A short and unforgettable interaction.
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It was one of those routine domestic flights of about two hours’ duration, only it was in the U.S., a country with which I am not too familiar. I had a window seat and settled down in it, hoping to catch up with some reading.
As the plane took off and gained height, I opened my book and started reading it where I had left off. Soon I espied something strange. An eye was staring at me from between the gap between the two seats in front. Suddenly the eye spoke, in a girlish voice. “Indian?” it asked. Thrown off balance, I mumbled a yes. Almost on cue, the voice switched to Hindi. And boy! The assurance with which the girl spoke! She said she lived near Los Angeles with her parents and her grandparents and was going to San Antonio with her grandmother. Then she cracked a few mild jokes about her grandpa — on his propensity to fall asleep within minutes of switching on the TV after dinner.
She had a world view, taught her by her father. All boys should have Krishna as their ideal and all girls, Radha! Soon the stewardess came along, pushing the service trolley. The assurance with which she chose items from the packets of small eats being offered, both for herself and her grandma, left me in no doubt about who was escorting whom. She then asked me what I was reading, and when I told her it was a book on astronomy, she demanded that she be allowed to read portions from it. Sensing that she would brook no refusal, I thought on my feet, and turning to the page where the author explains through a chart how there is a short way of writing numbers with many zeroes after them such as say 1000 = 103, handed her the book. She caught on almost immediately, and soon she was explaining the concept to her grandma. To cut a long story short, time flew! There was not a dull moment. She held me in thrall for the entire flight, speaking in a very earthy form of Hindi.
Soon the plane landed in San Antonio. Unbuckling her seat, she turned to another passenger sitting on the other side of the aisle, and switching to a near perfect American drawl, says, “Can you help me bring our bags down?” Getting out of the aircraft I bid her and her grandma a reluctant goodbye, after asking whether they needed any help. “No thank you,” says her grandma, “The little one is smart. She will take care of everything.” By then, a bond has developed between that little girl and me. And I could tell from her eyes that she was as loath to say goodbye to me as I was to her. Some people are like that. They spread sunshine wherever they go. And then they vanish like a fairy, leaving an empty feeling behind. And dumb me! I had not even asked the girl her name!
Published – April 27, 2025 02:47 am IST