The 101st Day - Chapter 1 - The Present Day.

Its a dark gloomy room and the bed is placed right below the window covered with dark curtains. The room is painted grey which makes it real dark and says a lot about the state of mind of the owner. The clock is placed on the side table, which is about to strike 7 am. The bright sunlight could be seen behind the curtains trying to make way through and falling straight on the door mat.

One could see a young boy in his early twenties sleeping on the bed presumly the owner of the room. The frown and the sweat on his face shows that he is having a nightmare. He moves his face in distress for quite sometime. He could hear too many noises of laughter, dialogues and moans in his distraughted sleep. As the alarm rings making a loud noise, Aditya wakes up in shock with his eyes wide open. It takes him few minutes to realize that it was just a nightmare. He breathes heavily with a sigh of relief trying to be thankful of his actual existence. He keeps staring at his feet still breathing heavily, trying to recover from the nightmare. He looks around and rubs his face and quickly gets out of the bed. He walks to the bathroom hurriedly. Moments from the sound of the flush the door opens and Aditya comes out wiping his face with a towel and sits on the bed. He bends down to find his shoes below, wears them and goes out of the room.

Today is a crucial day for Aditya and he is anxiously waiting to receive someting. So far the day looks nice, sunny and colourful at the joggers park. While Aditya is jogging with his hoody on he also observes others around the park as well as on the track. Some are alone, some with their partners, some with their dogs, some are just brisk walking, while some are having their regular dose of laughter therepy. He is about to approach a sweeper on the track, sweeping with the broom with the long handle. As the broom sweeps the dust making the rough gushing noise, a sachet flies off the dust and falls right in front of him. He stops to the glitter of the sachet and takes a closer look at it. He bends down trying to be sure of what it is. On picking it up, he realizes that it is an empty sachet of a condom. He keeps staring at it as if he is getting hypnotised and gets lost into the trance which leads him to a flashback. 

              
                                                                                                                                   to be continued...
                              

The nervous flier

Calling all nervous fliers around the world. You'll are not alone.

I may have travelled to a few places and I am sure I'll continue to do so since I love travelling, but I am not very sure of how I would loose the fear of flying. One of the conversations I have with people is about flying and that is only to figure out if there are more people like me. And you know what, I am surprised, there are lot of them like me. I don't feel like Will Smith of the film 'I am Legend' anymore. I do feel good about it but that is only because now I know that I am not the only one feeling scared on a plane going through a turbulence.

People right from sweepers at the airport, the ground staff, air hostesses, flight pursers, pilots, aircraft maintenance engineers and every person related to aviation I have met has told me that there is no plane that has crashed due to turbulence.  They said that flying is the safest mode of transportation. Yet I tell them to do their work properly, I just don't wanna take any chances.

In all these years that I have travelled, I have realised that there are three types of fliers, 1. Nervous fliers 2. Brave fliers 3. Fliers who are scared but do not show.

By this time we all know who the nervous fliers are. Yes they are scared and they admit it openly. They are the ones you could see with closed eyes just a few minutes before the take off. To be precise, just when you have sat after fighting and finding a space for your so called cabin bags. Yes these are the same bags which you claim to be of 8 kg, but you know the truth and so does the ground staff at the check in counter. Its just that they don't bother. So calm down, there is nothing to feel happy about fooling someone.

The Brave fliers are the ones who give a damn while flying. They are probably into their books, magazines, news papers or films. I think they forget that they are flying and are probably 30,000 odd feet about the ground.  They are the people who do not think about the slightest possibility of the aircraft crashing. I mean that thought does not even pop into their minds. I have realised this when I talk to them and that's when they tell me "oh I have not really thought about it".  Yes I have successfully converted few brave fliers into nervous fliers. Flying may be the safest mode of travelling, but there is a possibility of the plane crashing. Yes I know that there is a threat probably more in other modes of travelling but I cannot go through the anxiety of falling down and waiting for the worse to happen. But anyways these converted brave fliers did think about the point I made about anxiety.

The third kinds are a little difficult to gauge. They don't look nervous but at the same time they don't look confident either. The truth only unfolds when the plane suddenly looses its altitude due to turbulence. That's when the fear starts creeping into their hands as they slyly start praying thinking nobody knows what they are doing. They gotta understand that no matter how the positions of their hands are, people know they are praying. But the point is why hide? Praying is good. Keep praying, it is good for other passengers as well. When the turbulence continues for longer it starts to show on their faces. They try to look around at other people only to check if others are scared too so that they are not alone with that look. The truth is I have successfully transformed into a nervous flier from this kind. Now I am not confused.

I remember a time when I was travelling from Goa to Mumbai, I saw the pilot coming out of the cockpit while I was seated in the aircraft just a few minutes before the take off. That one hour journey was the longest journey of my life. The pilot looked like a twenty year old kid with ray ban aviators. As far as I remember he was clean shaven and that was only because he still did not have any facial hair growth. Just as I was coming in terms with the fact that I'll have to leave my fate into the hands of a twenty year old, I saw the co-pilot. She was a young girl and with that sight I was already on the edge of my seat. I was feeling the turbulence but for the first time it was even before the plane could take off. I am not a male chauvinist but we all know how women drive a car and we are talking of flying an aircraft here.

There was also an instance when I was travelling from Chennai to Mumbai, I saw the pilot of my flight holding his kid. His wife was also accompanying him. I knew this was going to be the safest or I would rather say the most peaceful flight of my life. I was confident that no matter what this pilot is going to land the plane safely. That was the only flight of my life I wasn't nervous at all. I am glad that at least once I could enjoy flying and notice the beautiful bed of clouds from my window.

The point is after travelling few times, getting some miles on my miles and more account and also using the same miles to fly again, I still haven't gotten over the fear of flying. But I think I have found a solution. Solution in literal sense, its called whiskey. Its not 100% effective, no I don't doubt the capability of whiskey. The effectiveness changes with the class I am booked in. When I travel business class, the effectiveness is at its peak because I have the liberty to ask for more alcohol without any hesitance and the crew gets it with a smile. When I travel in economy class the effectiveness tends to decrease because I can't ask for more. I mean I can, but the way they get it, it looks like they are doing more of a favour to me as they have already categorised me under 'the economy passenger'. We all know the economy passenger drinks because its free and he wants to make every penny he spent on the ticket count. Therefore out of embarrassment I have to do with only two drinks which is less for my brain to surrender in any unfortunate incident.

I do follow air crash investigation and I have watched almost all the episodes. Sometimes I try to find new episodes and often get disappointed for not finding any. On a serious note, I really hope I do not find any new episodes. I have met people who follow this series and I have ended up discussing the technical failures the aircrafts faced due to which they crashed. In such unforeseen circumstances, no, I am not talking about the crash that happened in reality. I am talking about meeting someone who follow air crash investigation. So, in such unforeseen circumstances, all the others with us are either lost or bored or converted into nervous fliers.

I think I watch air crash investigation to understand why the planes crashed. I know we all watch it for the same reason and I am sure that the series is also shot for the same reasons, please don't think I am stupid. I mean to say that if I understand it, I may be of some help when the plane I am travelling in is actually crashing. I really hope I never have to use the theoretical knowledge I have sought through this series. Not because I do not hope to be in a crashing plane, I mean, yes, thats one of the reasons but I am also sure  that I wouldn't be able to use my knowledge practically when I am drunk. As if the crew will really come looking for me.

OK! To end this with a thought, I often think how would it be if the in flight entertainment system had episodes of air crash investigation? I really really wonder.