Saturday Evening Post
Making of the Encyclopaedia
From the Horse’s own Mouth
George Menachery
Fourteen
It was one of Air India’s newly acquired “Emperor”
class aircrafts that I boarded from Santa Cruz to New York. It was Emperor
Asoka I think. The huge Boing 747 plane could carry 400 passengers. As there
were many nurses and their families, mostly from India and especially from
Kerala, and others employed in the U. S. on the planes they were always full.
The aircraft was of the height of a three-storey building. Looking at its tail
it looked to me like a skyscraper. Inside
the plane all was luxury, even in the economy class. Travelling in the economy
class I had opted for a window seat as I thought it would allow me to see the
sites of the cities and monuments on the ground as the plane took off and
landed. Then the hostess came round with the usual cup of juice. She was
gorgeously attired in a shining Indian silk sari. And of course there were the ubiquitous attendants in the airline’s
famous Maharaja costume and cap. Soon after the take-off another hostess made
the rounds distributing earphones. There were four audio channels available on
the socket fitted to the seat handle bringing Hindustani, Indian Classical,
Western, and – wonder of wonders -Malayalam music and songs, especially by
Yesudas. This last was a gesture for the large number of Malayalee nurses and
their families, I suppose. But the price charged as rent for the earphones was
US $ 2.65! I rented a pair which reduced my capital to $ 6.35. To land in New
York with just $ 6.35 for an envisaged stay of two months! I have often
wondered what prompted me to do such foolish things. It can be written off as
another trace of the Micawber touch “Something will turn up”. But seriously, I
thought that it was the way providence gets its designs executed, even the smallest ones. All the great inventors and discoverers,
and reformers of the world leaped into their risky activities because of a
strong irrational urge or passion in them, I believe, prompted by Divine
Providence perhaps.
The finger-licking items on the continental menu I
had chosen on that flight haunts me even today. And in the 24 hour journey they
served two breakfasts, two lunches, and two dinners at least. Ever since, those
wonderful dishes remained a major attraction to travel. But nowadays airlines
have desisted from serving such sumptuous and tasty meals, and even when one
gets a delicious meal one has to pay extra for it through the nose.
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