It’s a fact that the very first
time the roaring airplane takes you up into the air is always one of the most
exciting moments to cherish and look forward to… I used to believe in my
childhood that people sit above the airplane by holding both its wings just
like we may imagine ourselves to be sitting on a big bird (not a
not-so-creative imagination at that age by seeing numerous airplanes from the
roof of my maternal grandparents’ house!!!) and this misconception was cleared
when I visited Bhubaneswar airport (probably that hadn’t been named Biju
Pattnaik Airport then) for the first time in UKG and I revisited the same place
again only last year… On 10th June, 2012, I had that much awaited
moment in my life… I had to board the Air India Flight AI 729 from Kolkata to
Guwahati, where I was going to have my Summer Internship…
Getting into a much bigger Netaji
Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport with so many uniformly well-decorated
ladies at the counters and a rush at every place amazed me out of my wits…
After the Security Check and everything, I just moved to the Waiting Area near
Gate 4 and had a really funny accident (well, can’t describe it here) and at the
boarading time of 09:05 A.M., the gates opened and we before I could realize,
we had entered the airplane… Wow!!! Unlike what I had seen at Biju Pattnaik
Airport, where you climb a ladder to get into the plane… I had got Seat 1D and
I guess very few people would have sat in the first row on their first flight…
But, this was not a window seat!!! Oh no… Does that mean that I can’t view
everything below me on my first ever flight??? I eagerly waited for the person
at the Window Seat to arrive so that I could exchange pleadingly and to my very
good luck, no one ever came there… And unlike elsewhere, the air-hostesses were
in sarees!!! I thankfully and excitedly popped onto the seat, instructions were
explained in a Dumb Charades style by the air-hostess and at the scheduled time
09:35 A.M., the airplane was pulled back by a vehicle much much smaller than
its volume… Then, it moved forward this way, changed direction and again
repeated all its previous movements…
And, the most surprisingly, it
stood still with its engine on and after sometime, the engine stopped… What had
happened??? We were told that due to some accident landing, the Runway at the
Guwahati Airport had been blocked and we can’t move unless it is cleared… To
keep off the people from shouting, we were served the breakfasts (two biscuits,
one cup-cake and a half- size sandwich along with thankfully unlimited
mini-bottles) though it was a cruel injustice to a growling hunger… Then, I did
that think which I can guarantee no non-child had ever done or would ever do… I
had a nap of around twenty minutes on my first ever journey in air even before
the airplane had taken off!!! I got up to find the plane still there and the
many small non-school going kids wailing out louder and louder… After again a
long time, which I used up to read Safety Precautions and the Air India
magazine, the reality came to us… No accident had taken place and the plane was
waiting for two particular passengers and for this the whole plane had been
delayed for more than two complete hours!!! It happens only in India…….
Finally, the Airplane took up and
up and up… And my heart was elated like never before… Everything became smaller
and smaller- the Airport, the nearby residential areas whose planning we can
easily make out, the river which now appeared like a canal, the many forests
and everything… I was feeling like zooming out on Google Earth… Simply
fantabulous!!! Then, I marked some shining pieces almost on every house, which
I infer to be window panes… Had never imagined they would ever look this way…
Then, we had risen so up that the angle that things subtended on our eyes had
began to change so slowly that I felt as if the plane is hovering at one place
except some very less frequent horizontal vibrations… The whole River Hoogly
slightly changed its position with time and the whole time, my eyes were stuck
on the window glass on the seat I had luckily earned… After a long time of such
a constant view, we entered the clouds!!! Amidst the clouds, the view was
exactly like the “Swarg” in mythological serials, where the ornamented Devatas
walk with their feet in cloudy smoke and the sky is perfect blue… Then, the
plane turned with my-side wing rising up and the clouds coming down… can’t just
describe that…
Then, came the majestic Bangladesh
with almost all regions covered by forests or large fields and very less
houses… Finally, we entered Assam, where we can see that all the houses have
sloping roofs and gradually we were zooming in on Google Earth… The runway area
came larger and suddenly the wheels of the plane touched ground at a very high
speed… We zeroed in on Lokapriya Gopinath Badail International Airport,
Guwahati…
Guwahati is a love at first
sight… Large houses with sloping roofs and ample area covered with vegetation
and water passed me in the taxi… Assam is real fun with words like “Senj”
(Change), “Sha” (Tea) and “Sowmin” (Chowmin) and phrases like “Huno Hunao Life
Banao” (you can guess that), where “Sha” pronunciation is replaced by “Ha” and
“Cha” by “Sha”… People understand more Odia here than Hindi… I am loving it
here and you must visit the North-East, if you want the real pleasure of
sight-seeing and hospitality!!!
Bye Bye for now!!!
Enjoy yourselves!!!
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