Let the desigiri begin

Air-India: There must be no other airline in the world that sticks as firmly to its roots. If you're missing home and are forgetting what it feels like, one flight will fix all of that.

To start with, the flight is delayed from its prescheduled take-off time of 7pm by four hours due to 'fog in Delhi'. At 11pm, we file into the plane and I close my eyes happy with the fact that I was on my way home. When I open them at 12:30am, I realise we're still grounded - it seems we have engine trouble and have been sitting around for an hour and a half waiting for the technicians to take a look at it. The hour and a half turns into three hours and people start getting agitated - the goras a little more so. People gherao the flight crew demanding an explanation, everybody is out of their seats, people are walking out of the aircraft to get fresh air, there is yelling and screaming, nobody knows anything and the goras are afraid for their lives. For us, veteran desis, this is routine.

The flight finally took off at 3am, the goras that remained ran off the plane at London Heathrow and were never seen since, a bunch of bhaiyyos and behenos having taken their place. When the flight finally landed in Bombay, I was surveying the aftermath. Haldiram chivda, empty food packets, newspaper sheets, unmentionable body fluids and an unforgettable aroma that told me I had arrived.

I knew right then and there that this was going to be an awesome trip. :)