FLYING TO JERUSALEM OVER THE YEARS

I was flying to Jerusalem. It was my maiden flight. I was going to Israel for a three-month field trip; what a luxury.

- P R KUMARASWAMY

These days, financial constraints considerably reduce the JNU-sponsored field visits to a week or ten days. The support in those pre-economic reform era came with 25 dollars per diem, along with international tickets. While the university committee approved my field trip in May 1987, procedural issues, RBI clearance, and budgetary process delayed it by a year. Finally, the trip was set for the mid-1988, a few months after the outbreak of the First Palestinian Intifada.

But there was a catch. Since tickets were state-paid, one could fly only by Air India or on tickets issued by it. Planning the itinerary was horrendous. Jerusalem has no international airport, and its small airport was not accepting international flights. So one has to land at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, about 60 km from Jerusalem (the relatively shorter Route 1 between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv came much later).

The time was 1988 and there were no diplomatic relations between India and Israel. Air India office suggested a circuitous route; Delhi-Rome-Tel Aviv-Cairo-Mumbai-Delhi. Cost and frequency removed Rome as the transit point for the return journey. As the ticket was paid in full, I was upgraded into Maharaja Class moments before boarding. As a first-time traveler, I was naïve about the frills and privileges of first-class travel. Had my first Coke and quickly went to sleep. The pilot woke me up with an announcement that we were flying over Lebanon. As I was looking at the beautiful Mediterranean coastline, the kid in me wondered: Why Rome? Can’t I parachute here and reach Israel?