A precarious moment

Being a former consultant, airplanes and airports are like second homes for me. The spate of accidents in the middle of this year and several horror stories told by friends barely affected me. Today, I had my first airplane horror story. 

Landing in Delhi in the middle of the winter is an uncertain situation. The fog ensures that flight schedules are completely up in the air. It was thus no surprise that my flight was 2.25 hours delayed. The flight finally took off at 11 PM from Bangalore and was scheduled to land in Delhi around 1 30 am. After reading and sleeping through the journey, the pilot finally made the 'prepare for landing announcement'. I looked outside the window and Delhi looked like a volcano ready to explode. There was a thick layer of foggy clouds that seemed red with rage (the light of the city trying to find a way out). I thought to myself what a dramatic scene it looked like. The cabin crew was seated and we made our way down. First we entered the fog and I could not see even the wing that was barely a few metres from me. Then gradually the city started appearing. And then, suddenly, the pilot aborted the landing attempt and made a rapid ascent back. In barely a minute or two, we were back at normal flying height. I still don't know why the pilot needed to do that, but it was one of the scariest moments of my life. Then we howevered in the air for about 10 minutes before making another attempt. This time, the fog seemed even thicker. As we descended, I was thinking what it would be like to die. I was planning my last thoughts. Thankfully, the runway appeared and we made a rather non-eventful landing. 

In those tense moments, I went back to what Aparna told me - about how such an incident a few years back had made her scared to fly. I can understand why. It isn't a pleasant experience, to put it mildly. Fear, I suppose, is the most innate of our emotions and I felt it quite intensely today. I also started thinking about how irrelevant all other emotions/troubles felt at that moment. But such thoughts are futile and irrelevant. 

Now I am back in the foggy soup that is Delhi, and can't wait and continue my love affair with the city, write a few new chapters maybe.