"Can you give me a window seat towards the rear of the aircraft?" I asked. The pretty woman behind the counter made a face. Before she could say anything, I asked "window seat anywhere in the aircraft?" She smiled. I smiled. Seat 4A it was.
Joy has its own reasons. Sometimes, it comes when you notice who ends up sitting next to you in the aircraft. This time, the occupant of seat 4B. She was like heaven sent. It was 0530hrs and I had spent the night at the airport. Food or water wouldn't have been as energizing as the sight of this beauty, for this 28 year old single man.
She didn't smile. She had a long nose, yes and in my imagination, her smile was the single most beautiful thing to have happened to me, for a long time now. The black sweater and the shawl she wore, made her look like a queen. I was sleep deprived, had no energy to smile or even lift my hand. The subconcious took over and the next thing I know is in the next stanza.
She started talking
She asked me to sing
I refused to stop
She let the idea drop
She wanted to keep her head on my shoulder and sleep. Pune to Nagpur is a 75 min journey, but, what do you know, my friend, with her head on my shoulder, it seemed infinite. And then we spoke, spoke, and spoke. The stewardess brought things to sell. To my surprise, she didn't ask either of us. Neither did we bother to look up and say "No, thanks". We drifted off to sleep.
I woke up. She was still sleeping. I found that she was more beautiful than I remembered. She was still wearing the black sweater. There was a certain sense of poise in her that seemed to say "nothing of what you think happened, happened". I was aghast. It was because, I couldn't distinguish between the dream and reality. Just as you couldn't distinguish between prose and poetry earlier. I had to tell myself, it was all a dream. I had a very tough time in trying to think what was a dream and what wasn't. She didn't even notice you, let alone talk.
And it was time for me to go. The aircraft was headed to Delhi. I realized I had to wake her up for me to get off the aircraft. I barely managed "excuse me" which didn't even reach my years. I then sat down, brought myself in what I thought was an audible area for her. I feared I'd say "you're beautiful" aloud. I heard myself say "excuse me". Thankfully, she heard too. She saw me and stood. I did the same, left and didn't turn back.
3 comments:
Now, why does it remind me of 'Sleeping Beauty and Airplane'! You sound like Marcquez in the making!
You, Medhini, I must say, are very generous with your words. Very.
:) Wow!! Looks like she had a big time impression upon you !!! Awesome :) This blog brought a big smile to my face ..
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