Caught In The Cyclone Of Love (COMPLETED)

Chapter 11

PRESENT:
Someone tapped me on my shoulder and I got irritated and turned my head to my right to see a woman in her early forties looking at me. I raised my eyebrows in question, to which she looked at the waitress in her deep blue uniform standing there with a pleasant smile on her face. "Would you like a drink, Mam?", she asked in her thick American accent. "Just water, please", I told her and started sipping it.

I noticed the lady beside me, having some medicine with a glass of orange juice and I looked at her confused. Who the hell has medicine with juice? She must have understood my unasked question, because she answered me, "I don't like tablets because they are bitter, and my brothers used to give me medicine with juice, when I was young. I guess it stuck along as I grew up" I nodded my head at her answer, as I was perplexed about how forth coming, she was. If I were her, I would not even bother answering to an unasked question to a stranger.

She kept taking deep breaths every now and then, at first, I did not bother about her actions, but when I saw her rubbing her chest I panicked and rose up from my seat to call for help. She held my hand and forced me to sit back on my seat. "Mam, you are struggling to breath, I think you need medical assistance", I told her and was about to call the airhostess, when she shook her head vigorously. "No dear, this is normal for me and I know how to control it, there is no need to scare the whole plane", she told me in a slightly breathless voice.

I took a bottle of water and gave it to her to drink it and she gulped it in one go, then she took an inhaler out of her bag and took a few puffs from it. After fifteen minutes she looked somewhat ok, but I was still paranoid. It is a long flight and I won't be able to forgive myself, if something happened to her because of my nonchalance. "Aunty, you know, we could still land at the next stop and get a quick checkup, just to make sure you are alright", I asked her slowly. "No dear, I am perfectly alright. This is not something I am not used to and I can handle it myself. And I don't want to miss this chance to sit next to my little angel", she said the last sentence in a low voice. Maybe she is referring to the girl on the adjacent seat, with bouncing pig tails, so I did not question her further.

Three hours into the flight and I was extremely bored. I tried watching a movie, playing video games and listening to music, but nothing helped me to kill the boredom. I did not bring any books with me, so I could not read them like the aunty near me. She seems good now and is reading a book for the last two hours. I asked her to sleep but she insisted that she is not tired and kept reading. I huffed in annoyance and yanked my head phones from my ears and stopped the movie, I was watching. It is really so boring. God, how am I going to survive another five hours.

The bold lady beside me, whose name I learnt is Anamika, shut her book and turned towards me. The reason I call her bold is, for how she handled the situation, if it were me in her place, I would have freaked out and yelled for help. "You are bored?", she asked me, with slight amusement in her voice. I just nodded my head, "I have not been in a plane for two years, I am feeling extremely bored with nothing to do", I told her. I was never someone to sit still for more than ten minutes, afraid that if I have nothing to do, I will be dragged back into the dark hole. When I was young, I would try and sleep, if I had any free time. But now, I can't even sleep at night, then sleeping in a moving plane is not possible.

She took something out of her bag and gave it to me. A lollipop, seriously. Anyway, I took it from her and started eating it. I always liked chocolates, especially lollipops and popsicles. She watched me eat it with some deep and different emotion in her eyes. I took the lollipop out of my mouth and asked her, "You are not trying to sedate me, are you?". Even though I asked her playfully, she looked slightly offended, but masked it quickly and replied me with a smile that she is not a kidnapper.

"So, tell me. What do you do?", she asked me when I finished my chocolate. She looked genuinely interested when she asked this, so I decided to tell her what I do. I told her all about my career and life in London and she listened with full attention. In return I asked about her, and I bet I saw a slight hesitation in her eyes and demeanor, before she masked it with a smile. "I have been living here with my niece for the past two years, and now I am going to India to see my family", she told me with a faint smile, and I wondered if there is some problem in her family.

I told her about Anika's wedding and she told me all about the rituals in her family and kept me entertained for the rest of the ride. I frankly don't know, why she told me about the rituals, but I did feel happy to talk to her. I think it helped her distract herself from her illness, I did not probe about her illness, she would have told me, if she wanted to. We had our breakfast and lunch together, and I was surprised to find out that we have the same taste in not only food, but in many other aspects too. We share the same interest in books and movies too.

Thankfully I did not feel bored for the rest of my ride and we watched an Indian movie together. We even gossiped a bit about the actors and I felt completely at ease, talking to her. Normally I don't feel comfortable with strangers, yet her sweetness and soft voice broke that barrier. This is what my therapist must have told when she asked me to befriend strangers many years ago, but I was too apprehensive to even think of that. Now that I have a good companion like her, I might also befriend strangers in future too.

After what felt like an eternity, we finally landed in New Delhi. I must have slept while talking to her, because I found myself waking up to the voice of the captain saying that we were about to land. When I woke up, Anami aunty (she insisted I call her that) gave me a bottle of water to drink, and I accepted it gladly. She kept smiling at me, with a happy glint in her eyes. When I asked her what makes her smile, she just shrugged it off.

The plane stopped in the runway and all of us got out of the plane and headed towards the terminal. Geez, that was a ride to remember. The climate of Delhi differs so much from London. The sun was setting and it was a view to capture with the birds flying towards their nest, so I took out my phone, took a picture of myself with the setting sun and sent it to Krish, informing him that I have safely landed in India.

I collected all my luggage and made my way towards the gate, with Anamika aunty trailing behind me. I spotted a middle-aged man, standing outside with my name written on the board in his hand, so I walked towards him and introduced myself. He looked at me from head to toe, nodded his head and began taking my luggage to the car. Aunty was still trailing behind me, so I turned towards her. "Aunty, it was pleasure meeting you. I would have died of boredom in the plane, if it were not for you. Thank you so much", I joked and hugged her.

"No need to thank me dear, I just did what I had to do. Don't even joke about death again", she scolded me by twisting my ear and I whined at her to leave it. She smiled at my whines and finally left my ear when I promised her that I would not joke about death. Poor aunty, she does not know anything about me. "Aunty, I can drop you anywhere if you want", I asked her, but she shook her head and told me that her son would be there any minute. So, I left her after exchanging numbers and a promise that I will meet her later. Surprisingly, talking to her did not feel strange at all. It feels like talking to a friend.

India still looks the same even after so many days, and I felt a sense of warmth wash over me when I set my foot in my home country. The driver uncle, whose name is Balram kept driving for who knows how long and I just kept staring out the window, with my head slightly stuck out like a five-year-old. The city still looks busy and crowded, with tall buildings and never-ending chatter of people. I missed it a lot. Welcome back, Sanjana. 

TO BE CONTINUED.......

HI DEAR FOLKS. HAPPY READING.

PLEASE GIVE A SWEET KISS TO THAT TWINKLING STAR WITH EXPECTANT EYES WITH YOUR FINGER.... UNTIL NEXT CHAPTER BYE. TAKE CARE...