Men in Paradise - Prologue. Prologue

"Flight number LF425 flying from Dubai to New York will begin the takeoff in approximately five minutes. Passengers are requested to wear their seat belt"

I can hear a pleasant voice from the flight cockpit. I am not a first-timer, but I always get a funny weird kind of feeling before takeoffs. I took a couple of deep breaths to keep my nerves calm. I buckled my seat belt and held my short handbag tightly closer to my chest. Surprisingly, it relaxed me a bit.

I was flying from Dubai international airport on a Lufthansa flight. It was our connectivity from Mumbai to New York. The busy Airport was always filled with plenty of flights, rushing passengers and terminal announcements. I lived in Chennai where there are few direct flights to New York which mostly starts at untimely hours, so I had to travel to Mumbai every time to catch a flight whenever I was visiting the US.

Nobody really came to send me off since it was not my first time going to the US. Sam Murali, my closest buddy, accompanied me from Chennai to Mumbai. But he couldn't come to the airport due to his business meetings. I spoke to my sister one last time, she asked me to call her back once I reached New York. Her husband asked me to buy a book which I have never heard before, such a geeky guy.

I closed my eyes and murmured my favourite Ganesha prayer for safety. It was one of my usual habits whenever I was on a flight.

My office booked the flight tickets for me, so I didn't really have the comfort to choose the flight seat. They booked me on an economic class seat which is situated at the far end. I put my earphones on and was looking for songs on my iPhone which I stored locally.

There were magazines and pamphlets on my seat. Most of them were commercials waiting to empty our wallets and credit cards. I browsed through the pages just to pass the time. I took my iPhone and put it on Airplane mode.

Flight hostess with heavy make-up on her face was standing a few feet away from me. I thought her lipstick was staring at my face. The pilot made a final takeoff announcement and simultaneously the flight attendant started demonstrating how to buckle our seat belt, I heard it plenty of times before. I knew every single word on their demonstration. So, I ignored her and concentrated on my co-passengers. Mostly, they looked young and rich. Some of them looked like university students doing courses in the States or software professionals working for multinational companies like the way I do. I was seated in the back row, hence only a few women passengers around me. A woman with a baby on her lap trying to distract it from its cry, a young girl on her professional suit was browsing a magazine as if her life depended on it, a middle-aged woman whispering to the old lady seated next to her who looked like her mother from their lookalike resemblance, a couple of young Indian girls in their early twenties right behind me with their elegantly combed hair. A teenage boy seated next to me, was an Arabian who looked like Zayn Malik's younger version when he was in that boy band. He was busy taking selfies and editing them for his Instagram. His braided hair was falling over his face, but he didn't care. Couple of white guys were sitting right behind me, they were busy chatting. A Chinese middle aged woman and a guy, probably her husband or boyfriend were seated adjacent to mine. The woman was holding a small meal box in her hand with a fork, I didn't know what she was eating. Also I saw an African guy who looked like a bodyguard with a broad chest and shaved head. He was wearing black suit and kept looking at his wrist watch.

Different people, different faces and different languages, it is always the case whenever I travel on a flight.

My eyes got tired looking at them. I turned away and closed my eyes leaning comfortably on my seat. I was hoping that my flight would land in Kennedy Airport in exactly 15 hours. It was my 6th time visiting the US, so I knew the travel time unless there were any air traffic delays for that connecting flight, I was sure I would be reaching on time. I recalled what I had to do once my flight landed at the Airport, I checked my Phone once again, I had enough battery left to make necessary calls for my pick up. I had both Indian and US sim cards on my phone. I was supposed to meet my project coordinator at the Airport who would take me to the hotel.

A few hours later, I woke up from my sleep and looked at my watch. That was when I felt that little turbulence on the flight. It exaggerated every minute. I held my handbag tightly when the turbulence became unbearable. It lasted for an hour or so. Pilot was screaming at the speaker about the danger that awaits us. He informed us that our plane lost its communication with the control room. Also I assumed that the pilot lost his flight control too. My instinct warned me that something terrible was going to happen. I clicked my safety airbag button automatically. The teenage boy next to me was awake too. I asked him to click the safety buttons. Within a few seconds, the noise on the flight grew louder and the flight speed rose to a level which made it difficult to keep myself balanced on my seat. For another hour or so the flight speed was faster than I ever experienced. I heard nothing from the pilot. Flight hostesses were nowhere on sight. I decided to pray to Lord Ganesha once again, I closed my eyes. That's when I heard an unbearable loud noise.

And then BOOM...

That's how I died in January 2019, two days after my thirty-fifth birthday.

End of the story...