Doha to Kochi – A Good Friday in the Skies
I
forsook one Good Friday congregational prayers.
Let that be another experience! Being an ordinary believer, in spite of
the hard earned ministerial priesthood is a humbling experience. You are no longer the cynosure of those
called together! You are just a him! A mere nobody or somebody out there! A
good lesson in humility. But I still would have put up with it, after the
experience of a year behind me, but for the very attractive proposal of the flight
rates of Etihad Airways. Never before
had I attempted that either. When I
shared with somebody that I got a ticket for that price, many felt it was
unbelievable. So more of an exercise in poverty? I shifted my good Friday practices for the
day before, with a rather rigorous fast and time exclusively before the Lord
(?). For once, my Good Friday is made good with the Lord of the skies!
It
was a long day, and I had to start off early morning. It was already around 12.50
am, I thought it was better that I kept my passport and some liquid cash ready,
which were kept in the locker for safety.
I tried my code, and the locker was not being responsive. Initially I
thought I’d let it go, as money could be obtained once I reach there as
well. I recalled that even my passport
was there in the locker. Tried again, to no avail. Called up the front
office, Jabir, the Bangla boy at the desk was alert. He knew this could happen, but had no clue. So,
the manager had to be called. He was called up, and he gave a set of
instruction, which again proved futile. He goes back. As I found it was
pointless staying awake, I crawled under the quilt, and was almost falling into
a good sleep, then I heard the doorbell. Opened to see, Jabir all set with some
tool kit. So, the locker had to be
forced open but with keys, not having to break it down. With the manager Sunder
guiding, that was accomplished. I
managed to fetch some necessary cash and the passport. So that was fairly a good Friday ordeal for
one missing the good Friday rituals.
For
a resident or a citizen, travelling to or from Qatar has now become very easy
with all the national borders becoming automated. The passage is accomplished in no time. (But the normal visitor is put to hard test –
getting visa itself is a very cumbersome process).
The
flight took off five minutes ahead of schedule. The desert of Qatar with its
urban Doha along the blue calm waters of the Persian Gulf is left for the
capital of UAE, Abu Dhabi. It is just a 40 minutes flight, over the shallow
sea, almost translucent and revealing its bottoms. We take off, and then, land.
Abu
Dhabi, with all its prestige of being the capital of the great economic power
house of the middle east UAE, is no match for Doha, at least, as far as the air
port and its facilities are concerned. We
have to undergo the ceremony of security check once again, though this time, it
appears more or less perfunctory.
But
the gate no. 60, supposed to be the rendezvous for the Malayalees bound for
Kochi, is not accessible. And no seating
for the hapless passengers. Fortunately,
I find the border for the indoor plants with a steel wrapping and its top not angular,
apparently a deliberate substitute for the passengers in transit to rest their
seating and thus relax their calf muscles till the waiting lounge is open.
However,
regarding access to the free Wi-Fi, Abu Dhabi fares far better. No question asked, no answers sought. It is
free. Whereas the hi-fi Doha puts you to any number of troubles before you get
access to the wi-fi, and having taken the trouble, you don’t feel the access is
free any more.
Abu
Dhabi has some delay. The flight to have
taken off at 14.10 finally leaves at 14.28.
Then it floats over an immense and expansive mountain folds of a rare desert
terrain – more than half the distance they appear dusty hills and valleys, and
then rocky terrain, intermittently spotted with human habitations, making one marvel
at the sheer tenacity of the human race.
How they survive in such terrains – far far from any source of water,
hardly any green spot, directly under the scorching (?) sun with only occasional
mobile clouds rendering the service of shade – reminding one of the exodus days
of Israel when they were herded under the cloud by day!! I could see hardly any roads, and still
clueless regarding the water source – to find the white patches of human habitation
across the undulated, menacing, grey and brown hill terrain of Arabia!
Full
40 minutes flight across such terrain and you meet the vast blue.
The
ocean – in spite of its smallness among the mighty oceans, Arabian sea spread
with its boundaries beyond the human vision, sometimes decked by clouds, as if it
were one with the unbroken sky, other times, a vast expanse of blue, spotted
with specks of white clouds. And this
great ship bearing some 220 humans and their belongings flying over this vast blue
stretch! Indeed, a brave world, indeed the creator’s might is increasingly revealed
through the mighty miracles of science wrought through human minds and hands.
From the dry-drab-grey-brown Arabian peninsula, almost three hours at a stretch across the blue expanse, we are hitting the illuminated, populous, of course green (but not visible now at 7 pm), Indian Peninsula, well ahead of the scheduled time. What a contrast, what diversity! The illuminated landscape is soothing. It is unlike the roaring megalopolises like New York or the ultra-modern Doha – dazzling array of lights. Here, as seen from above, it is sober, and a sign of life and sign of access to affordable energy for many. The touch down is smooth. Kudos to Etihad! This is good strategy - estimate the maximum duration, and cut down on it, and win applause. The schedule time was 7.40. It managed to land at 7.19!
The earth is wet with a good Friday shower. But unlike the cool desert Doha, it is warm,
sultry, stuffy, mosquito filled Kochi!
And
it is still one planet, one sky, one atmosphere, one water, and one earth of
the Lord!
P.S.
Trying to adhere to a public transport policy – out in the airport by
7.30. No sign of public transport, the
JNNRUM buses are no longer there. Two e-buses, supposed connect till Metro are
there. There is no body around, no board
indicating the schedule. After 10
minutes, the only other passenger, who has similar thoughts, an IB officer, and
me, jointly decide to get an autorickshaw, walking out of the airport. That is
a good 8 minutes’ walk. After nearly 6 months of mild and enjoyable winter of
Doha, I have already begun to perspire. To Angamaly bus stand it is Rs. 240.00
for autorickshaw – I never thought it would be that much. We go dutch. At the Angamaly bus stand, there is a fairly good crowd. There arrives a bus to Palakkad, then to Mysore, then to Thrissur and Guruvayoor, then one to
Pala, and another to Kottayam. No bus to
Ernakulam. Finally, a superfast to
Trivandrum arrives. I get in. Got myself
deposited in the conductor seat. It was Rs. 39 to Kalamassery. There is no
mention of Re 1.00. Now, I too have
grown beyond that stage to ask for Re 1.00. But I saw the conductor being
strict with luggage. He assesses
luggage, asks the passenger concerned about its weight. When the youngster reveals
it is about 23 kilos, he is ‘forced’ to charge Rs. 63 for his luggage up to
Ambalappuzha (about 85 kilometres), which he promises will be covered in some 3
hours. Often, all of us, play being
penny wise and pound foolish!
Now
getting down at Premier junction, I walk to Rajagiri. Fr Provincial was willing to send a vehicle
to the airport, which I had declined on account of my public transport policy; but this distance, I would always love to get a ride –
preferably, a bike ride. However, now, I have no one to ask
for such favours. So, I walk. And lo, it is just 15 minutes’ walk, and I am
in my room.
So,
for the day, after all the carbon of a flight (unavoidable?), I am trying to
compensate in the penny-wise manner, by my carbon fast.
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