I still remember my early train travels, when I was very much excited to see the train and I also remember that at night , I could not sleep due to the loud noise of the train. But as the time passed, I am  so used to, with the train journey that  now a days I am having a sound sleep during my train journey.

Few days ago I had a golden chance to have a experience of Air journey.

The journey was from Bangalore to Kolkatta via a domestic Air lines.

I had only seen the Aeroplanes flying in air, this was  a great, historical, moment for me, to fly with it.

My flight was at 9.15am and I with my friend decided to check out at 6 am as airport was very far

from the Host House. I woke up early in morning but my friend told me that the flight had delayed & now its at 11.55.

I got relaxed but I was ready for the journey. My Host informed the Taxi wala for the delayed journey and requested to come at 8am but the gentleman driver came at 9.30.

He told that all the main roads of the city are jam packed & now we will move through a short cut bye pass road. He took the car at a high speed, as the time was short &  we had to cover a long distance [Few kilometers] before reaching the Airport. The driver suddenly spoke, that  the car engine is getting hot, it seems that there is some problem with it.

This statement of driver, gave a fearful shock to both of us, because the time was ticking fast & we had to board the craft within a  few minutes !  We were thinking about what to do, when suddenly the driver said,"Sir I had not taken fuel in four days and the car is moving continuously from that day and now its seems that the tank is almost empty".

After listening to these statements, we both were worried & started remembering our god. Suddenly I saw a tower at some distance, I got relaxed because, I was 100% sure that the Airport was very near & if any thing happened , we could reach our destination by running, [but nothing happened & we reached the Airport]. After  a few minutes, we got our boarding passes. At the security check, the security person, who saw me, was angered & questioned me,  "Where were you?We called you thrice ! Come be fast!"  Quickly we got our security check & went into the 'Passengers Only Zone'. It was a nice view inside.

 We were just waiting for the craft to come, I saw passengers started to check out from the craft  when suddenly I saw a tall smart looking lady coming out.  I was shocked  when I saw she was Usha Uthap, a famous singer!

In the meanwhile, she waved her hand towards me, I was filled with joy to see her after a long time. A few years back, I had a photo shoot of her in my hometown.

As the craft got empty, the authorities started to take the passengers inside the craft, first the old &  patients, then other passengers. At the gate of Craft an airhostess greeted me with a large smart smile. I was a bit confused as to why she  was so familiar with me. I also gave a small smile and went inside.

It was a large craft. There were three seats in a row. I was in the middle. After a few minutes a sweet girl came and sat beside me. She was listening to music with headphone in her ears. I started to read the book provided by the craft. Then came the instruction to tighten the seat belt, in a few minutes the craft started to run slowly in the runway & with a few turns, the speed of the craft became high and in a fraction of second it took off. As the aeroplane took off, the girl beside me caught my hand, saying ,"I am scared".

I saw in her face that she was in position that just now she was about to start crying. I suggested she look outside the window at how beautiful were the clouds.  By changing her attention, she was in normal stage & she gave me thanks for helping her. During our conversation,  she told me that this was her first aeroplane journey. I told her that it was mine  also [the first experience]. As we were sharing about our professions.

I saw two air hostesses, one in the front and second in the middle started to demonstrate the safety measures.

 As the destination came near, again came the announcement  to fasten our seat belts, as the craft was going to land.  As I fastened my belt, I felt that there was a huge pain in my ears and the pain started to increase with the fast speed. I felt like the my ears will burst at any time. I close my ears with my hand and shut my eyes. In a few minutes  the pain was decreasing  and I opened my eyes & saw that the aeroplane had landed.

I stood up & reached the exit door. The same air hostess was standing at the door.

In a sweet voice she told me ‘ BYE’.  Again surprised,  I also told her 'Bye'. 

Slowly we all come out of the craft & proceeded to our destinations.

Really it was a memorable journey  and I will remember it for a long time.

Author

Jagdish