Flightless bird

Takeoff 8 pm. Land 2 am!

In one of our routine across the country romps, we managed to take off from Bombay at 8:10 pm, feeling all warm and fuzzy about returning to the centre of our universe, otherwise known as Bangalore.

Rain and thunderstorms while making the view from the plane exciting, turned an otherwise dull day into an awful one. First, incessant rain ensured we burnt fuel hovering around the city. Then, expectedly we ran out of fuel for any more hovering. So the pilot informed us that the weather in Madras is better and we would land there!

So we end up in an unused portion of Madras airport. We refuel, but can’t get clearance for takeoff due to congestion in Bangalore! Then, one passenger gets sick. Some foreign tourists want to get off the plane as they can’t take the heat anymore. There is a general unhealthy buzz about the plane and the collective frustration of some hundred sulking people! To add to the merriment, the pilot informed us that there were no step ladders outside and hence we could not step out.

We got some Cookieman cookies to eat, courtesy Jet and then drank 3 bottles of
lemonade. Add to it some 6 bottles of water and we want Loo Bega!
Eventually we do get to Bangalore in the wee hours of the morning. Auto driver wants extra cash. We give him solemn advice. Poor guy’s meter let him down 

We had fun talking to some passengers while walking around the closed plane about what would have been if we had had to hover around Chennai as well!