TURBULENCE-2

April 24, 2013; on my way from Delhi to Vadodara, I was just air lifted and scaling height. We were scheduled to fly at 37000 ft with a velocity of 900 km/hr. Once above the clouds a glance outside the plane’s window could be a cheating experience if we were to rely only on our eyes. The skyscape outside the plane and the landscape of the dessert had surprising similarity. Here too in the sky were structures like the sand dunes and expanses stretching out limitlessly.

For a moment I felt as if everything had come to a standstill. The only thing I could sense was the purring of the engine and the richness casted by the yellow rays of the sun inside the plane. All of a sudden that richness was lost; as I peeped out of the window I saw black clouds passing by, the smooth motion of the plane disappeared; it took dips and lifts, at time it would sway from left to right and again right to left.  The turbulence outside the plane kick started the turbulence of adrenalin secretion in my body cautioning me of the danger I was passing through. It took several minutes to clear this near miss case. I have handled many near miss cases while serving at IPCL but this was a never-to-be-forgotten experience. First love, first wife, first child, first degree and anything that is first, becomes a memory for ever. This too was first experience of being through turbulence while being airborne.

June 16, 2013 at the hill town of Kedarnath; turbulence of clouds hit the mountain peaks, causing downpour of cats and dogs, swelling the rivers, hitting the banks devastatingly, engulfing everything that stood in its way and then leaving behind, meters of sludge, heaps of debris, numerous boulders and scattered carcasses, which continued for almost two days.

Turbulences are notorious for giving surprises. Surprises are events unexpected; also surprises are events exceeding expectation. Turbulence disrupts normalcy, destructs property and devastates life.

Weather forecast can predict shower, it can predict strong wind but can it say how many inches of rains will fall? Can it say by how much feet will the river level rise?

Such situation occur not only by destiny but also by unabated exploitation of nature, money making spree and turning a deaf ear to cautions raised.

Turbulence mild or wild demands cautions, awareness and alertness. It also demands preparedness to face it, to tackle it or to avert it, it is time not to be emotional but to be rational, to vacate the place and move to a safer location.

Turbulence are bound to be there, what matters is how prepared are we and how we deal with it. See you next time with the concluding article Turbulance-3