In March 2005 I had booked from Delhi to Guwahati by Air Deccan. At that time the timetable was quite interesting. On some days of the week it was Delhi-Guwahati-Dibrugarh-Delhi and on other days it was Delhi-Dibrugarh-Guwahati-Delhi. This is not there now.

I made it a point to sit on the left side with a view to see the Himalayas. They did come into sight and the visibility was quite good. The pilot did point out Mount Everest which was clearly visible.

We landed at Guwahati airport (to be precise, Lokpriya Gopinath Bardoloi International Airport) which was showing the signs of extensive renovation, although construction was still going on. We proceeded by road to Shillong and other places of interest in Meghalaya. There is a little known helicopter service (Mi-8) operated by Pawan Hans for the Meghalaya government twice a day between Guwahati airport and the Shillong air force helipad. Incidentally this helipad is somewhat easier to reach from the city than the regular airport. However, this service had a fatal crash in September 2004.

While returning from GAU to DEL I sat on the right side, but this time the flight was diverted far to the south and must have been flying over northern Bangladesh. The next day someone set off a bomb at Gauhati airport, though there were fortunately no casualties.

Some months later, we were anxious to finish the tickets in Air Deccan's Super Flier Plus scheme so another trip to the Darjeeling and Sikkim region was planned. This time we flew in to Bagdogra. Unlike in Gauhati, you get a good view of Air Force planes here. However, in September the visibility was quite poor and we could hardly see the Himalayas both on the inward and outward journey. This was truly a multi-modal transport experience as other modes included the train from Darjeeling to Siliguri as well as a yak at the lake near Nathu La.

Pawan Hans also operates a helicopter from Bagdogra to Gangtok for the Sikkim government-but it is a puny 4-seater.

By then, the Delhi-Dibrugarh flight had gone while there was a similar pattern of srvice between Delhi, Bagdogra and Gauhati.

In early 2004 I had travelled by Alliance Air from Kolkata to Shillong and back. The ATR-42 appeared to be a little better than its counterparts in Air Deccan. At least the food from Taj caterers of Kolkata was good. Shillong airport may qualify as the tiniest terminal in any commercial airport in India.

Many years back (in 1962) we were flying from Silchar to Calcutta on an IAC F-27. This was part of a complicated journey which involved a flight from Calcutta to Chittagong, a train ride to a place near Sylhet and then another train ride across the border to Karimganj.

In those days facilities at places like Silchar were quite rudimentary and generally things were quite laid back. There was one passenger who did not have a confirmed ticket and barged into the plane and refused to budge. There was obviously little or no security at the airport. The pilot was concerned with the worsening weather and said that if the problem wasn't resolved he would take off for Calcutta with or without the passengers. Ultimately one other passenger who did have a ticket agreed to take the next day's flight. But if someone tried something like the waitlisted passenger did today, he would be lucky to escape without being shot.

This flight had a stopover at Agartala-which remains the only time I visited Tripura.
More about Agartala later.