What the Hell !!!

This was the first thing that popped into my mind when i got down with my pals infront of Gate 7 ..I hadnt even seen the tickets cuz one of my frenz got it for us..My reaction was like that cuz the show was supposed to have started by 10 AM which it did but we reached there by 10.30..So immediately as we got down from the bus a MIG just whoooshed high above us with its typical whooping sound which seemed as if the pilot cursed us for being there so late..It did boost our spirits nevertheless..(Come on its a MIG for god’s sake)..So the caps,the shades,the umbrellas which were dwelling peacefully in our backpacks were disturbed..We then entered the air force base after a series of checks..We started hurrying towards the front row of seats which were full..By that time 2 more jets were decorating the skies which pretty much seemed like a warm up session for them.. Then we went to the front row and after a lot of searching and asking a couple of the audience who had extra chairs,we finally found one for each one of us..(BTW we were 5 of us)..So its then when we had the first proper look at the jet which was pulling on to the runway like a silent assassin without a sound..The view was magnificent..Military green body..Sexy wings..Double exhaust..Who wouldve thought that even the “metal-birds” were so mind blowing to look at !!!

Then the engine started roaring..Vrroooooooom..
Its such an underrated sound u can come up with to describe the sound of a jet…The “real” sound is not at all reproducible..
The MIG moved to the beginning of the runway..engine powered..Fireaway..and Then that was it!! It started moving and within 6 secs it was right in front of us and we yelled..”Take Off Take Off” and thats it..It had escaped the gravity’s feeble attraction and was right off to the sky..The pilot maneuvered it so elegantly..He took a 45 degree turn to its left and zoomed off high above the clouds..We were lookin at it with bated breath waiting for it to return..7 seconds..Thats all it
took..The jet swooshed above us and the pilot fired the engine with a boost and it was just Woooooooooooow!!! The adrenaline in mybody started pumping up so hard,it made the hairs on my neck stand up!! I started to wonder if i,a commoner was so excited to look at it what would be the pilot’s feeling at that time..But then my wondering was stopped buy the jet which took a U-turn in the sky and came back and then the pilot did it..The move i had read about recently..The Cobra!!
It was simple exhilarating..

Ten mins later the pilot landed smoothly on the runaway as the landing gear just thudded the ground with a lil dust and then a parachute shot out of the jet’s rear to slow it down..It was amazing..So within ten mins of being there we already saw at ake off and a touch down..

The rest of the show went on as magnificent as it could have been and we thought every instant was worth the wait..There was the Jaguar,the Russian Sukhoi,the French Mirage!!And my fav of the day..The F-16 !!! And believe it or not it was loaded with 2 missiles !!!

And the grand finale was by our very own “SuryaKiran”.. 6 of them..They took off simultaneously from the ground,with the tricolors shooting out of their rear..forming the country’s flag which made a mark in the sky which made my heart swell with patriotism..Nothing else couldve been a better end to the show than this one..They also made a “Prevent Aids” symbol on the sky..And even a halo which was of tricolor..The sight was astounding..After 15 minutes of coordination and absolute perfection which made the crowd gasp with wonder they 6 planes went high above together at a perfect 90 degrees and then made a sharp turn downwards and before we realised what was happening,they broke apart and
flew in 6 different directions..and THAT was a perfect end to the “ending”.. We cheered and clapped and shouted our heart out..The show had ended..
So we did a lil bit of shopping there getting posters and toy models of planes..I got a F-16 model for myself..And then we started walking to the exit of the air base..The show was over..and it fulfilled every ounce of expectation..

A perfect end to a brilliant day..It was Valentine’s day and whats better to spend the V-day than watching metal birds!!!

P.S – Event was Aero India 2009..Yelahanka..Feb 14th..And it definitely was one of the best days of my life !!