Flight MH 370

I am very late in this post. I actually wanted a closure on this story before I posted this but unfortunately it is yet to happen till date. There was something about this Malaysian flight, which went missing with 239 people on board from 14 countries, that moved me and made me glued to any news that connected to those who vanished without a trace in the ocean. 

           So, here I was all battle ready since the disappearance of the aircraft and for the next one month (inspite of the rigorous year ending schedule in March), I would religiously follow the story on CNN the first thing in the morning and monitor it nearly real time on the web and on chats. In other words, I was obsessed by it. Even my 12 year old son was surprised about my new found interest. I  tracked the story very closely and as I would soon discover, so were other people who felt the same. I was amazed at the total air time, energy and assets all the countries were already deploying for this and continued to do so. The interest of the media waned over a period and dedicated airtime reduced. They say that time heals everything and a month down the lane, the personal feeling also no longer remains as strong. Thats how it is with us humans, I guess. You move on.    

         Whenever I fly, I have always felt safe knowing that all aircrafts are monitored in real time by the ATCs and our Air Force is always on the alert. So it makes you wonder when you come across such an instance, in such an age, where such a large aircraft (nearly as big as a football field) just disappears from the face of the earth. In this age where its possible to ascertain where your cell phone is after it gets lost. In this age when pets are monitored real time through their collar sims and offenders have tracking bracelets on their ankles. So this was a bit something more than what I could digest easily.

             It has been decided by Malaysian Airlines that it would not allocate the number 370 to any of its other flights. So what has a number got to do with it ? Well a lot perhaps, as this website suggests.   (http://sacredscribesangelnumbers.blogspot.in/2011/08/angel-number-370.html ) .This was probably done to erase any memory of the flight. However, any news related to aviation safety will change all that and the number is never going to be erased from the memories of this generation as long as there are aviation related incidents and as long as there is gravity. 

            Interestingly, there are theories of aliens taking the plane as they had people of most of the ethinicity on board. There are also theories that indicate that the flight never existed. (http://truthernews.wordpress.com/2014/03/31/10-reasons-why-flight-370-never-existed-nuclear-drone-strike-on-d-c-or-nyc-imminent/ )Apart from the above sites, in the process of monitoring the event, I came to know about a cloud sourcing website which  invited anyone on the web just to scan the oceans for any wreckage.(www.tomnod.com). There also are sites that display real time  data on aircrafts ( www.flightradar24.com) and marine traffic  ( www.marinetraffic.com ) . 

             So eventually the batteries on the black box completed its lifespan and and there is no trace of the plane yet. The location which has been shortlisted has an average depth of about 5000 mtrs and it would be humanly impossible to locate the aircraft. Even if does, it would mean expenditure of millions of dollars. My heart goes out to all the family members of the people on board especially those of the crew who are now also seen as suspects.For all I know, the pilots may be heroes. (http://www.wired.com/2014/03/mh370-electrical-fire/ ) 

              Earlier today, as I looked outside the window of my car, I saw the number plate of one of the vehicles  and the number 370 looks me at my face which transports me back once again. Thats how it is with us humans, I guess. You hold on.

The Forgotten Postcard

As usual, my Blackberry becomes slow and I am forced to save the message chat history of my Whatsapp chat with an old friend. Doing the said exercise, I remember the times when there was no chat history but a letter in hardcopy few pages long that used to be received every few weeks, and sometimes months. As we happened to change towns (due to my fathers transfer), the connectivity with old friends used to be only limited to these handwritten letters. Needless to mention, these letters were written only to a few special persons with which we needed to keep in touch. I also recall that whenever there was a long pause (about one month)  in these letters...there was lots of anxiety. There are many a memories attached with these letters, and most of them are still with me which transports me back to those days and bring back the emotion and nostalgia attached with them. I can't say the same about the recently saved chat history. 

          A popular song by James Blunt goes ....' ....I'm sending postcards from my heart with love for a postmark and then.....you know that you make me feel like we've been caught like kids in the school yard again....And I can't keep it to myself.....  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz0NV-HOT0M )

           I don't know if postcards are even sent now as the telephone and mobile wave has totally changed the way we communicate. But as I see it, phones never could imagine to be in that league as that of the mundane letter where every word was carefully chosen to be there. Then came the instant e-mail and SMS and by the time we got used to it, social media was born. Thanks to it we have now degraded ourselves to such an extent that we are ending up poking each other on FaceBook. I sometimes just want to avoid technology and I see that I am not alone. The other day someone shared (regrettably via social media) this video http://blog.petflow.com/a-video-everyone-needs-to-see/.  Some of the words of the said video goes - ' So look up from your phone, shut down the displays; we have a finite existence and a set number of days; Don't waste your life getting caught up in the net, because when the end comes, there is nothing worst than regret.'   Its so true that everythings changed way too fast  which is beyond the comfort of the postcard generation. While the rapid transition is increasing the size of virtual friends and keeping us hooked, its actually alienating us humans more and more. 

          As I mull over the subject, my hand involuntarily reaches out to the phone when I see a red blinking light on the phone which indicates yet another message received on the Whatsapp group. Or is it What..syappa ?

Instant Connection

It was a typical hot summer day when throats run dry and liquids usually needed to quench the never ending thirst are in big demand. The day was drawing to a close and all the living creatures, big and small, including the ones of my own species were making a beeline to their respective nests. I along with a few friends had decided for a get together with beer and were meeting up at my place. As per the responsibilities entrusted, I was allocated the critical work of collecting the beer. As luck would have it, although there are a few retail shops around our place, the nearest one turned out to be closed. The work responsibilities expanded to include travelling a small distance to look for the oasis at a location some distance away. The walk was a good 30-40 minutes which included a walk crossing the railway station sky walk and a footpath with local vendors (read - mini obstruction course) along the way. As in the case of a normal evening in the local railway stations in Mumbai, a sea of humanity greeted me who were oblivious of the task in hand for me.
                With the initial drops of sweat forming on my forehead, I finally reached the place when it started getting dark.As I looked around for the shop, I realised that the location looked somewhat different and I was not able to locate the place of interest. All the hard work for no avail was my first reaction and concern started to build in.
                  In desperation, I started to look around for a soul in flesh and blood to help me in these trying times and then I saw him....a person standing next to an autorickshaw which looked like a man in the know of such things. As it turned out, he was the best person to ask as he was the autorickwala. He would surely know, I said to myself.
                  So I walked up to him and asked ' Bhai, yahan par daru ki dukaan thi...ab kahan hai ?' (Sir, where is the liquor shop which was present here ?).  He looked at me for a few moments of about 10 secs.....just long enough to make one feel uncomfortable. And suddenly he broke into a laugh...a hearty kind of laugh like no other. I was taken aback with his response and started regretting myself approaching this guy. However, during the bout of laughter.....he barely managed to tell me pointing  at the liquor shop..' woh wahin par hai, jahan tumne akhiri baar chodi thi....' ( its right there where you you'd left it the last time around' ) . And as I turned around I could see that it was really there which I had missed.
                   At that very moment, as the infectious laugh also got to me, I realised that laughing could also be an involuntary action with total strangers.  I stood there laughing with him and finally shook hands on the side of the road thanking him for guiding my poor soul in times of distress. As I slipped once again into a sea of humanity, I thoughtfully admired his sense of humour and realised that  in the present age of instant noodles, instant downloads, instant messaging, an instant human connection is a rare event. I could drink to that. Cheers !