Agastya packed his bag on the night of 11th May 2023. He could not hold his horses to step on that flight. It was his first time traveling in a business class flight from Mumbai to Dubai. His sister Divya accompanied him. They were heading for Dubai the next morning at 4:30 a.m. They were both so excited that they could barely sleep that night.
Divya pulled out a weighing machine and started weighing her bags to ensure that they weren’t overweight and Agastya was checking his flight status to ensure that it wasn't delayed. Divya’s mother, Avanti was busy making ‘Chaklis’, ‘Khakhras’ and ‘Phapdhas’. She was under pressure and started panicking. She insisted her husband drop them at the airport and looking at them walking around the house in excitement, checking their bags, passports, clothes and tickets, she shed a tear or two. Justifying it as ‘ tears of happiness’ She handed over the food items to Agastya and asked him to add it in his bag. Arguing with his mother, Agastya told her that the bags were already overweight and couldn't take in more.
“That’s it amma, if you add more they’ll charge us extra money.”
“You do not worry about the money, your father and I are funding the entire trip. Just say it already that you're embarrassed to carry so much luggage.”
Avanti continues to add packaged food and proceeds to add medicines. “Amma! Why will we need medicines we’re only going for 20 days.”
“You can fall sick at any time and I will not be there to take care of you, if you feel feverish then take one tablet of crocin. This sinarest, if you feel you have a cold. Do not forget to apply this VapoRub in case you have a headache. Just incase a snake bites you over there, just have this medicine and visit a doctor”
“Amma, where will a snake come from ?”
“You do not argue with me, I’m your mother. I almost forgot about the koki that I made. Also listen, do not buy any food in the plane, or at the airport. They give the same dry and cold sandwich for five-hundred rupees, it’s such hard earned money why would you waste it, instead have this koki, tell the air host/hostess they will heat in the microwave and give it to you.”
Agastya started laughing and hugged his mom, he knew that she was just looking after him and cared for him.
A few kilometers away, in a small house, the weight of the bags were more than twenty kilograms. Clothes would never weigh that much, three AK47’s, two desert eagles, two M14’s and three grenades would surely do.
***
It was 10:39pm, the flight left at 3:20a.m. There were 279 minutes left for them to board the flight. At 11:00p.m. Agastya switched off the lights in his room, Divya took the lift and headed down to the basements towards the vehicle dropping them to the airport.
On the other hand, a group of six, loaded their car with the luggage consisting of only guns and explosives. They headed out for the airport. The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, was extremely busy as it was the second week of
summer and who wouldn't head out for a holiday. This gave the hijackers a chance to slip away easily.
As Agastya and Divya arrived at the airport, they looked at their parents and thanked them for the vacation and privilege they were given.
“Remember to take the medicine in case anything happens, take care of your sister and yourself, be nice and behave well over there. Do not eat anything ‘ulta seedha’. If you don’t understand what to eat over there then have my ‘koki’ you’ll feel better.”
They all see around them some people bidding each other goodbye, some reuniting with their friends and family. Some are excited for the new journey and some have the joy of going back home which is why the airport is the epitome of life, having every single possibility. Both of them hugged their parents and took their blessings to set off on this journey.
Divya and Agastya started waiting in line to enter the airport, their parents stood outside to wait for them to get in. Divya and Agastya showed their passport, ticket and signed some papers and entered the airport. As soon as they enter the airport and they see all the passengers are in a hurry, they move to and fro to find the proper window for information. They’re always updated about their flight details by the loudspeaker. Janitors sweeping the floor after every hour, pilots, air hosts/hostesses moving towards the airplane in smart dresses, Security guards moving around looking to help people and also carrying guns.
Divya and Agastya checked-in, got their boarding passes, checked each document carefully and gave their baggage in. They then went into a sophisticated restaurant, Divya bought a caramel tall frappuccino from starbucks coffee and Agastya bought a sub from subway.
It was 2:58a.m. Divya got a phone call from her mother as she was about to board the aircraft, she put her phone on airplane mode and boarded the aircraft along with her brother.
As they entered, the air hostess greeted them and led them to their seats, it was 3:11a.m. Agastya looked out the airplane window, the door was closed and the pilot started making announcements and the aircraft began its route on the taxiway. Suddenly someone's bag fell from the overhead bin, an old man got up from his seat quickly cleaned up his items and dumped it into his bag; when a set of eyes went to the open overhead bin; the eyes took a sigh of relief as that was the bag in which were placed the explosives.
The plane took off and someone pulled out a gun and locked it on the air hostess’s back as she screamed and dropped the entire tray of coffee and tea.
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