slightly lower and
balances after the take off and I had gained 8 kgs since then. And, did I tell
you that I am scared of heights?
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