THE TURBULANCE

 

My first air travel was 20 years back on a flight from Mangalore to Mumbai. Ever since that maiden trip, I have transgressed the boundaries of states and nations to different airports.  Airports fascinate me but not the air travel.                           

Most statistics maintain that air travel is the safest mode of travel. But my pre air travel anxiety surfaces every time I board the aircraft. Before every takeoff, I always try not to skyrocket my anxiety by keeping myself occupied with prayers, or by thumbing through the pages of in flight magazines. 

The recent air accident at Karipur, Kozhikode rought back a memory of one of my worst travelling experience. It was a Sunday evening after a conference. The Indigo flight from Raipur took off from Swami Vivekanda Airport on time and everything went on as usual. The stewards started serving snacks and I took my typical trip to the wash room. Suddenly the seat belt sign turned on and then came the Captains announcement to get back to the seats as the flight was going through an area of bad weather. In a few minutes, after mild turbulence, the flight started bouncing and swaying. I closed my eyes and held my wife’s hand tightly. As my lips moved with prayers, the plane took a massive stomach-ruining drop. There were loud prayers from some of the co passengers, calling the lord by different names. As I opened my eyes, the look on the flight attendants faces scared me more than the turbulence, which was getting worse.  Through the window, I could see the flickering and flashing of the  lighting in that dark sky. This went on for few more minutes and it was a real nightmare in the sky. Thoughts about my parents and children engrossed my mind as minutes slowly started to feel like hours. The captains announcement of landing brought some relief to my blood pressure in that dreadful journey..

After landing in Mumbai, I met my friend who had just arrived from New Delhi.  We shook hands and he mentioned that he didn’t think that he would meet anyone after the turbulent experience he experienced on a different flight that night. I echoed his view as we moved for the security check-in to catch our connection flight to Karipur.