Salam Kabul ...Part I
Boarding the Kam Air flight from Delhi, I was welcomed by rows and rows of empty seats. As I quietly walked the aisle towards my seat in the front rows, an eerie feeling came over me – perhaps nobody wants to go to Kabul. I quickly pushed any such further thoughts behind, pulled my mask up over my nose and buckled up in my aisle seat....
A flight attendant in full PPE attire and diver’s googles tapped my shoulder and plonked on the tray a small casserole of piping hot Afghani chicken Pulav and a large bottle of strawberry -banana juice before I could say Heineken (oops!) The pulav had more raisins than there are in a Saravana Bhavan rava kesari. Before i could swallow the last morsel of chicken, the pilot announced his intention to land shortly...
Quickly whipping out my phone I slid to the window seat (thank God for all the empty seats) to take some customary photos from the plane window. To say that the view was breathtaking is an understatement. Rolling array of mountains snow capped and in brown patches loomed up close to me. Set against the clear blue sky, it truly was a magnificent sight that I could barely capture on my six inch mobile screen. Soon the mountains parted way and dusty patches of greenish brown earth peeped out from the valley below as the flight descended further down. With a thunderous roar, the Boeing 737 came to a shuddering halt and taxied slowly towards it’s designated slot as I continued taking shots of the airport with the beautiful sight of gleaming metallic birds standing tiny against the backdrop of the towering mountains...
As I quickly made my way through the aero bridge towards immigration control, I made a mental note that the flight from Chennai to Delhi was way longer than this ‘International sector’ of Delhi to Kabul. Reaching immigration control, I realised that I was the first, perhaps the only person at the immigration desk. A serious looking woman sitting behind the stone cold glass shield, whisked my passport from the counter. After quick finger printing, iris scanning and face recognition, my passport was stamped and returned to me by the lady curtly and I whispered to myself “Welcome to Afghanistan”
I saw groups of men and women all dressed in traditional attire - men with their round Pakol caps and women all wrapped up in monochrome clothing waiting by the baggage carousel. Surprised to see them actually as there were so many empty seats in the plane. Well, a Boeing 737 -though not a jumbo is still a big plane I told myself. But I was more surprised that very few women wore burqas but more informal kind of layered and loose clothing (have to google what it’s called later) but they all had scarves over their heads and face veils - I could see several pairs of eyes darting curiously through them...
Awaiting my turn for my big red suitcase, I started pushing my baggage trolley closer to the belt as I caught a glimpse of a red blip on the distant belt horizon dotted with assorted bundles of Tawas and pressure cooker cartons purchased from Old Delhi’s Chandni Chowk. Meanwhile, I watched with some trepidation as some men were pointing to my red bag and saying something. One guy even pushing the bag around in the belt as if at any time, he’d yank it away. What if he took a fancy to my suit case and decided to take it away? What should I do? Of course, I’d let him have it – imagine me arguing with a six footer sporting a fierce beard – which I had last seen only on Amjad Khan in Sholay. Added to it is the fact that hardly I knew any Pashto to make some meaningful noises to support my case..er..suit case.
But, the bag reached me safely and I heaved it on to the trolley and started pushing it towards the green channel, waiting my turn behind several people...when the guy in the uniform standing right under the red channel signage, gestured to me to come over. With my stomach churning faster than a Preethi Mixer Grinder when Leela grinds her coconut chutney, I pushed my trolley towards the stern looking official now gesticulating to me rapidly towards him, towards the red channel....
To be continued..
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