So, there I was, strapped into seat 46A, my boarding pass still crumpled in my fist, and a packet of peanuts unopened in my lap—not because I don’t like peanuts, but because the moment the plane began to taxi, I found myself whispering, “Don’t take off… please, don’t take off!”…


Robert Clements is a newspaper columnist and writes a daily column, which has graced the pages of over 60 newspapers and magazines, from a daily column in the Khaleej Times, Dubai, the Morning Star, London, and in nearly every state in India, from The Statesman in Kolkata, to the Kashmir Times in Kashmir to the Trinity Mirror in Chennai.