A memorable Moment

“What’s the hurry?” She asked and held my hand. She was still sitting there on the rusty old chairs in the waiting hall of Mumbai Airport. Her hand was soft. They didn’t give me any electric shocks as publicized in the reel life but they were indeed different. I loved her and she was aware of the fact very well. At the same time, she never felt for me and I was well aware of the fact too. Somewhere within I knew she had restrictions, goals and responsibilities and we not being together was good for both of us but still, I loved her… you see you can’t change the way you feel no matter how well aware you are about the situations, future and her denial… I turned. She is an epitome of innocence or rather, innocence is an epitome of Kangan Sharma, that’s what they named her.

I looked straight into her eyes… there is something in her eyes that mesmerizes me. With every clock’s tick, realizations started surfacing… there is something in her face that attracts me, there is something in her curls that makes me go crazy, there is definitely something in her that makes every bit of me feel so connected, so bonded to her! She wasn’t Miss Universe yet, if she would stand beside me as my better half, we would make just ‘the perfect couple’. Her hair was open and was swaying all over her face making me go awry-tawry. She shook me, out of my imaginations, back to the real world.

“What??? Boarding shuru ho gayi hi… look people are queued up. Chalo…” I said pointing towards a long queue of passengers, with ticket in their hands, lined in front of Gate 11 to board the same flight as ours, headed towards Delhi. “Toh kya tum itni lambi line mein khade hoge? Who bhi itne saare samaan lekar? Pagal ho kya? Moreover, they give a ‘Last Boarding’ call. If any registered passenger is still missing, they announce his/her name. Samjhe kuch?” She pulled my hand indicating to sit down. I know Kangan speaks a lot, a paragraph for a line, a line for a word and so on… but here, she was right, why was I hurrying? As I sat, she continued “I don’t understand what’s to hurry? What’s the point in being first? Jo mera hai who toh mera hi rahega na? (Here she meant the seat number) Race thode na hai”! She looked at me and involuntarily blinked her eyes.

I wondered away. It’s true that you never know when and what turns your life; changes your thinking and most importantly alters your state of mind like it just happened to me. Her one thought solved the messed up puzzle in my mind. ‘I was so worried since a week or two. Last year of engineering yet, I didn’t have an internship. I didn’t have a job either. I had worked so hard for past three years in order to become a successful Computer Engineer but I couldn’t even make it to be a perfect 10 pointer, leave aside rest of the things. I was so ashamed of my unsuccessful fate, was so ashamed that even though being one of the good students I couldn’t make to any company while others were through in a go; was so ashamed of being myself. I couldn’t meet anyone’s eyes because each pair of them had the same sarcastic statement “Vatsya Naman, you have an excellent technical knowledge”. I was running… simply running away. Why? That’s because I took it as a race. Always! Looking at other people in the queue of success going to board the same flight of life I was standing there too, waiting for my turn; not realizing the fact that if I had a ticket of economy class, I can never get a seat of business class no matter how hard I try, no matter where I stand, no matter if I was first or last. She taught me in a very simple way that life is a game in which you never lose. And the person who learns this discovers the treasure of happiness and satisfaction; i.e. peace of mind.’ I looked at her. ‘I did understand why, even though she wasn’t one of the toppers, was considered one of the best; why she never wanted her grade points 8.96 to be 9.00; why she was never ashamed of being un-successful. She was happy and satisfied. I loved her even more now. Innocent plus simple.’

I heard the last boarding announcement. She stood. So did I. I avoided looking into her eyes as she had just hit the most sensitive chord within me and I didn’t want any outburst of my emotions to spoil this day. We showed our tickets, came out of the door and hurried down the flight of stairs. The minute we stepped the last stair, the shuttle left. We two were the last passengers. I looked at her and she simply smiled. I saw she crossed her fingers but I couldn’t understand for what until I heard her mummer “God please pilot’s cab!” When I turned around I could see a blue cab coming from a distance. ‘Awww… It was an airhostess cab… still better and different than the rest!’ The crew man sent us in it which was luckily, at the same instance, speeding towards the same airbus…V.I.P treatment. She turned towards me, bent, whispered “Kyun? Ab bolo… mazza aaya na? Special treatment”, pushed me in beside the air hostess who smiled and wished us, and took the window seat. ‘Uske liye toh jaan bhi kurbaan hai…’ No sooner she lowered the window glass, cold chilly wind hit her face and her hair hit my face along with the wind. It smelled good. It felt good. Besides, the airhostess on the other side was HAAUUUGGGHHT! I had never enjoyed this much being last.