En route

It’s 7.25 am on the 13^th of August, 2008. Temperature 27C and I wonder why are so many slum dwellers squatting at strategic positions of a tiny elevated land covered with grass, while I look outside my window. After a while I see the mugs of water beside them and know that they are just doing their early morning chores! Two Jet Airways planes take off, now a Kingfisher…and now mine! No sign of rain…thank you kaka! J

The Captain says initially we will be climbing up to 35,000 ft! Whoa!! Now I know what Asia’s largest slum looks like form above. I’m out of Mumbai in a jiffy and on top of the Indian Ocean. Saw the Bandra-Worli sealink – a decision that took such a long time to materialize! Wasn’t it so obvious? I’m over clouds…into clouds! It’s all white outside as though there is a white blanket stretched across the window. More clouds below…this must be how supposed angels from heaven would be feeling. I feel like treading onto them and watching the world from above. The rain droplets from my window pane have miraculously evaporated. The glass shines clean as though wiped with paper.

15,814 ft. Blue sea below, large patches of white clouds at different altitudes below my plane. The blue sky at the horizon turns dark bluish grey as it reaches our plane.

26,500 ft. A sea of cotton balls below me.

Just woken up from sleep; Slept for four hours which felt more like four minutes. The horizon is covered. The sky above is dark – blueblack.  I feel like an astronaut. Why ever didn’t I choose that as a career?!?

Its 2pm and I’ve just finished lunch. Imagine having rice and bhindi 38,000 ft above sea level. I’m over land now, Budapest to be precise. The world looks like one large topographic map. I’m so glad I did geography in school. I can actually see meandering rivers through their mid course and the fertile plains which inhabit population surrounding it. I thought all that only happened in books! I saw a plane fly below. Probably a domestic one due to its low altitude. I can now see the shadows of clouds below us. Funny part is, both are below me!

The outside temperature is -56C. Whew! I have now crossed Athens, Rome, Zurich, Milan and should be reaching Frankfurt any moment. I feel like I’m living on a castle floating over the clouds. Its 3.18pm in India and I am INSIDE clouds!

Frankfurt transit lounge. I met a really nice stewardess on the flight named Shruti. She spoke to me about many things, Chicago in particular. Fared me the best of luck with my education. I wonder where she is now…I want to make a call home but cannot. They say I’ll need Euros which I don’t have. The foreign exchange counter is far. The two hours of wait is getting annoying. The eight hours of flight was a breeze.

On guard to Chicago. Four hours left. I got up before my alarm could ring. Right now I’ve chosen a nice place by one of the emergency exit doors and can see the terrain below. I wonder which land I’m above. There are no clouds, just a few at the horizon. Brown, muddy place with water here and there. More like a swamp. Uninhabited for miles. The clouds now appear like strewn bits of cotton that lay after a pillow fight. They don’t move like they did earlier. I’m hungry and thirsty but if I go this wonderful seat of mine would be taken. I see some people prowling around waiting for me to get up!

We should be approaching settlements as the clouds increased in number; only in number.

Yayy!! I got a window seat. A seat was empty in my row right from the start so I thought I might as well go and ask the people sitting beside the seat as they didn’t seem to need it. I got four small packs of kurkure for myself. The steward said we are above Canada…didn’t know Canada was so barren. Damn, we’ve already crossed the Atlantic and I slept through it! Pretty obvious considering we are above Canada, but I wanted to be awake while crossing the Atlantic. There is so much of unused land in Canada. The air temperature outside is -47C and we are at a height of 38,000 ft above sea level. I’m somewhere near the northeastern part of Canada. It’s all marshy below.

There, the first city, or rather town and one of the Great Lakes. No, it’s not the Great Lake; it’s just the Atlantic Ocean jutting into land to form the North Sea. No clouds again.

Had something that was supposed to be breakfast. There was hot coffee also with it na? Relief.

I’m above Chicago and it sure looks like in the movies and games. Neat little houses with backyards, pools et al.

Ahoy Chicago! TOUCHDOWN…!