After checking in for my last leg of flight to Bhubaneswar, I settled down on a chair next to the boarding area. The Indigo flight to Bhubaneswar starts from the Terminal 2, a walking distance from Terminal 3. As it neared the scheduled departure time of 5 AM in the morning, I could recognize the typical Odia crowd close by from their looks, language and mannerism.
The Indigo flight to Bhubaneswar wasn't connected to the departure area via jet bridge. So, before boarding I had to take a bus maneuvering through the dark and dense fog of Delhi to the Airplane standing on the turmac. I was reminded of this incident from several years ago when I was climbing the stairway to get into the plane, the guy couple of steps front ahead with his ass facing me farted right on my face. You should have recorded the moment and my expression, following by sharing it on the social media. It would have gone viral with a million hits. No such thing happened this time.
Another time I saw a guy surreptitiously scratching their private parts in public while waiting to board the flight, grimacing with an orgasmic pleasure of big sighs "Aah, Ooh" laced relief from the itch as the heat and humidity of India can cause real havoc down under. When our eyes met he pretended to adjust his belts with a "Not I" look on his face.
The Domestic Terminal 2 was bit chaotic, especially around the security gates. There were lot of people taking the morning flight. The departure area of the Domestic Airport before boarding resemble our BADAMBADI Bus stand in Cuttack. The Airport Authorities and CISF were doing a decent job, managing the recalcitrant ones.
The Indigo Airlines flight took off from Delhi turmac slicing through the dense fog like a hot knife through butter. I looked outside the window. Midway through the flight the sun on the Eastern horizon slowly popped up, its orange hue looking like the sunny side of poached egg for breakfast. Crimson color cloud on the far eastern horizon suddenly looked like hot lava flowing from a dormant volcano turning active. The world above the clouds is dream, takes you to Cloud 9. The world below it is the reality.
The roaring big bird was flying high, whizzing past low lying clouds, enabling me to take a peek outside to get a Bird's eye view. The plane was flying over snow white fleece of cloud looking like a vast cotton plantation or a big flock of sheep. Huge mushroom clouds looked like the snow capped castles of some distant planet in the Guardian of the Galaxy.
Inside domestic flight to Bhubaneswar I have the opportunity to interact with many interesting personalities. Years ago while I was flying alone to Bhubaneswar on a similar flight, a guy next to me was conspicuously reading The Economics Times. I asked him why he is travelling to Bhubaneswar. He said he is on a short trip to Odisha where he envisions future lies in Organic farming as a potential money spinner.
During the course of our conversation the amateur farmer in me asked him certain aspects of farming, which I expected this gentleman with an interest in agriculture to be aware of. Apparently he turned out to be a very novice about farming, sounding more of an investor on a hunt for big bucks and ready for the kill, not to nurture the nature, akin to a general who had never set foot on battle field, a city boy who had never grown a plant by himself. Our conversation turned out to big a damp squib.
Another time, a man sitting next to me was a garrulous guy full of hot air - both literally and figuratively. He boasted how like Hercules he carries all his company's responsibility on his shoulders and without his expertise the would collapse like a pack of cards. How indispensable he was and visited all the 75 states of India on various company trips (never knew there were 75 states in India, even if you include the Union territories).
Years ago in one such homeward flight, groggy with jet lag, I dozed off to the humming of the airplane engine for the first half an hour of the flight, my head drooping sideward. The Airhostess politely woke me up - "Veyzz (veg) or Non - Veyzz, Sir ?". "I like non-veg", was my reflex action reply in a semi asleep state. She served the food, suspiciously glancing at me, thinking I passed a double entendre. In India non-Veg means food containing meat, poultry or fish, but colloquially it denotes a person with carnal or amorous instinct. Bawdy, dirty jokes in India are often termed as "Non-veg" jokes. Living outside India for a long time had taken its toll on me.
As the plane lowered itself preparing to land at Bhubaneswar, the rivulets meandering through the grayish landscape down below formed a spectacular sight under basking in a foggy, grayish and bit dimmed morning sun. The green, undulating waves of Eastern Ghat mountains were swimming in the misty fog. River Mahanadi looked like a huge cold blooded Anaconda taking a sunbath on golden sand to stay warm. Approaching Airport, the river Daya down below appeared like a gargantuan brown horseshoe covered in muddy water.
Every other year I fly over Bhubaneswar, the city I moved into as a 7 year old in 1976 and never left, sadly I see more concrete and asphalt, less green foliage as the asthetic city once known for its salubrious weather slowly turning into an urban jungle. Peeked below to take a view of the city I grew up with to notice that has outgrown itself. Saw multiple skyscrapers staring at the plane from down below as vehicles looking like match boxes were snaking on the highways. I left Bhubaneswar for good for more than a quarter of a century now, but the city has never left me. Way too many skyrises see from the top have gone over the top. They are becoming a growing environmental concern - gonna to bite this city big time sooner or later.
How contrasting is the worms eye view of the sky from the ground to the bird's eye view from the top. It makes me understand the meaning of the phrase "Down To Earth". When it all seems you are on top of the world, in minutes you are back on the ground. So are the vagaries of life. How much and how high you fly you have to come down - in no time you must descent from 39000 feet to ground zero. Airplane teaches us a lesson on life. More later....
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