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sanya310
Guest
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“I’m sorry, Ms Laila, there’s not much I can do”, the clerk said irritatingly. I sighed. Everything was going so well. It was a fine Sunday morning and I was right on time to the airport for my flight to Mumbai. But something had to go wrong, AS USUAL.
There had somehow been a cancellation and my seat was given to someone else. I was pestering the counter guy over there for around an hour now.
“Come on, Mr. counter guy, there has been a mistake like I have been telling you for ages now. There should be something you can do!”, I yelled.
“Ma’am, only if you stop screaming your head off, will I give you a solution. Let me put you on the next flight which leaves in 3 hours”.
“3 hours!!! You must be crrrrrrrazy!”
The one thing I did not have, is patience. And this man standing here had just asked me to while away 3 long-ass hours at this freaky heathrow airport. I sighed again. I had no choice.
“One order of Big Mac combo coming right up. Upsize, ma’am?”.
“Yes, Please hurry up though.”
I made myself comfortable on a table not too far away from the counter of Mc D’s. My stomach was growling and I tried to focus my attention on other things. Other, trivial, un-important things. I turned over to check out the people sitting on my left side. It was filled with a million kids meal boxes. I noticed it was family with a million kids! I tried to see clearly and I counted. 1,2,3,4,5..Yeah, there were only 5 kids, the eldest being maybe around 7-8 years old. Whoa, good going, mommy and daddy. I wonder where they get the sort of patience, I thought with a chuckle.
On my right was our very own Mr.lonesome-rich-businessman-who-only-has-a-salad-for-lunch types. He was young, and unmarried, I guessed. He looked tensed and probably hadn’t even realized that he resembled a worried mouse. He ate so fast, I thought ‘uske pet mein choohe daud rahe honge’ (rats must be running around in his tummy). I laughed at my own pun. ‘Sigh’, was I bored or what?
I was glad when my number was called. I collected my order and started to hog. I glanced at the 5 kids who were literally bringing down the house and then to Mr.lonesome, who..had disappeared. Hes fast, I thought. We could probably have a race sometime. I noticed he had left a neatly folded paper next to his neatly unfinished ranch dressing. People who know me well would pretty much guess what I’d do next.
I went over and opened it.
‘Dearest Beta,
Hope you are in good health. I really don’t have the time to give you all the details, but Papa’s state is deteriorating by the minute. We tried your cellphones and all your office contact numbers, but all in vain. The last time we spoke, 2 years and 4 months ago, you sounded very upset. I tried calling you even then, and I sent a million letters. But beta, you haven’t replied to even one.
The people at the hospital tell us that your Papa doesn’t have much time in this world. That cant be true na, beta? Your papa was saying, I wont die until I get my Avi married. I wont die until I am done playing horseback with my grandchildren. Will his wish come true, Avi beta? It will, na?
Beta I really hope things are fine with you. I don’t want to interfere much, and im not forcing anything upon you. Its your dying father’s last wish. Please come see him, beta. The Avi who grew up in front of my very own eyes, would.
With love,
Daai-jaan.’
I wiped off a tear trickling down my cheek and pocketed the letter. How can a person be so full of himself? No one can ignore their parents like that. Sigh, that’s what happens to these youngsters. They come here and get so busy living such a comfortable life, they don’t feel the need to look after their folks. Suddenly I missed my mom like nuts. Dad was no longer in this world and mom had done everything, toiled day and night to bring me up and sent me abroad for studies. I felt like giving her a tight hug. ‘I love you mom!’, I closed my eyes and whispered.
Time to move on, I guessed. I hurried over, shouldered my duffel bag and picked up my coke. I was wandering around the duty free shops, checking out some French perfumes, but I couldn’t really get the letter incident out of my head. I wish I could teach the nincompoop a lesson!
I was so lost in thoughts that I bumped into someone, as usual. I dropped my coke and he dropped his cell phone. I looked up to find a mousy face looking back at me.
Huh? How Filmy!, I thought.
“Sorry, I guess I wasn’t looking”, he said. His voice isn’t squeaky atleast, I thought.
“Ofcourse you weren’t!” I scowled. Like I was gonna be a sweet damsel and admit it was my fault..
“Im sorry again. Can I buy you another coke?” He looked genuinely sorry. I decided not to give him my scorch anymore.
“its ok, I was done anyway”, I replied.
He smiled and walked off.
‘Go say sorry to your folks and buy your dad another life if you can ’, I mumbled to myself.
Time check. I glanced at my cell phone and realized I had an hour left before boarding. Yeah, who wears wrist watches when u have a mobile phone?
Another hour, I thought to myself. Time sure flies when you’ve got stuff on your mind. I took a glance at my ticket. ‘Gate 16’, it read. I looked around for directions and realized it was way far ahead and I started walking towards it.
On my way I came across a really cute pair of blonde twins. I quickly took out my cell phone and clicked a picture. It does pay to own a camera phone, I thought and smiled to myself. As I took a seat, I realized I wasn’t the only one smiling.
Mr. Mouse was seated nearby, smiling back sheepishly, as he looked up from his newspaper. ‘No, please, don’t tell me hes on the same flight as me’, I prayed. I couldn’t stand an ungrateful jerk like him anymore.
I was glad the flight was pre-poned by 20 minutes and they started taking passengers in. I grabbed my bag and headed towards the plane.
I was showed my seat by the flight attendant and I took the window seat. An elderly gori mem sat next to me.
Phew, no Mr. mouse here at least. Or I’d really feel like I was a character from some karan johar movie.
I put on my headphones and started humming to Michael Buble.
[to be continued]
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