Traumatic journey from Lala land into the smog of Delhi..

Namaste from Nepal. I have to backtrack a bit as a lot has happened since I left London for my new adventure of a sabbatical in Nepal. My spiritual home away from home.

After leaving London, me and my love H had two wonderful days in Bahrain where we enjoyed some "Lala land", and we took off to New Delhi to meet his family who had flown in from South Africa to join us onward to Nepal.

We were both very happy to get on the flight to Delhi, but this flight turned out to be the worst we have been on ever.

. 

We were sitting in economy class quite in the front of the cabin, and we instantly noticed this very irate and arrogant man in the first row behind business class, only a couple of rows in front of us so very hard to miss. He was calling for the stewardess every 2 minutes and had numerous strange requests. 

As we started the flight, the man was clearly not taking no for an answer and the crew tried to manage him as good as possible.

It started to get a bit awkward when he put his praying mat in the front of the cabin and did his prayers, although very quiet. He got his time from the crew to do this, then he started to walk up and down the aisle, to the front to business class as he didn't want to walk all the way to the back toilet he said. The cabin crew told him to stay out of business class and remain in his cabin, so he came back. After discussing when he wants his food and drink, which obviously wasn't when it was served, he went back to the end of the cabin again.

The passengers around us all started to be on edge as this man was behaving very odd and we all got anxious. Then he comes back with two more men, whom he seemed to have found in the back of the cabin, and they all started doing their prayers, now though in the business cabin, and this time very loud and clear. Now it really felt very odd. And who were these men he had found? 

The cabin manager told him to go back to his seat and that he cant disturb the business passenger, which he highly objected to and threatened the cabin manager that he would not have a job soon.

40 minutes left of the 3h flight now, and we are all close to panic. What is going on? He finally sits down when the pilot says we are preparing for landing, all seems ok apart from him being annoyed by not being able to store his hand luggage on the floor (sitting by the emergency exit).

Then the plane starts turning around and we seem to be going north towards Pakistan instead of Delhi, until we turn again and we realize we are just doing a loop. 

This happens twice before landing, and I can promise you that I have never been so happy to be on the ground from a flight. Ever. 

After waiting a long time for the doors to open, we can finally leave the airplane and we are all quite pleased to see that the airport security is there and they are having words with this man.

I prayed to all the Gods and angels I know of, and couldn't think that this would be it. It just couldn't be it. If it would be, at least I am with someone I love and not alone, but I wouldn't want it to be it for him. He is on his way to meet his family and I didn't want that to be taken away from him. So many thoughts.

We have all seen plane hijacking movies and other scary stuff, and this is the worst nightmare. You can't just get off the plane like a bus, when it starts being a bit uncomfortable.

I am grateful to Gulf Air and their staff who handled this well, and that they arranged for security to meet this man on his arrival. We were happy to get out of the airport and into the smog of Delhi - very grateful to life and for us having each other. A drink and bed time was high on the list after sharing some family love.

I have reflected quite a bit on how the thoughts go, and what the reactions are when you feel very vulnerable and somewhat afraid of the worst.
What is really important in life, and how to we embrace that and take care of it? I got to the point very quickly that people and loved ones are the most important in life, the rest is just what it is. Ever changing.

Embrace life, spread the love and look after your dear ones. Tell them and show them you love them. That is all that matters in the end.. 

Love and light,

Jen xx