We have a terrorist on board, Ma'm !

I almost feel like a member of the search team for the lost / yet unidentified Malaysian Airlines MH370 air plane owing to the number of hours I spend researching and breaking my head about what could have possibly happened onboard. Yes, I get up in the middle of the night and hit the online search, just in case it was found when I was sleeping, maybe someone did spot it , maybe the plane sent some pings, maybe a passenger called back home , maybe ,maybe maybe!  And maybe, because I have an associated anxiety with flying, since early this year and it keeps reminding me of the "what-if?”, “Could that?” or “Would that?”

I have travelled to US, Europe and the Mediterranean and I consider myself quite the informed and planned traveler  –I keep track of the time zones, study the maps of the airports I am visiting, calculate my transit and security times, and back up movies ,books and enjoy my travels thoroughly. But this January, I got a real bitter taste of air travel.

Scheduled on a Goa- Bangalore at 04:00 am, I had a connecting Bangalore -Delhi flight at 08:20 am with two different carriers, because the first flight was just an hour long so I had ample time to switch. I know you already are visualizing me missing the flight, but hold on! This isn’t the sensational piece.  Yes, I did miss my first flight .No, I was not all “Goa –brained”, not even tipsy, was not headed straight from Anjuna beach (pun intended), not even lost shopping at the airport (for God’s sake, check the plight of the Goa Airport, before you hold me guilty for this one).

The flight was reported late by an hour because of operational reasons (as claimed by the airlines).Anyways, after boarding I was happy to rest my back and get some sleep (yeah ,cos  Goa makes you utterly relaxingly tired).I woke up 15 minutes later amid chaos, the security men all hurling up and down the aircraft. I glanced at one of ‘em from the nook of my hoodie and asked “What happened?”, “why aren’t we flying yet?”I froze at his answer. “There were possible terrorists on board!” he replied.
 I started to visualize the plane being hijacked or some of us being shown on television with a black cover and latest machine guns aimed at our head, or may be, they were going to kill us there and then.
 I wanted to run! But I could not even get up. I wanted to shout! But my vocal chords weren’t supporting me.

The airlines had received information of a possible attack and turns out, on this flight, a bunch of passengers in the last row, started chanting religious quotes in a very loud fashion and were acting suspicious. One of them, tried to hide under the seat and another snuggled his bag and would not let anyone touch it. Some of their friends were in the row ahead of where I was seated and they started to harass the crew too. They were shouting “the world shall see” .I was shit scared! My mind was numb.Ofcourse I was going to miss my connecting flight, but only if I reach there; safe that is.

The entire aircraft was filled with security and there were talks to call the commandos. What the heck! A few hours earlier, I was dreaming about reaching Delhi and having a scrumptious breakfast by my mom…but here I was amidst..possible terrorists, hanging on to dear life. The officials successfully off boarded the trouble makers and there after we took off, 2.5 hours later than scheduled.
It struck me only then, that I was certainly going to miss my connecting flight and I enquired the crew for assistance. They promised the passengers with connecting flights to be escorted at security and that the connecting carriers have been informed and that they would make alternative arrangements. Of course, they did not offer any help once we were there and at no one’s mercy. I bought a fresh ticket to New Delhi at a monstrous cost, but I was determined to have my money back because if it wasn’t their fault, it wasn’t mine either.

 What followed next was a 2 week email war with the airlines’ officials and me bombing their social media interfaces to get my fair deal and also apprise future passengers of the poor client relationship. Nevertheless, Thankfully I got my money back and an apology from the airlines. I still get up in the middle of the night, thinking what could have happened, if they were terrorists for real, maybe they were. Who knows? All scenarios of what could have happened flood my mind. May be that would have been my last holiday for life, or maybe they were regular people who were a little high in Goa, I don’t know. No one knows.

And here we have, families of the ill fated Mh370 passengers, waiting for some news, may be dim hopes in their hearts to see their loved ones again. May be a closure. Who knows? No one does.