{"id":2421,"date":"2025-05-29T18:56:33","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T18:56:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/derek.in\/mp\/?p=2421"},"modified":"2025-06-13T05:19:33","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T05:19:33","slug":"30-terrifying-minutes-on-a-delhi-srinagar-flight-that-changed-my-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/derek.in\/mp\/30-terrifying-minutes-on-a-delhi-srinagar-flight-that-changed-my-life\/","title":{"rendered":"30 Terrifying Minutes On A Delhi-Srinagar Flight That Changed My Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"30 Terrifying Minutes On A Delhi-Srinagar Flight That Changed My Life\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rMGQjlre-8w?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>There are some things about life that we take for granted. Sometimes that list includes life itself, whether we realise it or not. On Wednesday, May 21, I boarded an Indigo flight from Delhi to Srinagar. Just another day in public life. Just another flight. I take my usual seat at 19F, at the emergency exit. Opting for that seat is an old habit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m on autopilot, doing all the things I normally do on a flight. Forty-five minutes in the air. Halfway to our destination. Then, there is an announcement over the PA, asking us to fasten seatbelts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But there&#8217;s no turbulence. About five minutes later, we see lightning, clearly visible as it stabs through daylight. Now there is some turbulence, but it progresses rapidly. I realise this is not your regular turbulence. This is severe, the likes I&#8217;ve never experienced on my \u2018frequent flyer miles&#8217; before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Not Your Usual Turbulence<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The plane is scarily tilting to the right. I am acutely aware of this because I am seated on the right-hand side of the Airbus A321neo. I&#8217;m accustomed to planes banking for a variety of reasons, but this does not feel like a normal situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is not a series of bumps or jerks. The entire aircraft starts tilting precariously. We are hurtling down, seemingly to a sickening drop. Not a minute or two, I would say, at least ten terrifying minutes. Outside, all we can see are clouds, ripped apart by angry streaks of lightning and constant hail. My mind is racing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now there are other noises in the passenger cabin. Not the normal buzz of conversation or a meal service. No, now people are screaming. Praying. Chanting. Some are actually screeching. The wave of sound creates added tension and fear. I am conscious of passengers trying to film on their phones. But a voice &#8211; was it male? Female? Passenger? Flight attendant? I can&#8217;t remember. The voice says, \u2018Stop filming&#8217;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My life doesn&#8217;t flash before me. Instead, I&#8217;m consumed by the thought that if something goes terribly wrong, I will miss the wedding in a few months of my only daughter. I think of my daughter, wife, stepdaughters, brothers, colleagues, friends. I think of what a tragedy it would be to leave them all behind, without the chance to say goodbye to any of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sadness. The sadness is overwhelming. It is a deep, abiding sorrow for relationships and friendships that will not progress beyond this fraught afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Counting My Blessings<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes, I am aware of how blessed my life has been. Perhaps &#8211; I honestly don&#8217;t know &#8211; it had something to do with going to a dingy lane in Kolkata in 1990, which housed the worldwide headquarters of a congregation of nuns. The setting was spartan, almost awkward: four tackily painted wooden stools set out on a verandah overlooking a quadrangle. My first meeting and touching the hand of Mother Teresa (now St. Teresa of Calcutta).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, what else ran through my mind? I didn&#8217;t think about politics. I didn&#8217;t think about Parliament. I didn&#8217;t think about the number of followers I had on X or Instagram. I was focused on the people I love. People who mean the world to me. People who have been an important part of my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I prayed to a higher being. I made a pact. A pact to be good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My colleague, a few seats away, had felt the tension too. We had battled our own fears in our ways. Bathed in perspiration, he looked as if he had just stepped out of a shower. At the time, I didn&#8217;t think to ask him what I looked like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was probably thirty minutes before we landed. Before we touched down, a member of the cabin crew asked us to pull down our window shades, because we were landing at a military airfield. After taxing to a halt, the engines were switched off and everyone began to deplane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>A Newfound Gratitude<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I didn&#8217;t follow. I remained seated. Alone. Why? I&#8217;m not sure. Perhaps to let it all sink in. Perhaps to process it all. Perhaps to decompress. I don&#8217;t know why exactly. But it gave me a chance to speak to the pilots before they left the aircraft. I thanked them on behalf of all the passengers and crew. The captain told me that it had been the most difficult flight in his forty-one years as a pilot. We kept speaking, but I promised him that the rest of our conversation would remain private forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I only saw the damage to the nose when I deplaned. I still have no idea what that damage could have done, or the potential danger it posed to our collective safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I am home now. It&#8217;s been a week. I thought I&#8217;d dealt with it in my own way. But I was wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then, a few hours ago, I spoke to a childhood friend. He did the best thing any friend could ever have done. He listened. I had to stop several times as my emotions welled up repeatedly. All he said, amid the prolonged silence and my stifled sobs, was a simple, quiet, &#8220;It&#8217;s all right. I&#8217;m here.&#8221; I had to stop several times to regain my composure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That flight changed who I am. It changed how I regard every aspect of my life. That experience was unforgettable. Deep. Life changing. Now I fully comprehend that life is a gift. It is to be cherished. I haven&#8217;t forgotten my pact. It will be the basis of the new profound gratitude I have for life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are some things about life that we take for granted. Sometimes that list includes life itself, whether we realise it or not. On Wednesday, May 21, I boarded an Indigo flight from Delhi to Srinagar. Just another day in public life. Just another flight. I take my usual seat at 19F, at the emergency&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"http:\/\/derek.in\/mp\/30-terrifying-minutes-on-a-delhi-srinagar-flight-that-changed-my-life\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">30 Terrifying Minutes On A Delhi-Srinagar Flight That Changed My Life<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,48],"tags":[86,84,85],"class_list":["post-2421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-articles-articles","tag-aircraft","tag-delhi-srinagar-flight","tag-usual-turbulence","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>30 Terrifying Minutes On A Delhi-Srinagar Flight That Changed My Life - Derek O&#039;Brien<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/derek.in\/mp\/30-terrifying-minutes-on-a-delhi-srinagar-flight-that-changed-my-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"30 Terrifying Minutes On A Delhi-Srinagar Flight That Changed My Life - Derek O&#039;Brien\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There are some things about life that we take for granted. 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