ESE medicals and my first flight-I

                    

My painting skill with MS Paint

My medical examination for ESE 2015 was at Chennai. Train tickets were not available and booking tatkal was difficult and risky. So, I had to take a flight. I was always averse to change. I needed a strong force to change myself. The fact that there were no train seats available tilted decision in favour of flight. I booked two tickets using cleartrip.com. Round trip in spice jet saved me some money. It was my cheapest option available. Preparation for flight was filled with all types of questions. What will I wear? What items are included in cabin baggage? How much early should I reach the airport? Which items are banned in airport?

            The planning started three days ago. I did extensive search on internet regarding what are procedure for flying. I found out that liquid had to be small container. It was said to prevent explosion at low pressure. So I ditched my toothpaste. I didn’t want myself to be spontaneously on fire. It was better if I didn’t brush a day or two. I was always selfish and didn’t care about others agony (i don’t even chew mouth fresheners). They said that cabin baggage was restricted to 7 kg. I took minimum clothes and required medical papers. Finally the day arrived. It was Saturday. My plane was only on 4:30 pm. I left my place at tollygunj (Kolkata) at 10 o clock. I wanted to go there sufficiently early. Around 12 o clock I reached there. I thought that it would take lot of time to clear security. I anticipated that even if I am bit early, I would pass time by staring at the aeroplanes. I saw a VMB (variable message board) outside of domestic departure showing all the plane timings. Now you might think why I wrote VMB. It only because it’s almost two years since my Mtech, and only in blogs or pass time, I could use my technical knowledge. Most of my current job work is to liaison and I am not very good at it either. I went to the spice jet counter. I was awestruck by the tidiness of the terminal. Before entering a CISF jawan checked my ID proof and my flight details.

            The terminal was clean. There was lots of glass used in the construction. Most of the inside shops were of glass and the items were displayed in see through glass. I walked the length of the terminal. The coffee shops were expensive. My inner spendthrift demon had me all agitated to buy that coffee. But my frugal upbringing and my mission ahead had me in check. It’s not every time my will power wins. And when it does, it does no mistake of being humble about it. And believe me, after medical I spent like hell.

            The thing that no one misses is the breathtaking air hostess in their impeccable dress. From far, all looks like Barbie dolls. However on closer look, I felt the excess make to be a testosterone retarder. Sometimes the lipstick looks out of place. And if you remove the whole makeup, you could feed a district full of poor people with all natural extracts used in it. And if it’s not natural, I might just use it to repaint the whole Howrah Bridge.

The indigo had blue uniform and the spice jet had the red one. I thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful sight. But after two or three hours of waiting alone, even the beautiful air hostess becomes eye sore. Any way to pass time, I decided to check out the bathroom. Taps auto detecting the hand motion to discharge water and automatic hand dryer failed to impress me. The loud noise of hand dryer was too much for me and no means I will use it again.

            I pestered around the spice jet counter to give me boarding pass. Around 1:30 pm they agreed. I went to one of the guy and gave my online ticket. He asked for an id and after that gave me red color boarding pass. I went through the security gate where again CISF jawans were stationed. After checking was over, I signed relief. I went to secure airport area. The sight there was splendid. It was akin to the time when Alice entered the wonderland. The mighty aeroplanes moving with all human engineering defying the humongous weight that tries to bring it down, to fly higher than the clouds. These gigantic machinery made my day. Finally the boarding time came. We were asked to be in a queue. They checked our tickets and let us in.

            The on board air hostess welcomed us. I was jubilant to get in aeroplane. I went in sat at the window seat allotted to me. Air hostess showed all the safety measures and like an obedient student, I watched it carefully. Even before the start of the flight, I was thinking about what will happen if plane crashes into sea. I was fantasizing about taking all the drowning people (most importantly the beautiful ones) and saving the day. In reality, I had just learned swimming .I don’t even have stamina to swim 200 m, let alone taking someone else to safety. But none the less, I am a dreamer dreaming pathetic one like these.

            Even before the climax of my dreams, the plane started moving. I was excited like an 8 year boy. I watched carefully as the aeroplane moved towards the runway. Finally it reached the runway. It stopped for some time. The engines were in full throttle. The sound was audible even inside the plane. And then it just cut loose off all the bounds and started its run. After few seconds, it lost touch of the ground. I could still feel the jittery feeling in my feet. And in no time it just soared so high that Kolkata airport was no more than a jigsaw puzzle. From above nothing really matters anymore. All land, golf course water bodies were likes pieces of puzzle fitted together by a huge hand. And in a minute, we were above the clouds. Above the cloud was something like scene from the old Mahabharata movie. In childhood I always remembered the potion when Brahma with his three heads sat on his palace. The palace was all smoky. Now I knew where the idea of smoky palace came from. Those directors had traveled in aeroplanes in those days and were amazed when they too got above clouds.  They might have thought that nothing was more majestic and heavenly than the view from above clouds. This was my theory regarding why old mythical serials have Devas and Devi in the smoky palace. After two and half hours, we finally arrived at the destination. Chennai here I come. The landing was much more interesting than the takeoff. When plane landed, I could feel a lump in my throat. Partly it was due to the plane’s deceleration. And mainly it was because this journey has come to an end. I needed more courage to carry on forward. 

(If you still feel like reading after going through this painfully ” long article” and not becoming a myopic, read part II. Else take rest and be sure to come back and read part II, where I will discuss about my medical experience)