Journey

My flight at 3 AM was delayed by 3 hours. On the airport, the new New Delhi airport, I found some place to sleep. It is plush, I will admit. It might rival some very good airports. Some passengers found quiet carpeted corners to sleep on. I was about to as well, when I found an empty inclined sofa, set the alarm and dozed off. Unlike other flights which were delayed due to poor weather conditions, mine to Frankfurt was delayed due to some sick passenger and an emergency landing.

What took me aback when I woke up after a fitful sleep in the first couple of hours on the flight was the landscape when I opened the window. I had to ask the attendant which country we were flying over and was told it was Afghanistan. Down below what I saw was like a desert of dunes, stretching up to infinity, growing cooler and bluer the farther it went, and a shimmering rising sun drawing a warm yellow border where land touched sky. In the foreground, or rather, right below, the dunes under the kiss of the rising sun were a work of art. Hills and not dunes I suppose they were. And on the leeward side, they were flaked with snow. I just stared, overwhelmed. My thoughts were silenced. The vast emptiness of it all, the randomness, the rugged beauty... all that for which I have no words. My window had a few scratchy marks and I am not sure if it would have made a good photo.

The halt at Frankfurt was rather brief due to the delay and I wouldn't have minded a longer one just to stroll around. The chilly weather under the windswept deep blue skies and the translucent smoky clouds was just perfect. At a distance I could see the last remains of autumn. I cannot imagine better weather.

Landing in Atlanta's large airport after a not-so-great salmon meal, a couple of movies and some more fitful sleep was a bit of a relief. The airport staff were particularly courteous I must admit and within a few minutes of landing, I was out. Instead of the cab, a more preferred option, I decided to go for the train. Atlanta is supposed to be well connected by train and I had arranged for Hyatt to pick me up from a particular station. After Delhi's mist, the first thing that struck me was how crisp and clear everything looked. Coloured leaves still remained under under a grey-blue late evening sky but I could not find a suitable frame before the train had arrived.

Here's a multiple exposure shot from Delhi's new airport.