ENGLISH ESSAY CLASS 8

I always dreamt of flying in an air plane and for years it remained a dream. So I dreamt and dreamt. Till one day, all of a sudden, my father won a lucky draw at a fair and we had three Spicejet tickets to fly to Bagdogra, in Darjeeling district of West Bengal.

My father was quite happy but my mother was apprehensive about the whole thing. She was very scared. However, I persuaded her to agree and we all set off on a fine September morning. We reached the NSCB Airport, earlier known as the Dum Dum airport, well in time to check-in. The flight was at 10.45 a.m. As per norms we were there two hours in advance. First our baggage was screened and labelled. Then we had security checks to be sure that we were not carrying any contraband articles. Once through, we were given our boarding passes and we waited anxiously.

There was another body-search just before we finally boarded the plane. The air hostess greeted us at the entrance of the plane and showed us in. I was delighted to have a window seat. We were instructed to fasten our seat belts. A whole lot of other directions were given in case of any emergency and if the need arose. Gently the plane taxied forward and hurtled/zoomed off the ground in a whiz.

Oh what an experience! Below I could see the city disappear slowly. Now we were flying 20,000 feet above the ground and higher. We flew above the clouds too. The picturesque landscape appeared to be like a colourful carpet. The large Hooghly River looked like a narrow stream and the houses like matchboxes. There were plenty of stray cirrus clouds floating in the sky below, thus adding to the grandeur of the landscape. After a while I saw the peaks of the great Himalayan Mountains showing up afar. What a treat to the eye that was! It was a very short flight; so barely we took off it was time to land. Occasionally there were bumps too as the plane passed through air pockets.

Finally the air hostess announced that the plane would land in a minute. It took only forty five minutes to reach Bagdogra, whereas it takes an overnight journey by train. I was very excited and thrilled that I travelled by air.