Southern India - 4-5 February 2012 (1)

 Getting There

What do an ironing board and a large flat-screen TV have in common?  These were some of the incongruous items in the queue for the check-in for the flight to Mumbai.  With India’s reputation for cheap labour and cheap goods, I couldn’t imagine how it would be cheaper to buy such things in the UK and then incur huge excess baggage charges.  Especially the TV which, if baggage handling lived up to its reputation, may well be broken by the time it reached India.  But I could be quite wrong.

As the queue snaked round, I spotted an “Explore” tag on another bag.  It belonged to Chris, who said she was on my tour and pointed to Diane and Guilland right behind her.  Once we were “air side”, I met up with Diane and Guilland again and we went for something to eat together, which made the wait so much more pleasant.

When the gate was called, I went the wrong way and had to retrace my steps.  Walking past some windows, I noticed that the promised snow had begun to fall – but it was only a slight sprinkling, so I wasn’t concerned.

I was one of the last people to board the plane and found myself between Diane and Pat, who was also on our tour.  Across the aisle to the right, there were other people who I would also get to know well.

The snow was now falling heavily and the plane showed no sign of taxiing despite it being well past take off time.  Then came the first announcement: “There is a medical emergency in the air and Heathrow is the only airport open.  No other planes can take off or land until the medical emergency is on the ground.”

So we waited and we waited.  Someone across the aisle told everyone within earshot that the plane now had to be de-iced before it could take off.  We waited and the plane was de-iced and we waited.

Another announcement: “A large backlog has arisen because of the medical emergency, so dinner will now be served.”  So, for the first time in my experience, we were served dinner on a plane whilst still stuck at the gate.  As to be expected with Jet Airways, it was a very good dinner.

Dinner was eaten and cleared away and we were getting regular updates from across the aisle, where someone was evidently talking to the cabin crew.  It was now looking uncertain as to whether we would be able to take off or not.  I tried not to think about it and concentrated on playing “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” on the aircraft games facility.  I won millions.  The plane was de-iced again, having frozen while they were waiting for the backlog to dissipate.

More than 4 hours after the plane was supposed to take off, there was another announcement: “We are going!”  Everyone clapped and cheered.

Diane and Pat both fell asleep, so I was stuck as I didn't want to wake them up.  I watched “Devil Wears Prada”, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” (I was supporting the apes, who were right to rise up given how they were being treated), and most of “Puss in Boots”, although I did fall asleep and missed some of that.