It suddenly sunk and I woke up from a brief nap. It took me a couple of really long seconds to figure out what really was going on.

My flight seemed to have decided to drop itself down into the air and have a free fall. The food in my stomach seemed to have vanished. Death seemed to wave a hello through the plane aircraft window. I felt I did not really want to die so soon, for I had so many unfinished jobs to accomplish back home. So many more travels to take and I just did not want life to put an abrupt full stop to whatever was going on. I wanted to set so many things right. Apologise so many people, love the dear ones all the more, and convey my feelings. But another abrupt dip shook me back to reality.

I recalled how the previous day had begun. I travelled for many hours in Himachal to reach a destination which drenched my suitcase and the clothes inside. Reaching at Narkanda, all I wished to happen was to have my suitcase miraculously dry out and the clothes inside. Hairdryer did come handy but definitely was insufficient. After gorging on some delicious food, I retired for my room and put every piece of cloth on display so it may dry out by morning. The journey which was to start at 5AM the following day with all the pruor packing and charging of phones and power bank, I decided to wake up 2 hours in advance so that I have sufficient time to set everything in place.

It all began when I woke up at 3:00AM with an unexpected power cut; while the previous night the owner boasted of uninterrupted power supply in their town! I kept my mobile torch on, and began packing my suitcase which thankfully was rather damp if not completely dry. I tucked everything in and kept staring at the wall. I could already see how I would be falling short of phone charge in my travel ahead. To make matters worse, I had also managed to take along the slowest phone chargers I had back home. Needless to say, my power-bank was not completely charged. As planned, we started for Chandigarh at 5:00AM sharp. I was glad I could get ample time at the airport to fill up my batteries as well as my gadgets’. Little did I know, these 2 days were going to be some of the the longest days in my life.

On our way, we managed to find the best ever place to stuff our mouths with tandoor hot paneer paranthas and extremely tantalizing pickle. To fill up the remaining space in our already stretched stomachs we guzzled down some ginger tea. The rains that we had encountered were a perfect season to have such steaming hot breakfast. Had I known before that this meal could have been the last one of my life, I’d have enjoyed it a little more than what I already was.

The rest of the journey started, when I could sense that the driver had a tiff with one of my co-passenger and he tried running into the vehicles that were coming from the front side. My heart stopped twice when he did that, but my mind kept telling it to continue breathing as we hadn’t met with an accident, as yet. Somehow I forced myself to sleep, hoping I don’t wake up in hell but in heaven. The ride went rather smooth after that, as I directly woke up at Chandigarh airport. Out of 6 only two of us were travelling from Chandigarh and hence the other were dropped off before.

At the airport, my wait began. We reached at 11:30AM and my co-passenger’s flight was at 2:00PM. She soon checked in and boarded, but my airline refused to check me in as I had reached more than 3-4 hours prior to my flight’s departure. I had to wait until 7.30PM for my flight to take off, and till 3.00PM to be able to pass through security. Meanwhile I managed to find a charging point that was closest to the bench and put my power-bank for charging. The mobile battery was anyway depleting at a very high speed and I cursed myself for using the same ‘smart’ phone for more than two years. I had some futile efforts at catching up on sleep and soon it was time when I could finally check in!

Once I passed through security I felt rather bored of waiting and continued texting my family and a couple of friends. Had I knows how precious every single percentage of battery would be, I’d never help deplete the already depleting battery charge. Some oily and rather bland samosa served themselves as lunch and I continued my endless wait. Soon it was time to board and I felt nervous for some strange reason. I continued charging my phone at whichever charging point and for whatever little duration I could get. The power bank was less than half charged and so was my phone. I made a final call to my mother before switching off the phone while stepping in the tiny flight that I was getting on.

I had an American man sit besides me in the flight which was roughly for 45 minutes long, and would land in Delhi. I was hopeful to get ample time at the international airport to indulge myself in shopping, or some good food. The connecting flight that would fly back to Pune was at 3:15AM, and I was sure I wouldn’t sleep.

Another jolt in the flight brought be back to reality and I hoped I would’ve never got onto that wicked flight. The air hostesses hastily fastened their seatbelts and I could feel myself profusely perspiring from every possible inch on my body. I could barely feel any energy in my legs and my hands and arms were turning pale and cold. I could feel death creeping in slowly, making each organ after another put to sleep. My face must’ve turned white with fear when I could faintly hear the man next to me telling me to relax. I felt like shouting back at him that I was going absolutely bonkers and probably wasn’t ready to die as yet.

The American man told me to get a grip of the hand rest and breathe deep. I wondered if he was used to deadly rides as I couldn’t exactly comprehend his cool and composed behaviour. A briefly passing by thought was if we all were already floating in heaven and I was the only one unaware of my surroundings. I looked outside the window and my eyes were blinded by a sudden thunder in the dense black clouds. My watch seemed to drag its second hand one hour at a time, I felt like pushing it hard and hoping it all would end up soon. Or maybe I could just wake up from this nightmare into my own bed at home. I wanted to apologise my parents for all the times I was rude to them and back answered them. My brother for not being the most ideal sister he could’ve had. My friends whom I was leaving midway in life. Another regret was to die single. Emotions came gushing but I was unable to shed even a single tear.

Another sudden dip made me feel I was paralysed below my waist. My body was no more sweating and the only thing that filled up my hears mind soul was Mahamrintyunjaya Mantra. It had become my habit to cool down tension and fear of accident of death. But this shaking of flight was surpassing everything that I might have ever imagined for myself. I finally considered switching on my mobile to say a final goodbye to my parents.