Fear Of Flying

Longhaul flights always land or leave from the farthest end (arrival: gate A 250, connecting in 10 minutes from gate Z 250; distance: a few miles; location: unknown, except to flight monitors; location of monitors: unknown; airline staff: unavailable for another mile or so). Four immigration counters process EU citizens (low on population) and only two attend to the rest of us, richly reproductive, non-EU world. 'Cattle-class' catering aboard flights to and from India features tired bhindi and German 'channa masala'—to give us our daily fix of both, without which we'd never survive seven flight-hours.