(H)air India

i am proud and pleased to say that i have arrived safe and sound at the dark continent.. it is indeed a feat considering i came by air india... my flight from hyd which was to start at 3:00 am (wat kinda crazy airline schedules flights at these unearthly hours!) was delayed by an hour for no apparent reason. i sat bleary eyed with a coffee (that made my wallet a whole lot lighter) and kept scanning the airport for some pleasant sight.. no weak pun intended.. there were a few ppl leaving to the US for their masters.. all of them already developing an accent.. apart from that there werent many interesting ppl. one more coffee and a few phone calls (that resulted in a lotta bird words) later a fat guy with a burger in his hand called out my flight number and asked the ppl going by that flight to pls be a bit more patient cos the flight was delayed further.. this time for 'technical reasons'.. like that made it easier for us to wait... now a lotta ppl there dint know english and when he called out their flights number, they started forming a huge queue.. the poor fat guy had to abandon his burger (which i eyed wistfully) and go tell each person in his or her native language that the flight was not scheduled to leave until later...the boarding call finally came at 4 15 in the morning.. and i entered the flight.. now the reader has to bear in mind that the author hasnt slept for a long long time and wat he is about to enter is going to be his home for the next half a day, and shud therefore forgive him for his sarcasm and irritation.. from the inside, the flight looked a little smaller than a coimbatore corporation bus.. i was ushered in by wat i could only assume was the sweeper.. fortunately for me i had a window seat and my adjacent seat was unoccupied (not so lucky some of u mite say.. but believe me after waiting so long for a flight without sleep, staring at burgers and then later discovering that air india chose wat was probly the oldest aircraft to carry u across the arabian sea, a good looking girl next to u is the last thing u'd want in life..) i sat wondering if this rusty old piece of junk could fly.. i dont remember the next few moments.. the next thing i remember is being woken up by the sweeper woman.. who, as u ob. guessed turned out to be the airhostess... now at the inception of this organization/company called air india, they hired a lot of beautiful ypung airhostess, had a good fleet of air crafts and gave good service.. apart from the service, nothing else has changed.. the airhostesses and the flights continue to be the same.. this sweeper woman gave me wat i can only assume was a smile.. it revealed wrinkles that looked not unlike the view of the grand canyon from google earth.. she wanted to tel me that the aircraft hadnt taken off yet and asked me if i wanted something to eat or drink.. i dared to ask her if i could have a coke to which she said "NO!" with a note of finality that tempted me to cower under the sheet even more.. it turned out that she dint have coke and it was only that and not her desire to prevent me from having it, that she'd said "NO!"i dont know when the flight took off.. i dont remember eating anything.. i remember waking up a few times wondering wat my mom'd have made for me when i got home.. on one of these moments of conciousness i remember the pilot apologizing for the delay as if he did it everyday.. his voice had no hint of apology and in that confused psychadelic state of mind i deemed it necessary to forgive him.. dont ask me why.. i dont know..i woke up hours later and started reading some book i'd taken. the pilot announced us to look to our right and i looked out of the window at a sight that is hard to forget for the reminder of my life.. i saw a sea of clouds like cotton wads floating below us and from the centre of the clouds, in all its divine majesty and grace, rose Mt Kilimanjaro, the angle of the sun making the snow look golden...it made me think how small the problems in life were.. i was complaining about how stupid the airline was and how much i had to undergo when there was this sight so majestic, so powerful, so amazing waiting for me.. the snow capped mountain is one of africa's many majestic sights and not everybody gets to see it from the flight.. so thats one thing i am thankful to air india for.. the flight landed in nairobi for refueling and i stared out of the window at the flat topped trees that are so typical of africa, and at the grasslands that are on either side of the runway.. those grasslands (thanks to national geographic) make u imagine that there are lions and cheetas behind them.. and when u think u see the grass moving, ur heart does miss a beat..the rest of the journey went without much ado.. i discovered to my delight that mom had made pappu mammam and vetha kozhambu... ate to my hearts content and slept.. went for a walk down the beach in the nite and sat there wondering at how big and bright the stars appear from here.. i learnt later that it is because of the lack of pollution.. and they call this place the 'dark' continent!anyways.. sticking to my main idea of the post, air india is desperately in need of a make over and i request the concerned authorities to.. wait a sec.. why am i writing like am addressing the editor of some newspaper.. ! i better go grab some shut eye.. i still havent gotten over the jetlag (always wanted to say this... :)