No, this is not a review of Erica Jong's book Fear of Flying which I used to surreptitiously read under the cover of thick blankets . I shall leave it up to interested readers to find out what her version was about. What I can tell you though is that it didn't have much to do with aviation.
I have always had more than a passing interest in the field of aviation ever since I was a young kid just like a million other kids did so it doesn't mean I'm a special snowflake but lets just say that my interest in planes was more than just pointing at helicopters and Vayudoot planes flying above Aizawl and shouting to the pilot to "get me something!" (He never did, that scumbag pilot!) . I can identify many planes just by their shape and cockpit window type or whether their nose is pointy or curved.
My father who is from Bombay used to occasionally send me postcards of Air-India planes when he was away on higher studies and these postcards were my first introduction into the wonderful world of flying. My favourite sections of travel book for kids used to be the ones on planes and I used to painstakingly trace out each plane in my drawing book and invent weird sounding airline names for the planes that I had conjured up on paper. Maybe I am a special snowflake after all!
I recall my first plane journey was from Silchar to Calcutta in the late 80s but all I remember is that there was this huge cow right outside the airport building door with a huge pile of cow dung next to it. I haven't been to Silchar airport since then but something tells me that things might not be that different. Apologies to my readership base from Silchar.
The best plane ride I've ever had was a few months ago when I flew in from Guwahati to Aizawl on an ATR72 Jet Airways flight, although there were a few nervy moments when I was certain that the pilot was gonna slam us straight into the nice little green mountain just beyond Lengpui Airport at Aizawl. Didn't happen and when I stepped back on Mizoram soil after a gap of 2 years I almost kissed the tarmac like one of the Popes used to do whenever he landed in Rome but I didn't ; anyway there was a lot of kissing later which I shall thoroughly cover in a new post.
I don't really have a fear of flying, I in fact quite enjoy the whole procedure of flying which I shall now here suddenly present in bullet format:
- ogling stewardesses
- getting in on the plane
- ogling stewardesses while they do their "in case of any emergency" skit
- holding on the the seat tightly when the plane takes off and saying a prayer
- look at clouds
- pee
- look at clouds
- glance at watch (Holy shit I can't believe its been only 12 minutes although it feels like we took off ages ago)
- get off plane with only hand baggage and sneer at passengers who have to wait at the carousel
To conclude here's a nice picture of an Air India Boeing 777 plane which has been given the name "Mizoram" . (source:flickr) These planes only fly the international routes so fat chance of getting to ride this one in person.
