There are only a few things more irritating than standing in a line.
Maybe listening to the casual girlfriend complaining again about how
less time I've been spending with her of late. The work was getting to
me and I had become a zombie shuttling between airports every fourth
day. The only consolation was that they were paying well. Ah ! Who was I
kidding ? I had sold my soul to the corporates and they were feasting
on me like I was a sub-course. I looked at my watch only to realize that
I had been on this line for the past fifteen minutes.There was some
hold up ahead , an old lady seen arguing with the security over the
contents of her bag. I sighed and slipped into one of my endless
daydreams . I knew I had a tough day ahead. My boss's final words to me
as I was getting out of my office broke my reverie as I grasped the
reality of my situation. I had to get this deal done today. Or else I
was in big trouble.
As my turn came, the unusually suspicious guard eyed me closely as if I was Bin Laden's cousin. Visibly shaken from the ordeal with the granny and dealing with some irate passengers had made him a bit miffed. Meek as I was , I had no intention of alarming this guy with any antics here. I carefully removed my metallic objects and moved through the scanner.
Beep !
I hate airports. No matter how many times I tried, I could never get a clean sweep. I checked if I had forgotten anything and seeming as I hadn't, I calmly raised my arms for the manual sweep , which, I might add, always left me feeling a bit violated.
Over the next 45 minutes, I played tetris on my cell, picked a sandwich, watched the TV in the lounge, drank some water, visited the loo and stared at fellow passengers.There was only so much you could do to kill time. Finally on the boarding call, I boarded a bus on the tarmac which led me to the plane.
Getting inside a plane was also kind of a pain. For a guy who stands at 6 feet 4 inches, most places, as cramped as this ,are.I checked my seat, an aisle one , and pushed my luggage on top. Sitting down , my worries of the impending deal took over, as soon as I hit cushion. Fifteen minutes later, I still had no takers on the window seat so I started thinking about the switch. " Excuse me" . I looked at the woman who pointed at the seat next to me and nodded. I got up and let her slide by to the window seat.
I took my seat and clamped my seatbelt.Thankfully the plane took off nicely and we were still god's sweet children.I settled down for a long nap, soon dozing off no longer than I hit the pillow given to me.The rest was short lived as the stewardess came minutes later asking if I wanted snacks.Irritated, I turned her down. The sleep was blown to hell. I glanced over at the woman next to me and offered a smile. She did not smile back. Cold. I died a bit inside. Its not often that the seat next to you goes to a woman , that too of about your age. Hell , most of the times its old mothers or sweet little kids who make noise and shatter your hopes of a good nap. This was different. She was dressed businesslike and her laptop completed her statement. With hair tied down and an overbearing shade of lipstick, almost overcompensating, she had lost all hopes of being a subtle business woman in a boy's club. Her posture was not relaxed which suggested either a stiff back or a pretense of always being ready. I wondered what was she ready for now , here on the plane ? A crash ?
" Are you going to keep looking at my work and/or me , depending upon what you're looking at, throughout this journey ? Because if you are, I must warn you , I have a particularly shrill voice that transcends the sound barrier and I am also capable of making a ruckus here , such a ruckus in fact that for the next 5 hours, everyone will be staring at you and wondering where did you go wrong. Also, I hate ogling creatures, be it frogs or men, and I would simply love it if you could direct your intentions towards someone unassuming, the stewardess or maybe the mother of two over there , perhaps ? "She resumed working.
The plane was cruising and I was a little lost for words. I took a breath and sank in just what had happened here. " Madam, As wonderful as you may think you are and as stunning your new laptop may be , I suffer from normality. Its a wonderful condition that I love to live in day in and day out. I often wonder what it is that drove women at work with such passion , but I can safely say that I am nowhere near to my answer unless you do prove to be a bundle of joy and convince me that its my new cologne. I had no intention of hitting on you and definitely not on snooping on your work , because , unlike you , I am not concerned with the daily lives of unimportant people. I do not share soap stories and I definitely do not like offering advices. Unless this plane goes down from here and I 'accidentally' bump into you or scratch your precious laptop , I have no desire to be part of the one woman zero-class act that you seem to be carrying." I smiled sweetly to drive home the point.
" Hi... I am Sonia. Sonia Sherawat. And I am sorry for before. I am just stressed. I apologize for bursting out like that." She offered me her hand.
Jackpot !
Grinning stupidly , I shook her hand. " Tanmay Chandra. And don't talk to me about stress. I wonder all the time when will it mercifully just kill me " I laughed. " Looks like you're at the bad end of things here. Rushing a presentation ?" I ventured. She quietly closed her laptop and said " Maybe. but You'll never know. I am sorry , I cant talk about it. Its kinda hush hush. Besides I dont see you divulging much about yourself ?" And there started a flurry of cross questions and visibly feeble attempts at humorous answers. I was a 28 year old consultant working for the past 3 years in a field , honestly sometimes I just wished to leave. She was also an assistant consultant but mostly to a crew of 4. I was beginning to understand where the rage came from . Working for 4 guys and doing everything for them , right from getting coffee to drawing annual sales reports by the minute of zeroed in companies. Our lines of work were quite similar and soon enough we had our common ground. The good thing about finding that one home base is that we could complain as much as we wanted about the coffee and the sales reports. It was mundane work and we knew it. The fancy promises that lured us from our respective business schools and pushed us into a wilderness of corporate enslavement were reminisced. The bosses were verbally flogged and the hours cursed. Suddenly the plane ride wasn't that boring. I pushed a bit further.
" So , what do you do for fun ? you know , whatever hours are left in the day ?" My advances were measured, my steps thought of in advance. " You mean if I have a boyfriend and do I love to hang with him?" She laughed."I thought you had no intention of hitting on me ! " I was embarrassed. Time for a saving grace I thought. " Well .... do you ? " Damn! I should think about this more carefully ! " Well, no. I had one but now I don't. End of story. Judging from the question I can gather that you are single." She smiled deceivingly." Yeah.. stuff rarely works out if you work these maddening hours."
Over the next 4 hours and 10 minutes we bonded and in a strange way. We had so much in common and yet were completely different. Each with a brand of quirks and with a brand of insane. I hadn't noticed till now , but as the plane was turning for final approach I realized we were holding hands.It was strange that a flight journey had got me to a place where I never thought a 7000 bucks ticket would get me.
" Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We will soon be landing . I request you to kindly remain seated with the seat belts on. Thank you" The speaker was impersonal. A harsh reminder to the end of the journey.I turned to Sonia to ask her to dinner. Then everything went to hell.
The plane swerved and turned rapidly losing control of friction on the tarmac. I could see the wing touch the ground soon and sparks flying all over.What the hell ! How did this happen ? Amidst the screams and yells for help , I saw her face. It was ashen , fear stricken .Somehow we were still holding hands.I screamed. " Sonia ! Hang on to me ! And get down for god sakes !" It was no good. She had almost lost it. There were no tears no expressions anymore. With one last look she yelled, " Don't worry about me ! We're all dead anyway ! I'm just glad I have someone here next to me." The flames were almost at an arms reach. Suddenly , there were a couple of explosions and all I could see was .......
" Sir ! Would you like some snacks sir? Or maybe something to drink ?" The stewardess in her calm smile. Looking perfect. I took stock for a moment. Sweating profusely, I was hardly in a state to refuse a drink. " Scotch on the rocks . Please !" I pleaded. She was kind enough to leave me to attend to that drink. As I wiped the sweat off my forehead, I turned to the window seat to see her. And there she was. Just as in my dream. "Sonia?" I blurted involuntarily. She turned to me ,waited , smiled and said " I'm sorry you must have me mistaken with someone else. I don't know you." I sighed . Maybe it was relief , maybe it wasn't. I didn't know. I could see my drink coming up . " But I am curious as to how you know my name." she said as she leaned closer.
As my turn came, the unusually suspicious guard eyed me closely as if I was Bin Laden's cousin. Visibly shaken from the ordeal with the granny and dealing with some irate passengers had made him a bit miffed. Meek as I was , I had no intention of alarming this guy with any antics here. I carefully removed my metallic objects and moved through the scanner.
Beep !
I hate airports. No matter how many times I tried, I could never get a clean sweep. I checked if I had forgotten anything and seeming as I hadn't, I calmly raised my arms for the manual sweep , which, I might add, always left me feeling a bit violated.
Over the next 45 minutes, I played tetris on my cell, picked a sandwich, watched the TV in the lounge, drank some water, visited the loo and stared at fellow passengers.There was only so much you could do to kill time. Finally on the boarding call, I boarded a bus on the tarmac which led me to the plane.
Getting inside a plane was also kind of a pain. For a guy who stands at 6 feet 4 inches, most places, as cramped as this ,are.I checked my seat, an aisle one , and pushed my luggage on top. Sitting down , my worries of the impending deal took over, as soon as I hit cushion. Fifteen minutes later, I still had no takers on the window seat so I started thinking about the switch. " Excuse me" . I looked at the woman who pointed at the seat next to me and nodded. I got up and let her slide by to the window seat.
I took my seat and clamped my seatbelt.Thankfully the plane took off nicely and we were still god's sweet children.I settled down for a long nap, soon dozing off no longer than I hit the pillow given to me.The rest was short lived as the stewardess came minutes later asking if I wanted snacks.Irritated, I turned her down. The sleep was blown to hell. I glanced over at the woman next to me and offered a smile. She did not smile back. Cold. I died a bit inside. Its not often that the seat next to you goes to a woman , that too of about your age. Hell , most of the times its old mothers or sweet little kids who make noise and shatter your hopes of a good nap. This was different. She was dressed businesslike and her laptop completed her statement. With hair tied down and an overbearing shade of lipstick, almost overcompensating, she had lost all hopes of being a subtle business woman in a boy's club. Her posture was not relaxed which suggested either a stiff back or a pretense of always being ready. I wondered what was she ready for now , here on the plane ? A crash ?
" Are you going to keep looking at my work and/or me , depending upon what you're looking at, throughout this journey ? Because if you are, I must warn you , I have a particularly shrill voice that transcends the sound barrier and I am also capable of making a ruckus here , such a ruckus in fact that for the next 5 hours, everyone will be staring at you and wondering where did you go wrong. Also, I hate ogling creatures, be it frogs or men, and I would simply love it if you could direct your intentions towards someone unassuming, the stewardess or maybe the mother of two over there , perhaps ? "She resumed working.
The plane was cruising and I was a little lost for words. I took a breath and sank in just what had happened here. " Madam, As wonderful as you may think you are and as stunning your new laptop may be , I suffer from normality. Its a wonderful condition that I love to live in day in and day out. I often wonder what it is that drove women at work with such passion , but I can safely say that I am nowhere near to my answer unless you do prove to be a bundle of joy and convince me that its my new cologne. I had no intention of hitting on you and definitely not on snooping on your work , because , unlike you , I am not concerned with the daily lives of unimportant people. I do not share soap stories and I definitely do not like offering advices. Unless this plane goes down from here and I 'accidentally' bump into you or scratch your precious laptop , I have no desire to be part of the one woman zero-class act that you seem to be carrying." I smiled sweetly to drive home the point.
" Hi... I am Sonia. Sonia Sherawat. And I am sorry for before. I am just stressed. I apologize for bursting out like that." She offered me her hand.
Jackpot !
Grinning stupidly , I shook her hand. " Tanmay Chandra. And don't talk to me about stress. I wonder all the time when will it mercifully just kill me " I laughed. " Looks like you're at the bad end of things here. Rushing a presentation ?" I ventured. She quietly closed her laptop and said " Maybe. but You'll never know. I am sorry , I cant talk about it. Its kinda hush hush. Besides I dont see you divulging much about yourself ?" And there started a flurry of cross questions and visibly feeble attempts at humorous answers. I was a 28 year old consultant working for the past 3 years in a field , honestly sometimes I just wished to leave. She was also an assistant consultant but mostly to a crew of 4. I was beginning to understand where the rage came from . Working for 4 guys and doing everything for them , right from getting coffee to drawing annual sales reports by the minute of zeroed in companies. Our lines of work were quite similar and soon enough we had our common ground. The good thing about finding that one home base is that we could complain as much as we wanted about the coffee and the sales reports. It was mundane work and we knew it. The fancy promises that lured us from our respective business schools and pushed us into a wilderness of corporate enslavement were reminisced. The bosses were verbally flogged and the hours cursed. Suddenly the plane ride wasn't that boring. I pushed a bit further.
" So , what do you do for fun ? you know , whatever hours are left in the day ?" My advances were measured, my steps thought of in advance. " You mean if I have a boyfriend and do I love to hang with him?" She laughed."I thought you had no intention of hitting on me ! " I was embarrassed. Time for a saving grace I thought. " Well .... do you ? " Damn! I should think about this more carefully ! " Well, no. I had one but now I don't. End of story. Judging from the question I can gather that you are single." She smiled deceivingly." Yeah.. stuff rarely works out if you work these maddening hours."
Over the next 4 hours and 10 minutes we bonded and in a strange way. We had so much in common and yet were completely different. Each with a brand of quirks and with a brand of insane. I hadn't noticed till now , but as the plane was turning for final approach I realized we were holding hands.It was strange that a flight journey had got me to a place where I never thought a 7000 bucks ticket would get me.
" Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We will soon be landing . I request you to kindly remain seated with the seat belts on. Thank you" The speaker was impersonal. A harsh reminder to the end of the journey.I turned to Sonia to ask her to dinner. Then everything went to hell.
The plane swerved and turned rapidly losing control of friction on the tarmac. I could see the wing touch the ground soon and sparks flying all over.What the hell ! How did this happen ? Amidst the screams and yells for help , I saw her face. It was ashen , fear stricken .Somehow we were still holding hands.I screamed. " Sonia ! Hang on to me ! And get down for god sakes !" It was no good. She had almost lost it. There were no tears no expressions anymore. With one last look she yelled, " Don't worry about me ! We're all dead anyway ! I'm just glad I have someone here next to me." The flames were almost at an arms reach. Suddenly , there were a couple of explosions and all I could see was .......
" Sir ! Would you like some snacks sir? Or maybe something to drink ?" The stewardess in her calm smile. Looking perfect. I took stock for a moment. Sweating profusely, I was hardly in a state to refuse a drink. " Scotch on the rocks . Please !" I pleaded. She was kind enough to leave me to attend to that drink. As I wiped the sweat off my forehead, I turned to the window seat to see her. And there she was. Just as in my dream. "Sonia?" I blurted involuntarily. She turned to me ,waited , smiled and said " I'm sorry you must have me mistaken with someone else. I don't know you." I sighed . Maybe it was relief , maybe it wasn't. I didn't know. I could see my drink coming up . " But I am curious as to how you know my name." she said as she leaned closer.
final destination 8 ?
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