Why does God or whoever superior being that’s presiding over us put us in situations that we don’t want to get into sometimes and when his gracious self does put us in there, sometimes we don’t want to let go because even though fleeting, it’s out of the blue, vainglorious and magical.
‘Why’s she acting like she’s into me, why’s she giving me such a hard time, why am I compelled to like her, why does she feel like someone I can relate to?’ The train of thoughts kept plaguing Shiv as he tried his best to act cordial to the dark haired mysterious yet alluring woman in the window seat. They were at 30,000 feet and despite the cabin air pressure being optimized for the passengers his heart beats and blood pressure wouldn’t let him feel alright. “You okay, you seem a little flushed or is it blushed” chirped the wise cracking lady. It hit him again, he had never met such an intelligent yet intriguing and beautiful lady ever before, sure he have had met many but never one with all the things he admired in a person. “Good one” he managed to blurt out, then he composed himself and replied, “it’s nothing, just trying to process that for the first time in a year, I am actually flying next to a person I can actually relate or connect to.”
Shiv was a mess in all sorts, he was late for his flight to Bhubaneswar, the buffoon he relied on to take him to the airport was nothing short of an agent from hell. For starters, he was high on weed as fuck, drove like a maniac and swore by Google Maps like it was the greatest guide Mankind has invented to navigate. “Damn you Bhupi” seethed Shiv with anger, “you almost killed that motorist”, Bhupendra Pratap Singh, the Self Proclaimed Chacha Vidhayak hain Hamare starter pack, was the occasional friend cum hazard living in the same building as Shiv, he was a salesman of many a companies, many being his fickleness to switch jobs as deemed fit. Shiv and Bhupendra were occasional drinking partners and weed smokers in their happy hours. After failing to find a taxi in time for his flight from Benaras, which was a good old two hour drive from Allahabad, Shiv had no options but to switch to shenanigans of Bhupendra to help him drop at the Airport but not before he agreed to the additional demands of lunch at Indraprastha, a dingy yet delicious food serving restaurant at Cantt, Benaras and beer and weed apart from filling up the fuel for the to and fro journey from Allahabad to Benaras.
Everything was alright till Bhupendra drank too many a beer and topped that up with weed and delayed the two hour drive. To make up his mistake, he googled the shortest possible map and started maneuvering the prized hatchback of his Government Servant Father through the narrow bylanes of Benaras. In between the incessant honking and dust and verbal diarrhea of Bhupendra, Shiv sulked and started looking for Next available flights in case he missed this one. As he kept looking the flight list, Bhupendra in true UP Bhaiyaji style, throttled the car into an one-way and drove through the panicking oncoming traffic to keep his word. Soon the Car was pushing through the gates of Lal Bahadur Shastri Airport at Babatpur, Benaras. As Shiv was getting down, Bhupendra jumped up from his seat while leaving the Car in ignition and helped him with the luggage, even though Shiv was mad at the buffoon yet he couldn’t help himself smiling at Bhupendra as he kept his word. “Bhaiya, Dhoom wali entry ke baad Airport wali selfie toh banti hai na”, Bhupendra said while clicking the selfie with Shiv who had started running to get his boarding pass as he had forgot to do Web check in before leaving.
“You are late, Sir” the cocky looking Airport staff at the Air India Counter told Shiv while sizing him up from head to toe. “Yeah, I was stuck in traffic while coming”, Shiv gave the standard reply to the still unconvinced guy who wanted to further discuss but handed the boarding pass to Shiv promptly after he was prodded upon by his superior Official as Shiv was the last passenger and he was delaying the takeoff by holding him there. Shiv was hurriedly assisted through the security check up and helped through the passengers to board the plane. As he entered the plane, he quickly glanced through the peeping eyes to his seat B6, the middle seat which generally no one wants other than aisle or window but as it was his fault that he didn’t forget to web-checkin, he had to comply with the assigned seat. He slowly waded to his seat, as he was late most people had already started to settle in their seats, some older passengers already nodded off. The only movement was from the airhostesses and some children who despite their parents rolled up and angry looking eyes didn’t bother to calm down.
As he reached his seat, he tucked his luggage in the overhead luggage shelf and looked down at his seat and his fellow passengers. C6 was the average Indian flyer, half sleeve, gold chain, Rajnigandha smell greeting from a meter, Blackberry and an Old Nokia Phone, Slickly combed oiled hair and a thousand watt smile. Shiv was accustomed to this particular species apart from other definitive flying passenger species, this was the most common species one would find in the Airplane while travelling, The Great Indian Businessman. Shiv took a quick look at A6, a jacket over head and upper body, lithe and svelte physique and adorned with denim and grey sneakers. It wasn’t clear whether A6 was a man or woman judging from the appearance and posture, managing a quick hello with C6, Shiv sank in to his seat. After a few moments the air hostesses began the regular humdrum of instructions and introduction of the Captain and the crew of the aircraft. As expected C6 began talking on his phone about business until the air hostess politely reminded him to refrain using the phone as the flight was about to take off. C6 grumpily switched to the next best thing available, WhatsApp videos and chitchat with Shiv at the same time through takeoff. Shiv continued to talk with C6 till he could bear his rajnigandha and fake swagger and typical conversation and then politely switched to Netflix after politely asking C6 to let him be. As he plugged his earphone and was about to begin watching Love Actually, A6 woke from siesta.
Taking off the Jacket from her head, A6 looked at the clouds first, then looked at Shiv. ‘Holy Shit, it’s a woman, a beautiful woman, one and a half years of flying Indian Airlines and this is the first time I am sitting beside a beautiful woman’, “When did we take off?”, A6 asked Shiv with a sleepy smile, Shiv was brought down from his elated thoughts by her question. “Hmm, about 10 minutes ago” he replied stiffly while inconspicuously checking her out. A6 yawned and then looked at Shiv, checking him out from head to toe; Shiv was amazed with her confident gaze and the ease with which she looked him up and down. “I assume you too are travelling to Bhubaneswar” came out the dumbest line from Shiv trying to make conversation with A6, “Yeah, is the flight going any place else” replied A6. Shiv smiling sheepishly, tried to explain, “It’s a direct flight, I don’t think it’s a connecting one”, A6 broke into laughter, “I was just pulling your leg, it’s a joke”, Shiv was looking at her beautiful smile as she laughed. “It’s alright”, Shiv replied. He was trying to keep himself together; he quickly looked at the time and mentally calculated the time left for the plane to land. He had exactly one hour before the plane landed in Bhubaneswar, he had to use this time wisely rather than throw it away. C6 had already started snoring and the airhostesses had started to roll out the trolleys for free food and beverages, one of the many perks of flying with the Maharajah. A6 was again looking at the fleeting mass of clouds outside the window.
The Sun shone bright through the glass panes and bathed her face with pristine light, her wheatish complexion looked radiant, her nose ring sparkled and reflected the light around, her dark curly hair which she just let out from hair clip adorned her back and accentuated her neckline and profile. She had a small tattoo of three birds on the nape of her neck, her eyes glistened as she looked at the Sun prying around the clouds, her lip gloss a bright red shade looked like the cherry on top and she smelt like fresh jasmine and roses. Shiv was looking at her continuously when she turned around and caught him staring at her, “So, what do you do, Mr.?” she shot the first arrow, “Uh, I am a Banker”, Shiv responded, “Oh, I see, bankers have upgraded last I checked” she chuckled back at him. Grinning sheepishly, Shiv retorted, “What’s that supposed to mean, Bankers upgraded?”, A6 began to explain, “Actually all the bankers I have seen or envisioned are usually pot bellied, formal clothed, bespectacled middle aged persons, I haven’t ever met a good looking and smart banker like you, that’s what I meant when I said upgraded”, Shiv was elated to hear her words. He suddenly felt happy and cheerful and at the same time anxious that this flight would be only time he could talk to this person he had taken a liking to.
As Shiv explained his blush/flush to A6, she cackled like a baby and began talking even more about her and Shiv. “You are the first ever person from my generation to fly beside me since I have started flying for communication”, Shiv mentioned while digging into the steaming Paneer Tikka, “Really, I have flown many times alongside people of our generation but never felt like interacting with anyone other than regular hi hello” A6 replied in the same vein as Shiv. As she talked about her, Shiv couldn’t help but keep staring at her while she continued to talk about her, there was certainly something about this girl and her smile was infectious, almost enticing and enthralling. She didn’t talk with a faux or fake accent, she spoke as she felt, without any thought process, she cursed whenever she felt like even though she saw the twitch in Shiv whenever she cursed she laughed more and continued. C6 hissed “shameless and Today’s Kids” more than once while she talked with ease with Shiv and then went back to snoring. She loved travelling, loved exploring new places, wanted to own a dog and rid the world from hate and probably want to write a book on her life someday. Shiv thought of Geet from Jab We Met whenever she spoke, she radiated positivity and happiness with her attitude and approach to life. She spoke about her dream to work for underprivileged children possibly under Unicef and travel around the World to explore and help people in any way she can. Shiv was a skeptic who didn’t believe in love at first sight but he was falling for her, he couldn’t believe what he was feeling but he was falling for her.
She was flying to Bhubaneswar as a guest faculty at KISS, an esteemed institute for tribal and underprivileged children after finishing her Masters in Sociology at DU and would be in the city for a week. She was from New Delhi and had been to her Sister’s place in Benaras when she got the call to teach for a week at KISS and if found satisfactory would join as a full time faculty later. She was intelligent, sassy and compassionate and everything Shiv had ever wanted in a girl. He stole a quick glance at his watch, 30 minutes to go, the Captain would announce their descent in about 10-15 minutes and everything will go haywire after that, suddenly he grew restless and hung his face. “Hey, Mr. Banker, what happened? Why did the jolly go to sully?” even though he was grumpy about the ending of this pleasant meeting, her wisecracking did put a smile on his face. He tried putting his emotion in check and replied, “I didn’t plan or expect to meet you but now that I have, I don’t want this meeting to get over nor I want to let go of a person like you.” He finished all this in a breath and then looked sideways before mustering up the courage to look at her face.
She looked at him with curiosity and mock anger, Shiv was clueless and looked back at her with bated breath. The Clock was ticking, suddenly the Captain announced the descent to Bhubaneswar airport, the snoring C6 woke up, suddenly people started to wrap up their things, airhostesses swept up one last stroll for trash and began checking for seatbelts, kids and adults started tidying up for landing. The world around was in motion but two souls were frozen in time. She managed a smile and told Shiv, “We just met and that’s not enough for me to decide about you and your intentions but it was beautiful while it lasted, it was nice meeting you Mr. Banker.” Shiv was devastated and angry with himself at the same time, how could he be so naïve, why did he tell her his feelings and why did he even bother to tell her about his feelings. He fell silent and waited for the plane to land so that this ordeal could get over, A6 stayed silent too, occasionally looking at him and the skyline of Bhubaneswar as they descended. They stepped down the plane and went in the same Airline Bus from the tarmac to the airport. Shiv chose not to look at her as was embarrassed with himself, even when the luggage belt moved and people started getting their stuff and leaving the airport. He took his luggage while stealing one last look at A6 as he would always remember her, the ethereal beauty, the pretentious bitch who made him feel like a loser. As he slumped in the chair and proceeded to call a cab on his phone app, he saw a familiar pair of sneakers walk up to him, surprised he looked up.
“My name is Fatima Rizwan, do search me on facebook and send me a friend request, because if you don’t then I will, whatever time we spent with each other was not enough but I too want to know you better and keep in touch and hopefully don’t let go. You know where I will be and do pick me up and show me around if possible, I wanted to ask about the city but your sullen face looked cuter so I didn’t, but I too don’t want this to be over.” She smiled as she shook his hand while Shiv stood like an idiot and smiled and bid him bye as her cab arrived and before saying bye, slipped a tissue paper in his hand. Shiv held up the crumpled paper after waving her bye and smiled again for she had jotted down her mobile number along with her initials FR.
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