It has been a while since I tried writing on this blog. Not that I didn't want to. But things got on the way. Always. Anyway now sitting inside an Air India plane I finally got the push to start composing something.
It is a three-month stay in Germany that I
am returning from. A life changing one in some ways, but that is for
sure another post. The three months in Germany, sponsored by the
Alexander von Humboldt foundation found me booking tickets to and from
Frankfurt, simply because I considered it easier to enter Germany from
Frankfurt, being a little scared of the Immigration Officers at Munich.
Anyway,
since I found myself spending the last week of my visit in Munich, I
did take a train from Munich to Frankfurt Flughafen, attempting to leave
Munich around noon to catch the overnight flight to New Delhi leaving
Frankfurt Airport at 21:15. And that is when the problems started.
Carrying
a food packet in my hand on the way to the Munich Hbf from LMU (instead
of getting a sandwich at the Hbf) was really the least of the problems.
In fact, with the confusion that presented itself at the Hbf, I may not
have bought any food. The platform from where the train was supposed to
be leaving was cordoned off, and a policeman was accompanying a woman
who looked distraught.
The app was already
saying that the scheduled train was delayed by 1 hour, and given the
state that the Deutsche Bahn can get into, it was a state of panic for
me to be honest. Should I wait and take the scheduled train or take a
replacement which involved changing at Mannheim? The suggestion from a
DB personnel that I can take another train definitely proved to be the
impetus to take the step of looking for a replacement train.
That
did turn out to be the best decision, and with a judicious choice of an
unreserved seat, I did manage to reach Mannheim on time. The connection
from Mannheim to Frankfurt was delayed by about 30 mins, but this is
really nothing.
The significant thing that
you should know is the presence of extremely virulent thunderstorm that
we encountered between Augsburg and Ulm, going eastwards to Munich and
causing havoc for dinner and evening plans for some friends still
there. While the weather was extremely warm when I reached
Frankfurt, another virulent thunderstorm started. Coincidence? Not
really. I think this is climate change manifesting itself, via
fluctuations before degenerating into a runaway behaviour, which I hope
we don't see in our lifetime.
Anyway, so we
sit down in the Air India flight and the first ominous announcement
comes, but still very benign. Due to the thunderstorm they were forced
to stop the airport services, and thus the luggage loading would take
more time. And yes, having a window seat next to the wings, I see the
luggage being loaded. Anyway. Some news items I had read of inordinate
delays in the Air India flight come to mind. Besides Indians, there are a
lot of Germans travelling on this flight too. A German woman in the
seat in front of me is going to Pune because her daughter has had a baby
two weeks before. Everyone is eager to set off, and impatiently wait
for the flight to depart.
From now on things
have only started going downhill. The pilot announced that the Air
Traffic control gave it a 45-min further delay because of the pending
traffic. This was at 22, almost 45 mins after the scheduled departure.
Whatever you think you have endured, an unexpected 45-min wait in a
closed cabin is not something easy. The air-condition is not enough, so
it starts feeling warm. With so many people, all sweating and nervous,
it becomes getting even more nauseating. The entertainment is not
working, there are no charging USB points so not everyone can use their
cellphones. The air hostesses who were being so chatty while the luggage
was being loaded have all suddenly disappeared. The lights go dim.
People fidget. Worries of catching the connecting flight at Delhi plague
thoughts.
Not sure if it is something you
have experienced. Yes flights have been delayed in my own travel
history, but almost in all cases I was out of the flight and not in.
This was a first for me.
The disappearance of
the air hostesses were more worrisome for me. It was a foreboding of
what would be coming, I thought. Then the next news thunder: there has
been a further pushback of the pushback time. Some people said it was
set at midnight.
By this time, loads of
people were already starting to walk around and form groups and talk in
clusters. The air hostesses had appeared carrying waters and sometime
food. They turned down the lights in order to increase the AC. However,
the heat was still getting more and more oppressive. I began to sense
that the air hostesses trying to become more helpful. An air hostess was
overheard saying that they could not allow us to go out in case it took
even longer to pack everything in when we got the green light.
Another
scary word-of-mouth news started to circulate. Frankfurt Airport ceased
its operations between 11pm and 5am and that we might stay here on the
tarmac until the next day. Phew, what a thought. As if to compensate the
worries, the doors of the aircraft were opened and fresh air came in for
the first time, and some neurons were for sure happy to send some good
signals to the brain rather than bad ones. This however did nothing to
assuage my own deliberations. Not really negative, but not positive
either. To be honest I am not even sure why I didn't panic more than I
would normally have.
More clusters of people
formed, especially close to the doors. Not unsurprisingly the air
hostesses became the centre of attention. After all, they were trying to
help, and also any possible news about the future of the flight could
possibly come from them. The lady in front of my seat was already
fretting if she would get the connecting flight or not. She had stuck up
a conversation, already some time back with a much younger Indian man,
who was enthusiastic enough to explain to her that she had become a
Nani, as she would be called in Hindi. The man was trying to assure her
that she would make it, and if she needed another flight, the Airlines
should do that. I also found myself hoping for the man's words to come
true. What was interesting was that all the time, the conversation began
with her worrying what would happen in Delhi, and ended with her saying
that she will somehow make it.
Meanwhile,
another announcement came through. Frankfurt Airport closed its
operations after 23, the Pilot announced, but he was able to take a very
special decision for us to pushback in 30 mins, confirming the midnight
theory. Some excitement and hope came back. By this time however, the
closest air hostess to me, who was standing by the door, and was
answering the passengers' questions of her career, had switched to the
vernacular, regaling the audience that she comes from Dumdum, and had
worked in Indigo before coming to the field of Artificial Intelligence
(yes, curious that Air India shares the same initials!). Some Khichuri
could also be obtained somewhere, and somehow the word Garia also made
it into my ear.
The finishing of the story
should be as abrupt as was the beginning long-drawn-out. Very soon
afterwards, the order of the captain came to close all doors. The flight
left and was in the air around midnight. However, it has not properly
cooled down until now, half an hour after midnight. And the
entertainment system is not working, to be expected. Still, I should be
glad that Air India could make a stand to leave tonight, while some
other flights were cancelled. As I could overhear the two people sitting
next to me discussing over a departure list, the Air Canada flights
were apparently cancelled.
By now, you must
be tired listening to the long story. Whatever it was, it was an anomaly
that pushed this post out of me. The other curious incident which I
would like to say is the event of daytime robbery at a Mini Bar at the
Frankfurt Airport. Even though I had quite some food when I got on the
train at Munich (if you still remember the mention of the falafel food
packet right at the beginning), at some point I decided that I need a
pastry or bread with some coffee. Did get a Bretzel and coffee, and
the awful bretzel cost atrociously much, 3 euros, and was
unnaturally salty, as if dipped in brine. Anyway, so there were three
Chinese people also buying some sausages and beer there, and bought
stuff worth about 20 EUR. They wanted to pay in dollars currency. The
bartender however charged them 30 dollar! I am standing by the side found
this outrageous, especially when the bartender was exploiting their lack
of fluency in English to tell them the euro is much more expensive than
the dollar. I am sure it was some service charge they were hiding, but
the bartender agreed to provide them with a receipt. Anyway, maybe I
should have spoken up, but well I am not always so confrontational. If
it were happening to me, I would definitely have protested, --- I am not
sure what image this gives of me. All the more reason to use some sort of bank card, I guess.
The last part of the
blog was written after finishing dinner. It is well past bedtime, and
though I am sleepy, I don't know how much I will be able to sleep. I
will post this when I get connection. Since a lot of this was written in real-time, I have chosen not to change the tenses when posting.
