IN DELHI

AS THE half empty flight took off from the Chattrapati Shivaji Domestic Airport on Monday evening, Mumbai, the city that witnessed a horrifying three days of terror, looked beautiful from the sky above.

The swirling white clouds seemed to gather over the city giving it a dreamy look, far away from the tragedies that unfolded last week. But they could not cotton the wounds that all Mumbaikars suffered along with the city and the hostages.

An air-hostess on the Air India flight to Delhi that I was on, told me that since the attacks flights to- and from-Mumbai were flying almost empty. Normally, that would be something unheard of in the festive months of October, November and December in India. That is the time when families travel to celebrate weddings and festivals with their friends and loved ones.

The near-empty flight and the sparsely populated domestic terminal had surprised me earlier in the evening when I arrived at the Mumbai airport, which has been under high alert since Friday.

I had expected long queues at the check-in counter and at the baggage screening section. I had expected to be asked to unlock my luggage umpteen months. I had expected to be checked by security personnel in a manner similar to how passengers were checked in the United States in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.

My father who traveled to New York five months after 9/11 described how he and other non-American passengers were taken to a room where they were asked to remove their shoes and put their hands above their heads while security personnel checked them.

So I had arrived at the airport with enough time in hand. But with the exception of a couple of cops standing behind a barricade outside the airport with guns pointing towards the road to combat any unusual activity or sudden firing, there was not much evidence of the airport on high alert.

There were a few more security personnel milling around than usual. At the entrance, the guard checking our tickets took an extra long time to go over the identity proof that all passengers in India are required to show before gaining entry into the airport.

Then looking up apologetically, he said, "What to do? Now we have to be extra careful while checking."

I nodded. "Yes please check as much as you want. I would rather be harassed by you doing your job than be held hostage," I thought.

Next week, I take a flight back to Singapore from Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport. According to an email by a group called Deccan Mujahideen the next attacks will be in Delhi – at three railway stations and at the international airport.

Once again, I shall be prepared for long queues, extra checking and on alert for anything suspicious.