Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Life after a near death experience.


Sitting in a plane + flying through dark clouds + major turbulence. Whew!!! What an experience and I live to die another day and blog about my near death flight.

Well, okay I admit I’ve exaggerated about the “major” turbulence part and I guess I’ve had a nearer death experience when I was a 3 month old baby which is another story but I couldn’t resist the above blog title after experiencing minor turbulence on my flight back to Kolkata after a long vacation.

Brief summary of my vacation >>

26th Sept: Kolkata to Aizawl
Morning - leave Kolkata ….early afternoon, land in Lengpui airport. Get to meet someone I’ve known only online – Sandman a.k.a Illusionaire over here. He’s busy dropping off some relatives but what surprises me most is that he’s not wearing any Arsenal clothing. Later, I’m in a taxi along with a good young man B.S-a. On our way up to the city the taxi driver stops to get some local liquor – not for himself but for friends as he states. He drops us safely to our homes.

27th Sept to 15th Oct: At home
Truth be told, peaceful “baby sitting” was pretty much what I did during my trip back home…..correction - my 3 year old daughter is nothing but a passive little baby. Anyways there I was back up in the hills; no phone or internet, communication with the “outside world” minimal and enjoying scenes like this on some mornings when I did wake up early enough to witness the mist/cloud engulfed hills….

Muthi tlang [hill]

Private transport absent and public transport scarce from my point of residence, I hardly went down into proper Aizawl city – now a concrete jungle in its own right…..

part of Aizawl city

So, spending the majority of my time at home led me to taking mostly photos of my daughter and sometimes her pet spider ……

Spider

17th Oct: Aizawl to Kolkata
Wife and daughter see me off at Lengpui airport. Weather in Aizawl is bad but Lengpui is magically clear. However all is not clear once we enter Kolkata airspace. Our plane goes through grey clouds and then turbulence. Minor, I guess, since the other passengers who seemed to be frequent fliers didn’t make a sound. Me? I was ready to scream at the top of my lungs when the plane bumped a bit through the dark murderous clouds….my knuckles white holding tight on the armrest, my heart beating super fast, my eyes transfixed – looking out at nothing but the dark clouds through the tiny window.

On hindsight I believe the other passengers were all too scared to scream. Well the guy next to me was sleeping soundly. But really, I do recall the woman in front of me straining to see if the ground below was visible or not. The airhostess who’d been skillfully walking up and down the aisle had immediately taken an empty passenger seat during turbulence.

What a relief it was to hear the comforting “…cleared for landing” message from the pilot. Once on the ground I try to act cool and let all the other passengers leave first. What I’m really doing is calming down my highly tensed nerves and silently thanking God and the pilot for bringing us back to solid ground.

Outside it’s drizzling. I’m glad to walk out of the *flying coffin...[Captain Haddock' term for an aeroplane]
Earn to live. Learn to live. Love to be alive. Take a break. Have a vacation away from your vocation... :-)

Click HERE to view pics of my daughter playing with her new pet spider.....

9 comments:

  1. welcome back, neat pictures!

    ...and i can see the heavy metal genes have been passed on to abigail...

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  2. Geez... That is one BIG spider, tarantula perhaps? Never seen anything that big in Mizoram, and a "pet" spider?!! WTF?
    Once flew through a small turbulence, and just as we were about to land, clouds engulfed the plane and it was totally dark outside for a moment.. pretty scary stuff..
    Nice pics btw, hope you've had a satisfying vacation.

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  3. E khai, thla hual angai anih chu :-)
    Thlalak chuan lung avan tileng ve. Keipawh ka hawng tep e :-) Lengpui atanga AZL kawngah chuan, engngemaw chu lam chho ve tur a nih chu ( heheh)

    I maimawm chu, chingchip kan tih ang kha ani em ?

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  4. # feddabonn >> thank you..yea...leaving the hills..and family.. something like the REM song
    .."It's easier to leave than to be left behind.."

    # blackestred >> read the The Beach?..one's reaction before one dies .. mine was "game over" ... kind of feeling during turbulence..

    the pics thanks..


    # Sekibuhchhuak>>
    Maimawm khi Chingchip nih ngei don chu...actual size chu khi ai chuan te deuh..Tarantula cousin?

    Lengpui to Azl inkara mi aia chuan i awmna lama mi kha hon chi zong ka ring :-)....

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  5. A lem emaw ka lo tia…a tak2 em ni? Eeweeweeeew!!

    So…(koff!!) ’m guessin a certain spider musta spun a tight web of delight bek home eh :D heehaw. Congrats on getting back alive….male spiders usually don’t survive er…ah…cobweb-making (i ti mai teh ang)

    Lunglen changin maimawm ril pawh zeuh chi nih chu (I mean the phone line).

    Cute pikchars of the brave little miss muffet.

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  6. hehehe... Nice one.

    And I was wearing Arsenal undees. You didnt see that. :P

    Speaking of turbulence, you never got to fly in those Vayudoot right? Scariest plane of them all, though its the safest because of its 0% accident rate! But scary like hell, as if you're on a roller coaster ride. We usually spend our flight screaming our lungs out. lolz. Ah, those good ol Tuirial days.

    And when you said "life after a near death experience", I thought you were going to talk about watching a Manchester United match. After all, they barely manage to win in the last few minutes or extra time (also known as Fergie time) right? hehehehe.

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  7. # Peer Gynt >> yes im glad to be alive... next time my hand baggage is definitely gonna be a parachute.. which hopefully if it deploys.. will give me time to say me last prayers..before i eventually land in a forest filled with female spiders ;-)

    # illusionaire >> ah! yes i forgot! Arsenal underwear..he heee

    Actually even though i've not travelled much by plane just happens that i did once travel in a Vayudoot when i was a little kid.

    Fergie time.. actually i did see some pretty funny photos [manipulated] showing Alex using a special watch to "freeze" the time :-)..

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  8. Is the spider real?! That's pretty neat, I like the girl immediately seeing her playing with the spider :-) I bought a couple of big toy tarantulas once, but a 'mi hlim' came to our house and threw them away because they apparently 'had something' that prevented people in the house from praying! I wasn't around at the time, but my sister said she later retrieved them from the trash bin. Pretty funny, but judging from the strong emotions they invoke in us prove they're no small creatures.

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  9. ^^ yes the spider is real - though my daughter "playing" with it is a result of photo manipulation... he heee guess spiders make mi hlim 's un-hlim...

    but good tip..not that i have anything against 'mi hlim's mental note made to produce at least a photo of a big spider if ever a mi hlim comes around..

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