I
was excited and scared. The reason? I was excited because I was
flying. That too for the first time ever. Well, most first time
fliers are scared, many of you will agree. You will nod
understandingly, recollecting your first flight in an aircraft. The
inertia of the mind to accept that a heavier-than-air object can fly
and stay aloft will be readily appreciated by you. Well, that too was
accurate in this case. I was heavier-than-many-things. Birds, in
spite of the much talked of hollow bones, are heavier-than-air, as are many other things. They get their lift from flapping wings and
soar because of aerodynamic structures and large wing areas. In fact,
it’s rather difficult to find many things lighter than air. He
is lighter than air – I cannot think of any other thing other than
Helium right now.
I
had been in aircraft before. I had flown across continents and
oceans. I had sat in small aircraft where every seat is an aisle seat
and a window seat. I had sat in very small aircraft, where there were
no aisles and one had one’s own doorway and unhindered view through
the cockpit windscreen. On the other hand, I had travelled in
wide-bodies luxury air-planes which had in-flight entertainment
systems, and wining and dining services. These helped you tide over
the miseries of being in a seat slightly bigger than an infant’s
car seat. Sitting and rubbing elbows with a belligerent individual
staking claim to be the world’s largest producer of natural gas was
a torture one had to bear. But, as I said earlier, this was the first
time I was flying. There was no pilot. No one to announce technical
delays, turbulence or engine flame-out, or to bring you down to earth
safely. You nod again – this time a little less understandingly.
You
think I am flying solo! I had no clearance from ATC, nor any
parachute or emergency breathing equipment on hand.
My
apologies for making leading you to think the way you did. I
wasn’t lying. Let me reword my first few sentences for your
benefit. “I was excited and
scared. The reason? I was exited because I was
flying.” Now you nod again, as you understand the import of one
italicised letter. Yes, I
was flying. And it is an exhilarating and scary experience, when you
know you can fly. It
unleashes you from the drag of gravity at your feet. There is no
height to which you cannot ascend, you
feel. The sky, is the limit.
But then, the sky doesn’t exist. Just like the horizon, it is one
of those fake things our hyper-active minds have made up and
transferred to other humans for ease of communicating our ideas.
Okay,
I concede. This is the first time I was
flying. I did
not know if I have any operational limitations or absolute ceiling,
as aeronautical engineers call it. To further baffle such engineers,
I had
no idea of what provided the thrust and lift to my flying. I wasn’t
even flapping my arms. Real reason I was scared in spite of such
extraordinary buoyancy and pure joy? I had no idea of how to land
without turning into puree. And
I did realise that I would have to land at least to consume water and
food. Flying was dehydrating. And I did not know how to hunt edible
prey on the wing.
That’s
when I felt as if someone had clasped my hand. I turned to look. But
there was no one. It was getting scarier by the minute. Was this
actually the end game of the roulette called life? Was I about to
cash in my chips? It was getting scarier by the minute. Then I heard
a disembodied voice.
“Don’t
worry,” it said.
A
moment later another flyer materialised next to me. And baby-sat me
through the mechanics of my maiden flight. This flier seemed to not
only be skilled at flying, but also at de-materialisation and
re-materialisation. Now that I know the identity of this Master, it’s
time I learnt those skills too.
I can only tell you the call-sign of the skilled flier, which I had
immediately assigned to him as soon as I had recognised him. I had
called him that for nearly as long as I had known him. “Tiger”.
Some of you might have a penchant for remembering nicknames. Tipu
Sultan, MAK Pataudi, AAK Niazi, ET Woods or JH Shroff, you enquire?
None of the above.
***
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