Like a hundred other passengers waiting to fly to Karachi, Mehrunissa's countdown to take-off was aborted several hours ago. They have been camping at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International airport since Wednesday night, hoping that Indian Airlines and PIA officials or at least the airport authorities would at least drop a hint about the resumption of flights but there's not an ounce of hope. ``I've just made an STD call to Karachi to tell my sons that we are stranded here,'' adds Mehrunissa. Her teenaged grandson says they have been without proper meals since morning as every four hours or so they were told that the flightsmay resume ``at any moment''.

``We were supposed to leave for Karachi by IA flight IC-631 at 12.30 am today; but are still here. But what really irks us is that even a cup of tea at the check-in counter costs an exorbitant Rs 10,'' remarks another Pakistani, Mohammed Din (51) who was visiting relatives in Ahmedabad. Moosa Poyil (54) chips in: ``We all love our country and our homes, which is why all of us are ready to camp at the airport indefinitely just to reach our homeland no matter what the political situation.''

PIA officials were tight-lipped and merely asked passengers to meet IA officials. IA officials in turn reeled off the routine flight schedule.

Several Indians, like Asif Pasha (28) shared the Pakistanis' predicament. ``I had to rush to Karachi to attend my brother-in-law's funeral. Now I don't know if I shall make it on time,'' he says. R Mahsoom Os, was cursing his luck for booking a PIA flight. ``I work in Muscat and had booked a PIA flight from Mumbai via Karachi. Now all I know is thatthe coup has changed all my plans,'' he remarks. With his visa scheduled to expire on October 17, his invectives were indeed pungent.