Saturday, 4 January 2020

Gurdaspur to the Moon via Jet Airways…!!!

Gurdaspur to the Moon via Jet Airways…!!!

Two Characters : Deepak and Mantu
Storyteller : Deepak


It was the night of 18th May, 2019. It was a normal Saturday night for all. But I would never forget that night. I was wandering on the streets of this small peaceful town Gurdaspur with my school friend Mantu. I had a full sync with this guy as we both wanted freedom from this social web of society. Both of us were caught in a cob-web though we had dreams, big dreams which were caught underneath the social pressure. Also, we firmly believed that while staying in this small town, our dreams would never be fulfilled. So there was only one way according to us to get away from that and we found it in flying away from this world to a new world where there was no society at all or if there was, then it didn't follow the rules of the earth. This may sound weird to some people, and at the same time, some people may relate to it. 


                    It was our weekend routine to wander around in the town during evening times. We used to visit Fish Park (the only park in the city but with no Fish inside), then the ever busy Hanuman Chowk area which recently emerged as the Eating Street of this small town, and gave our excited taste buds a respite by eating different fast foods there. Then we used to discuss what's happening in the world (science was our favorite topic), how we could improve the system (dissatisfied youth), and then moved back home with a hope to get rid of that monotonous life someday.

Main Gate of Fish Park



Hanuman Chowk sreet



Enjoying fast food at busy Hanuman Chowk

                     On that very night of 18th May, we both were wandering as usual on the streets of this town on our Motorbike at around 8.00 pm. Then suddenly, Mantu took a right turn from Hanuman Chowk and everything turned black. We thought perhaps the lighting of the whole town has been put off due to a technical glitch. Though, we were used to power cuts as this happened frequently, but this was something unusual. Never happened like that before. Never felt like that before. We both started shivering. It appeared as if Britishers has put us in a black water prison with no sign of any light around. We both stood still, blank. Indeed, everything has come to a halt. It was pin drop silence.


Right turn from Hanuman Chowk area

                      Then suddenly we saw a small beam of light coming a few metres away from us. Fearing a little bit, we started moving towards that. Reaching near that point, I noticed that the light was coming from behind a door. Mantu told me that Deepak you should open the door. We thought we had perhaps entered an empty dark house somehow and it was the only way out. I gathered courage and bang open the door.        


                               Booo….


But to our surprise, we had just entered an air-plane… !!! 


We were greeted by an air hostess and she told us to take our seats and fasten the belts as the flight was ready to take off. This time we both pinched ourselves and it hurt a little. Certainly, it was not a dream. All real. We tried to run away through the door but it was tightly closed. We told the air hostess that we had not booked any flight. But she kept us telling the same thing again, as if she was a robot programmed to repeat the same words. The plane had only 3 more passengers sitting on different seats and they were unknown faces. Unwillingly, we both sat down on the plane seats. And the flight started to take-off.


A lot of questions were going on in our mind... 


From where the hell does this flight came in the middle of the town having no airport ???


What happened to all city residents ???


Where was my favourite Hanuman Chowk street ???


And the most important question of them all :


Were we alive as it was not a dream for sure ???


We were going to get answers to all our questions very soon.


I never got a chance to travel in an air-plane till now in life. When the flight took-off, me and Mantu were feared. But soon we started enjoying this first plane flight of ours as it was the only thing we could do then. It was an awesome experience for a first timer. Then suddenly fear gripped us again when we noticed the name of flight we were sitting in. It was the air-plane of JET AiRWAYS
                              
                       Woah Woah…..


We all know that Jet Airways has been closed down a few months back. So what in the hell was this…??? We called the air hostess and asked her what was happening here ??? But to our surprise, she again told us the programmed robotic dialogue :


                Fasten your seat belts as flight was ready to take-off...


We told that young smart looking robotic girl that the plane has already taken off. Has she kidnapped us. Or Is she an alien ??? But in vain. Mantu suggested that let's ask some more questions to her. I told him to try himself. So he asked, what's her name ??? Still no reply. Then he asked, can we get some food ??? Still no reply. He also got irritated and did one more try. He asked what is the final destination of the plane ??? This time she replied : Moon


We both saw each other, then at her and repeated the same thing for a minute. I thought in my mind that she was joking or she has run away from an asylum. Being a science enthusiast, I knew that to even reach low earth orbit and finally to get out to space, we need a rocket that use propellant to provide them with thrust. So how was it possible to reach Moon on a simple air-plane that use normal air to get the lift. I told Mantu that something was definitely wrong here. I suggested to ask the 3 more passengers in the flight. We turned towards them and tried to ask. But they also yelled similar to the air hostess :


           Fasten your seat belts as flight was ready to take-off...


                       God damn it…..


Were they also programmed robots ???. But they looked just like humans. It appeared to me as if we were in a robotic testing lab where experiments were being conducted to make human looking real robots. And perhaps we were kidnapped for the same.


I uttered in my mind :


Oh God, where have I got myself into...from wandering in the streets to an air-plane in-housing robot like humans giving feeling of a testing lab experiment. Infact, according to the air-hostess we were going on a trip from Gurdaspur to the Moon via Jet Airways passenger flight literally.

Journey to the Moon from Gurdaspur in Jet Airways

Mantu and I were though feared but we were strong. We saw each other and then decided to do something to get out of this mess. The air hostess was standing in front of us constantly gazing at us. We waited for some time and when air hostess turned towards the pilot cabin, we followed her. And another surprise was there waiting for us with no sign of pilot flying the air-plane. We were dumbstruck. The plane was on auto-pilot mode. We both shouted : 

                         What the fcuk….


Then out of fear, started praying :


                 Oh God, Oh Shiva, Oh Lord Hanuman... 


                 We will break 101 coconuts on your stairs and do temple service daily, please save us this time from this mess...


God was definitely not listening(we never went to the temple except on occasion of Janmashtami). Meanwhile, the air hostess turned towards us. We started shivering again. She again yelled : 


      Fasten your seat belts as flight was ready to take-off...


We both fainted at that time.


After some time, I was awake and one thing took me aback. Mantu was flying in mid-air in front of me. I shook him. He also got awaken. I told him perhaps he's become an angel now as he was flying mid-air. Mantu told me that Deepak you have also become the same as he also sees me flying mid-air. Oh God, due to fear gripping my mind, I couldn't realise that we both were flying mid-air. The air hostess was still standing in front of us gazing at us. We asked her what she did to us. Has she killed us ??? No reply again. I yelled at her : Where are we, just leave us. We want to go back to Gurdaspur town.


Now she replied : 


                "Welcome to Moon…"


I told her to stop lying as it was not Moon. She was mad and mad and mad. After hearing that  she started moving towards us with a knife in her hands. I thought it was our last time and we were going to be dead. I shouted in fear and closed my eyes. Suddenly I heard my mother's voice yelling : 


          "Wake up...Wake up Deepak. It's 8am now. You will get late for your work". 


And I got awaken. Took a sigh of relief after realising that it was a scary nightmare which I had. And it was not real. Mantu was also not there. My mother asked me what happened. I told her nothing serious, just a scary dream.


I got up as usual and went to my work. In the evening, I got a call from Mantu. He told me that let's catch up at 8pm at Hanuman Chowk as he had something important to discuss. I said yes let's meet up there. But what was so important that he wanted to discuss. Now this unusual thing happened as he told me that he dreamed last night where we both got stuck in an air-plane moving to Moon with the alien air hostess trying to kill us. I told him if he was joking. He replied with a big NO. My mind was blown. I told him I had the same dream last night. He didn't believe me either. I just cut the call and gave a thought to it. My brain started aching. Then I thought just leave it there and took some rest.


I went at 8pm with Mantu to Hanuman Chowk street. We discussed the common dream we had while eating fast food but couldn't come to any conclusion. Perhaps, it would remain a mystery. After some time, we were again on the road, took a right turn and at 9pm came back home again. All was oki. All was good. 


Though we both wanted freedom from the social web of society but certainly not the way, we saw in the dream.


It's been more than six months now when that incident took place. Mantu and I never talked about that dream again. We moved on. And in fact, we started enjoying our lives even more in this small lovely town of Gurdaspur city concentrating more on what we had at present. In the end, all I can say is that :


We all experience strange things in life that happen coincidentally. We just have to ignore these things to keep moving in life…


And always be positive, be happy.


I hope you guys enjoyed reading :-)