FLYING HIGH, AND ........ On Mar 28 I was flying out of Agartala... It was almost four hours flight to reach my destination with one stop in the mid...I always disliked long flying hours..for several reasons... I tend to get hungry and I have to buy that costly Cheese Sandwich from the air hostess ..and despite my utmost try I cannot concentrate on reading the book that I would inevitably carry... even if it is a fantastic thriller....Most importantly for the reason that I find it is too difficult to accommodate my legs in the space that the plane manufacturer allowed in between two rows.....Often it gives cramps in my leg muscles....Inevitably, I would travel all through with an uneasy feeling and often gestures and awkward--well, many would find ugly, unsophisticated-- postures too... But for me it was traumatic.. This time I experienced both... So, next day while I was returning I was a bit worried... then suddenly..I remembered somewhere I read or someone told me...the seats by the side of the emergency exit in the midst... allows enough leg space... So when the smart girl asked me Any seat preference Sir... I answered with equally smart tone .. or that is what I believe I sounded, I would love to have one by Emergency Exit.... She immediately shot up her gaze on me with what I would say... a mix of bewilderment ...confusion.....or may be worry or concern....She must have expected ..an aisle or window seat... But why this man wants a specific near Emergency Exit ????? Immediately, I felt I have to clear her confusion...After all none loves to live in this terrible and terrorist infected world...and you do not mess up psychologically or otherwise with any airlines staff while flying back home ...So, I gave my best smile to the girl that I could manage through my facial foliage ... Near the Emergency Exit, you know..for leg space only She smiled too and gave a seat that near the Emergency Exit...and I was happy....congratulating me to be a smart and intelligent flier who knows how to manage things and arrange his seats to suit him best... Inside the air craft... while the plane was taxying to the flying spot...an air hostess came straight to me ....and explained in details as to what to do and what not do during an emergency since I was right by the Exit... I listened to her half attentively but tried to put up a very attentive face...Like any from Tripura who are left with no other option but to avail air travel to go out of this land locked state... we are well aware of air travel related nitty gritty ... though may be not that much with rail travel... When the plane reached at its stable flying altitude ..I heard the pilot said it would be 37,000 feet above sea level...I thought of having good sleep...It was wee hours in the morning when I reached airport and I did not sleep last night well... and everyone knows to sleep comfortably you need to have your back reclined too...So I started searching the button to recline my back seat...and catch some sleep in the 2 and half hours or more fly time ... But to my utter surprise ...there was not button to recline the seat....fact is no seat by the side of the Emergency Exit would recline... as it might restrict, effect hindrance for emergency evacuation...or exit.... Lo.... I have been flying since 1971 when I was a child of six... and I did not know that.....How come I missed it .? Is it not that I also got same seat in the past.. Of course, i must have got...But either I did not want to recline and did not give a hoot to that recline button ...or leg space... or physical comfort while flying high ....... Or is it that I am getting tired now ..I am turning to a man who is more inclined to have more leg space and recline for comfort..?? The rest of the flight up to Kolkata I traveled with my back straight like.... an Officer in front of his superior .... ...and legs stretched like ..... a Politician sitting on his sofa in front of partymen.....
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 17:15:36 +0000
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