A Journey..

Being in an airport or a railway station is a beautiful experience. When I look around it feels so amazing that all those people with so many different backgrounds, so many different stories have reached the airport by different means , are travelling for different reasons..and at that moment all expecting the same thing..to board the flight and safely get down.  On my last journey I had my flight from Rajiv gandhi  Intl Airport ,Hyderabad to IGI Delhi. I was carrying a book by Anita Desai, Voices in the city. But was I reading my book? Well, hardly so..i was busy reading people. The Hyderabad Airport crowd was so normal..nothing flashy  unlike the Delhi airport where the moment you land you see chicks with artificially straightened hair ,flashy makeup.  Makes you feel as if you are a part of a third world country within a third world country.

I had a print of my ticket and after I got my boarding pass, I folded the ticket A4 sheets in folds and wrote few things while onboard. I happened to find that page yesterday inside my book, didn’t feel like throwing it away. Thought I wud digitize those moments of my life, which if left on paper wud fade away just like my memory of them..

1

The bright sunlight when reflected by the clouds , they glow, my eyes wide in amazement tell myself there can be nothing this magnificent that a man can create even close to this.

A thick  foam , so thick that I feel floating over the …well something I 'm not getting a name!

2

This beautiful layer of foam has got a horizon with the sky ….clear, blue amber sky forming sea waves and above all this , there is my beloved moon ..exactly half, I am not sure if moon is supposed to look like this and also I am sure that this is not a moment  of 'A great discovery'  but yes it half exactly half like the eye of a soft toy . He is alone , I know all his stars are fast asleep but they are still there ..hiding somewhere..

3

Its my fifth take off,but as the plane rushes through the runway, my heart always gives a leap , I recollect

All my last wishes and the moment Airbus was Airborne, inclined at an angle of 60 degree, I could feel my eardrums ..its always a funny feeling.

4

Soon after the take off the earth appears as like the one in google earth maps and how I wish I could click on that lake and a pop up would tell what's its name was..

The flight captain has just announced that we are flying over bhopal at a height of 11:50km.

Now the scene outside is that of total haze..

White ..a vast  sea of foam slow.

Haze ,shielding the blues giving me a wisp of the glory of nature and all along my half round moon was with me as if a bowl upturned..

5

10 -45

Still no peak there in the clouds, I wonder if they bear rain..

11am

The scheduled arrival was at 12 and the captain jus announced that we have started the descent already

We will reach 10 mins early, wth, I have paid for 2 hrs air borne time , who asked you to take a shorcut you moron!!

The clouds reaveal the mystery and now I can see the layers of them in different shapes..

The rest of the journey from Delhi Airport to my town Haldwani was same like last time..Delhi was hot as usual, I repented not taking an AC cab from Airport, the Old Delhi station was stinking as usual, thank god that the waiting room was not crowded. I happened to meet a lady who seemed to be awed after knowing that I was travelling alone from Hyderabad to Haldwani . She asked me where to spend time in that area since their train was not until evening. I expressed my ignorance about Delhi but told her about the Delhi Library just across the street from the station. She doesn't seemed interested but thanked me for help anyway.

I went down to the platform 12th half an hour ago the scheduled arrival of the train. Oh boy..only my god knows how I stopped myself from puking after confronting the sudden gush of stench! It was the toughes time in the whole jurney..waiting for Uttaranchal Sampark Kranti, which starts at 9 in the morning from haldwani reaches Delhi around 3:30 and again takes passengers from Delhi to Haldwani.

The struggle starts when the train reaches the platform. Spot your coach, run after it, balance ur bag, don’t hit someone or get hurt, then when you approach the gate of your coach , there are people who are trying to get down from the train and at the same time there are people trying to get onboard. The clashes leads to arguments soemtime but thanks to the lack of time it remains to few heated exchanges of salutes.

So I boarded my AC Chair car all right and I was asked to exchange my seat from one being next to a guy to one next to an elderly couple. Well, I was more than happy to do that. When I eventually got into conversation with the couple I came to know that they also have lived in Secunderabad  for five years. There was group of 4 white skinned ladies , one in her late thirties who seemed to be incharge and leading the troop, the other three must be around 28-29 I guess. Everybody seemed to be fascinated by them, the guys next seat were drooling over them.

The train was running late , it was a good 90 mins late to reach haldwani. We reached around 11:20 in the night.  The changing co ordinates of my physical existence were to be fixed at my home for the next two weeks..Nobody saw me when I reached and when I left..I never wanna leave a trail you see..:)