Monday 10 September 2018

The Flight



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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