December/2004/Shaun’s India Trip/Slow Plane To India

SLOW PLANE TO INDIA

10:00pm, we rushed through Shanghai, Pudong international airport. My brothers: Jay and Rowan were exhausted from a restless day of school. At 10:50 we reached the gate, I felt a magical glow in my eyes and was delighted we’d be in Goa at 12:00am tomorrow. The light was switched to off when my mom told me the plane boards at 12:05.

12:05 arrived, but no ones voice exclaimed from the P.A. I was so impatient, asking my mom when are we going to leave? How long will it take? At this point my two brothers lay on the hard plastic seats sleeping with discomfort. I got sick of asking questions so I fished for my book: The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke. I whipped it open and read.

I read seven chapters, and my mom left her seat and sauntered toward the desk where they ask you for tour boarding pass. I placed my book on my seat and ran after her. The lady there told us they’re still cleaning the plane. “What its 12:25 and the plane was supposed to board at 12:05″ I thought. Her radio beeped and she hauled it up to her face. ” We’re ready to board.” The lady ran over to a railing and squinted out the window. We hurried over to the seats and woke up Jay and Rowan. Then we got belongings and rushed over to the desk. She ripped the dotted lines of our boarding pass and we trudged in.

Immediately, we drooped into our seats and shut our eyes. We struggled to get into a good position but we were unsuccessful. We arrived in Bangkok at 4:00am. We were supposed to stay there for an hour so passengers could get on and off. But we were going to a further destination. An hour turned into two to three to four then the P.A boomed, ” We are experiencing some technical difficulties with the air conditioning.” 9:00am kicked in and we were still sitting on the runway! ”  Five hours!” I complained, ” Air India sucks!” The captain explained through the P.A: The problem will be fixed in no time. Just get off the plane and wait an hour. ” Yeah right!”

We stormed off the plane and waited on the waiting seats. An hour passed and we still sat in our waiting seats. Soon people started to argue, including my mom. We sat there, hyper, and played mischievously. It was 10:30am and they took us down stairs to where the gates are. We sat in a little room with desks; it was like a check-in area. The adults were arguing madly about the delay while I was reading and my brothers were fighting.

They gave us boarding passes to Kolkata. They told us it’d be easy to get to Bombay. We went to have lunch at KFC, and then we traveled back to the desk place to get the plane boarding time. 3:00pm arrived, and I had an amusing coincidence: I met my friend Justin Chen! We talked about our travels although it wasn’t very interesting.

We arrived in Kolkata; we got our bags and took our carts to the domestic side. They told us there’s no space on Indian airlines until tomorrow! We couldn’t wait that long, Kolkata is filthy and dirty. So we went to a counter and they told us we could purchase tickets for air Sahara. We did so. We went to the check-in table and a lady greeted us. She told us to wait till the desk closed. Finally it closed. We checked in and went through security and customs. Soon, we boarded the plane.

We arrived in Bombay and collected our baggage. Nathu uncle greeted us and we took off for his house. We stayed there for the night and the next day.  Mom, Sunil and Rowan left. We stayed there and were served lunch. The only way to describe is scrumptious! As nightfall came we still couldn’t get a plane so we took a luxury bus. The boarding time was 7:45pm but it came at 8:30!

Morning fell and we were in Goa! We met Meme and Grandma at the apartment and were comforted by their hugs and kisses.

Written by Shaun Majumdar on December 21, 2004