August 21, 2013

Mum and I were on board Air India aircraft from Riyadh to Mangalore which had a stop-over and plane change in Mumbai.

People in the flight were holding different connections. The flight was filled with Indians, mostly businessmen and employees from  throughout India, like Bihar, Lucknow, Hyderabad etc ranging from the south to the north, traveling to Mumbai, because Mumbai is a connecting airport for most of the Indians.

There were only a few Kudla people like me who were traveling to Mangalore. 
 
At Riyadh the flight was jam-packed with Indian tourists visiting India (Mumbai),  just-married couples, retired couples, families with kids. A mob rushed in just the way they rush in the Mumbai local trains to ensure a window seat or whatsoever. What followed was a lot of shouting and advising from the tail to the tip.

The decks were stuffed, the air was heavy, the crowd was so actively engrossed in meeting up long-lost friends that many people had to be forced to be seated by the hostesses right before the take-off, although, the noise persisted. When all the senior Indian airhostesses decided that it was not possible to groom the crowd, a Kannadiga airhostess, who was also the head, did her best and managed to achieve a little success. 
 
The plane took off and after gaining stability, food and drinks were served and even if only for a brief moment the noise subsided.

Beside me was a North-Indian guy. The guy asked for two cokes. Two drinks for one person got me interested. Well, we Indians always have that eagerness to grasp in multiple numbers at the first turn itself, thinking what if we don’t get in the second call. He asked for a second drink, by pouring the remnants from one of his cup into the second cup and pretending to finish the standing cup.

About the rest of the people, from the right-side a man shouted Arey, dont take veg, the chicken is good, from the left-side a man replied, Arey, had already taken veg, it is not good, why didn't you tell earlier. Friends walked to each other's seats to enquire about health, wealth, family, kids, shopping, etc. The hostesses kept announcing people to please remain seated.

The rest of the journey was turbulent; there was that small gossiping here and there, but it didn’t make much noise. The food lady came back again and again but couldn’t satiate the Indian appetite and could not certainly calm any Indian. Well that was flight 1.

Then came my second Air-India flight to Mangalore, this time it was completely Namma Kudla people, that feeling of family comes on our mind when we see people from our place.

This flight had those few people like me connecting from Riyadh, while many others were connecting from different parts of the world  to Mangalore.

This was a small hour journey and again people had lots and lots to talk on-board.

As soon the plane started its descend, the people went from vishram to savdhan like they were going to jump-off before the plane even before it stopped. And this almost happened, with the seated signal still ON and the plane taxiing to find a terminal, people picked their over-head luggages and rushed to be the first one to exit like there either was a prize for the first person leaving the plane or only the first person leaving the plane would be allowed outside the airport. I along with my mum was almost the last one to leave the plane, the last at the immigration counter and the last to leave the airport, that's when I realized the rushing was not for prize or freedom, but for reaching home the earliest and meeting all their kith and kin awaiting them.

Homecoming is indeed joyous!