My fascination with airplanes and the ramblings that resulted from it...

The "journey" home from office is quite tiring and boring. Journey, because it takes an hour and a better part of another to cover just over 20 kilometers. Thank you, peak hour traffic. The office bus is full of sleeping zombies, and yes, I am one of them. The phone buzzed (of brrrrred or whatever) in my pocket and I picked up the call. After some snide remarks about some other people, I was about to settle down for another half an hour of sleep, when I saw it. The road passes near the airport and this plane was swooping right over our bus, making its approach to the runway. The flying behemoth was a sight to behold, and I gaped at it, like small kids who gawk at planes. It was with difficulty that I resisted the urge to shout and wave at it. My "seatmate" was watching me strangely. Well, hehehe...

I have been convinced (well almost, maybe for the lack of better sights?) that this must be the most wonderful sight in the world ever since the first time I set sight on an aircraft. We used to live quite near an air-base and could comfortably watch the fighter crafts doing their exhibition flights. Those amazing things, heavier than air...hmmm..
And when my grandpa brought me a helicopter that could fly (well almost..You had to wind it in a certain way and launch it from a launchpad, it'd rise into the air and land smooth), it provided a lot of fun, flying my chopper from our first floor apartment. Bernoulli did spoil a lot of fun and wonder with his principles, but flying Machines nevertheless amazes me.

That wonderful roar when it takes off, the high pitched noise of the engines. These tiny men controlling the gigantic aluminium beast. The umpteen people delegated to handle it, tame it. WOW! (The beautiful air hostesses are a definite thing to long at, but ahem, we're talking about the plane,dear).

Later, when I outgrew the wonder a bit (or rather managed not to salivate open mouthedly when I saw one; and no, I still am talking about the plane and not the damsels in them), and after I travelled a bit in planes I wanted to know all about its internals. First I developed an awe for the pilots who fly these mammoths, but was soon replaced with an admiration for aerospace engineers. Pilots are just mahouts who guide the elephant; Engineers are the gods who created it. WOW again. (WOW again because no other exclamation can express it better.)

The flight made a graceful descent and a perfect landing. I could see the edge of its tail from the road. Slowly banking onto position. The giant, The beast. The awesomest wonder of them all.

WOW!!