Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Face of Fear

As BA487 knifed through the Catalan sky for an emergency landing in Barcelona, I saw the face of absolute fear. In the midst of hysterical wailing and rabid anger, she sat across the aisle from me. She didn't look terrified, she wasn't fervent in prayer, she just sat back in shell-shocked resignation.
We all survived BA 487 with not much lost than good humour. As we waited to be evacuated post touchdown, I looked across the aisle at her. In the midst of hysterical laughter and conspiracy theories, she sat there in absolute acceptance.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I saw a similar face once. It was a stormy night and we were on a tiny boat. Everybody thought they could die. One mother was telling her children not to worry. Everything is going to fine. She was so calm and and so convincing that we all tried to believe her. And nothing happened.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
kaalpanique said...

oh dear.. that must have been scary!

anil said...

@kuntala: damn!
@kaalpanique: was quite exciting actually. not everyone on that flight would agree though

Frozenswirl said...

Very exciting! I've decided that I'd like to die in a plane crash.

tsk..that person with the first comment almost has my name!