European odyssey!

All set to go!!

Few seat adjustments and we were cozily seated in three plus one arrangement. I was happy with my aisle seat and my wife with her window seat right behind the wing of the aeroplane. I wondered, for how long will the window views from a plane continue to fancy her. It is not that I did not like the amazing scenes that one sees from the window of an airplane, but being able to stretch my legs in the aisle had taken priority, also one could get up any number of times without having to judge the fellow travelers facial expression. Aeroplanes have always caught the fancy of my wife. She is amazed that while a man can not fly, this machine takes hundreds of people so high and so far. Before boarding, at Milan airport, she kept on looking at planes taking the runway and flying off and could have watched the same thing over and over again, had there been no flight to catch. 

In the flight my kids got busy watching movies, while I wanted to make the best of my newly learned skill, that is to be able to catch a nap while sitting. My wife was still busy at the window. Soon, I was dreaming! Various scenes from our trip were crossing my mind. Then, I could smell something, I ignored it. The smell persisted, I was awakened by the realization that if it increases it may cause breathing difficulty. I looked at my son and made a sniffing gesture, expecting a reply if he was also finding a pungent smell. He looked at me but didn't react.  I checked with the lady sitting behind me whether she could smell anything and she confirmed that there was a pungent smell. I tried to figure out in my mind what it could be...... PNG, CNG, Helium???? I immediately got up and went to the nearest air-hostess and informed her about it. She was a charming lady, who immediately along with her colleague came to my seat and affirmed that there was a smell. She suggested, "like a balloon gas"! Then she paced up and down the aisle to scan the extent of smell, that was limited to five-six rows around me. She opened the overhead bins and then wiped them with a wet tissue and observed for any colour changes. Then she asked us whether we could see any fumes. I was trying to talk in a hushed tone to avoid panic. After few minutes, she asked me, whether it was still there and I told that it was less obvious then. One Chinese passenger told her that he had opened a food packet few minutes back and made her smell the packet to see whether we were talking about the same smell. She felt that it was different. Then she requested me to stand at the back for sometime to desensitize my nose and then come back to  my seat and check whether the smell persisted. It had gone! I settled in my seat again. Then she came and asked all the window passengers to look at the wing on our side. We were wondering why so?? After few minutes my wife noticed that there was some blackening on the wing. She alerted me. In my mind, I thought it must be her apprehension! I checked and found that there was a real triangular blackening. I thought, it might already have been there, but informed another crew member, who rushed to see that. She was alarmed. I was not! I had not seen any flames or fumes and thought that it must be something innocuous. After few minutes, my wife told me that the blackening was increasing. "She is morbidly afraid!", I thought. I checked and found that it had in fact, enlarged. I rushed to inform the air-hostess. She came to the window and exclaimed 'Oh My God!' and ran towards the cockpit. My wife was petrified and so were few passengers who knew what was happening. A lady sitting ahead of me, asked me' "What's the matter?" I brushed it aside, "nothing"! She was annoyed! I was still unperturbed as I thought that since we are over land, we can soon make a landing and all shall be well. 

Then suddenly a gentleman sitting behind my wife announced, "it is moving, it's a shadow!" I immediately checked and realized that it was a shadow indeed. I rushed to tell the air-hostess that the matter had been resolved. She saw through the window and heaved a sigh of relief. The sequence of events had created a small commotion in few seats but now all were relaxed. Then she came and talked to us. We asked her that why had she asked us to keep looking at the wing? She told us that she was informing all events to the captain and wing had to be observed for any fumes or flames. The captain had in fact suggested that the blackening might be shadow of the tail and that's why he had asked to check again while he was turning the plane. We were still chatting and laughing that suddenly the pungent odor could be smelt again. The charming hostess checked and found that the Chinese had opened another packet of crackers and that was the preservative gas. We were amused! 

We had many interesting experiences on our trip!