Thoughts on flying, at 6 am
This post was written today morning when flying from Mumbai to Bhopal on a 5.30 am flight.
I'm flying on a bed of clouds.
The clouds are just endless in the monsoon. At some places, they look like mattresses. I see it and I just want to jump off. At others, they're wispier. Like the cotton they use to dress wounds. At some places, you can see gaps - and through the gaps, more clouds underneath.
There are moments when the fog obstructs the view and plays tricks on your mind. At night, the shifting fog on Mumbai's cityscape made it look like lights getting switched on whenever it moved. Now, at dawn, the fog is moving at an alarming speed and that's when I realize how fast an aircraft is.
I have no idea what's on the ground. Rivers, valleys, ravines - can't tell at all. We're too high up and there are too many clouds. We kept shifting between layers of clouds. Floor 1, floor 2, floor 3 - how many floors of clouds are there? At times, between floors, you aren't traveling above clouds but through them. There is white everywhere (if I had to put a movie name for this, it would be Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). It is like a geography lesson in motion - cumulus clouds, cirrus clouds, rain clouds.
I think maybe flying itself is like a live physics lesson - what better way to be stunned by aerodynamics than during the moment of takeoff? The plane taxis on the runway until you get impatient, and then suddenly there is that thrilling increase in speed and before you know it, the city is turning into a mass of twinkling lights. Us lucky Mumbaikars, we can see the sea too. At night it looks dark, calm and dangerous.
The night is fast turning to morning above the clouds. Dark blue is becoming lighter. The moisture in the air is adding texture to the colors - there is a bit of green in the sky as well. It reminds me of the color of water.
Suddenly, the aircraft turns. And it is the exact moment of sunrise. Will there ever be anything like watching the sun rise from above clouds? At this moment, I'm sure there's nothing as beautiful.
The aircraft has made a full turn and now we're facing east. I can no longer see the sun.
Perhaps these moments of beauty are all the more spectacular because they're short-lived...
I'm flying on a bed of clouds.
There are moments when the fog obstructs the view and plays tricks on your mind. At night, the shifting fog on Mumbai's cityscape made it look like lights getting switched on whenever it moved. Now, at dawn, the fog is moving at an alarming speed and that's when I realize how fast an aircraft is.
I have no idea what's on the ground. Rivers, valleys, ravines - can't tell at all. We're too high up and there are too many clouds. We kept shifting between layers of clouds. Floor 1, floor 2, floor 3 - how many floors of clouds are there? At times, between floors, you aren't traveling above clouds but through them. There is white everywhere (if I had to put a movie name for this, it would be Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). It is like a geography lesson in motion - cumulus clouds, cirrus clouds, rain clouds.
I think maybe flying itself is like a live physics lesson - what better way to be stunned by aerodynamics than during the moment of takeoff? The plane taxis on the runway until you get impatient, and then suddenly there is that thrilling increase in speed and before you know it, the city is turning into a mass of twinkling lights. Us lucky Mumbaikars, we can see the sea too. At night it looks dark, calm and dangerous.
The night is fast turning to morning above the clouds. Dark blue is becoming lighter. The moisture in the air is adding texture to the colors - there is a bit of green in the sky as well. It reminds me of the color of water.
Suddenly, the aircraft turns. And it is the exact moment of sunrise. Will there ever be anything like watching the sun rise from above clouds? At this moment, I'm sure there's nothing as beautiful.
The aircraft has made a full turn and now we're facing east. I can no longer see the sun.
Perhaps these moments of beauty are all the more spectacular because they're short-lived...
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