I glanced at the woman besides me. She was wriggling her fingers and nervously moving her legs. I am not one to judge on the basis of appearance, but she looked like a simpleton to me. She was dressed plainly in a short kurti and jeans. She had frizzy hair and had brought along with her a packed lunch from home. Her large rucksack was roughly stuffed between her legs. Prior to the take-off, she had spoken to almost all of her clan. While I couldn’t understand the language she spoke in, I could make out from her tone that she was assuring the person on the line of her comfort and safety. It led me to wonder whether my parents knew about my whereabouts. Probably not. I shrugged the thought aside. I shall tell them later.
There was a plethora of people on the flight. Business men and women – smartly dressed with a bored albeit tense look on their faces, families with squealing kids, stone faced young adults with all kinds of gizmos attached to their heads and supremely anxious senior citizens. Then of course, there was the group of people I truly disliked. The ones who chose to rambunctiously chat with each other, while simultaneously watching boisterous content on their devices at full volume. Headphone anyone?
The flight was one of the rockiest ones I had ever rode on. There was constant turbulence. Earlier, turbulence was something I detested, but ever since I started flying frequently, I’ve grown to enjoy it. Its like being gently rocked to sleep. Most of the people around me seemed largely unfazed by the constant movement of the aircraft. But the lady who sat besides me was besides herself. She held the armrests with clenched hands. Her face was flushed, eyes red and a steady stream of tears flowed down her cheek. I, on the other hand, was rather enjoying the sudden jerks of the airplane, and how my tummy dropped every time the aircraft dipped.
Yes, there were jerks that left me fazed too. During those, I maintained a calm countenance and held my hands together waiting for the tremors to subside. I reckon, I even had a good nap on the flight!
Soon the lady besides me started muttering a prayer beneath her breath. Her curly hair seemed frizzier than before, as if the stress had further activated them. Her hands had grown clammy and she left marks of perspiration all over the shared armrest.
Our descent was relatively smooth and the lady besides me let out a victorious yelp as we landed on the runway. As soon as the aircraft came to a halt, she hurriedly turned on her phone and called who I assume were her parents. With animated gestures she began describing to them her perilous ordeal. While she did so, I caught the gaze of a baby whose mother happened to be seated in the row diagonal to me. What a beautiful baby he was! I observed that he had peacefully slumbered during the flight. Even while he was awake, he seemed unbothered by the rocking and cooed every time we had a particularly impactful jerk.
After disembarking, I called my father. Told him I had just landed at my destination and that I was travelling. “How was the flight”, he asked. I thought for a moment, before I replied. “Very smooth dad, very smooth.”
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