Thursday, April 1, 2010

A memorable return journey to Delhi

The-back-from-vacations-to-work is one of the toughest and most irksome feelings to handle. I was already doing it, reluctantly leaving my home-sweet-home, after a proud moment of my convocation, to catch my morning flight back to Delhi (the city which suddenly seems like someone sprayed super hot lava to it. Trust me, it is so hot). I stepped into the airport and I figure out that I am already running very late for my security check in and other procedures. Still I managed hurried goodbyes to my parents and alas! I was left with a middle seat between two serious looking men. Still, since it was a connecting flight, which passed through Hyderabad, I expected some interesting people will board later. Wink wink

Little did I know of the kind of people I was going to meet. Well, so the flight took off as usual with the mute in-flight safety precautions being demonstrated by pretty looking but indigo-colour-eye shadowed ladies aboard. I kept gazing out quite longingly, wishing my trip could have extended for a couple of more days. Then I slowly dozed off to a short siesta. An hour later, the flight landed in Hyderabad and the two serious looking men also got down. I was wondering who were going to board near me next. Just then, one short, not very plump or lean old lady, perhaps around 60-65 years old, all alone by herself, with a typical Indian big shopper (stuffed to its brim) entered the aisle.

Dangling around one of her shoulders was a small brown bag and there she was, clad in a maroon saree, chattering away in rapid Telgu to the ground force men who had assisted her in getting her bags and in fact herself aboard the flight. She was very reluctant to part with her big shopper. Dear old thing it was to her and she insisted the bag be kept saamnewaali kursi ke niche (the space below the seat in front). So did the people and she got seated. As she was settling in, the other passengers were boarding and having occupied the aisle seat, she was requested to move so that her fellow passengers can get in.

The crew people asked her which language among Hindi, English and Telgu she could understand easily. She was such a sweet, cute, old, dear lady and she replied with the typical old people’s pride that she could understand and speak all three and that she had served in Delhi for 15 long years. The guy, who was to be sitting next to her, was also amused at her display of expertise. The crew members were also equally surprised. She was protesting that she wouldn’t get up from her seat. It was so much like how little kids protest and ask a hundred questions before they become reassured of what they have been asked to do is right. May be she didn’t clearly understand what was being said to her. The passengers tried to go across her to their seats and they finally did. Once they all got settled, she started her typical rapid chatter with her fellow traveler in Telgu. It was lucky for her that he was a Telgu speaking person.

So, I was watching all this and was so busy admiring this brave lady, who reminded me of my own granny and many old people like her in general, that I didn’t realize who was sitting next to me. In the aisle seat next to me was another old lady, this time more to herself. The flight started and I went back to my book and music. After a while, I heard some commotion nearby and suddenly woke up from my slumber and saw that our dear old granny was finding some difficulty in getting up from her seat to go to the restroom. The guy sitting near her was quite helpless, as he couldn’t move without her moving. Actually the seat in front of her was pushed back, which was causing all the confusion. So the old lady next to me was pointing that out and I got up to help granny. Granny then looked more relieved and I waited till she got back to her seat before I went back to mine.

Before the flight just landed, when the usual instructions were being given and trash collected, our granny did something which was all the more amusing but very sweet. She was frantically digging her bag for something, like how a child searches for its most precious toy in a bag of toys. And bingo! She found it. I thought it was perhaps going to be her specs or something and there… She took out a pack of polo… ah yes. The mint with a hole.

And the best part is, she took out the first one from it and gave it to that guy sitting next to her. He was giving a very puzzled but surprised expression (you know what sort of expression I mean right?). She took one for herself so that she can keep chewing it (apparently she did not have teeth) and carefully put it in its place. The lady next to me was asking me if I should help her out. But by then we had landed and when we were about to get out, the airhostess told our granny to wait and she was up again, asking in that same childlike, curious and a little irritated way in English, “Why are they telling me to sit? ”. I couldn’t suppress a smile. Just felt like hugging her and telling her that everything will be ok.

I had boarded the bus to reach the arrival and there again my neighbour old lady sat next to me. She struck a conversation with me, asking me about my course, university and my Chancellor Dr. Pachauri. Apparently, she had been in the teaching field and she was curious to know about my university and Teri. She was also telling me that our ‘granny’ should be only as old as herself. I turned towards the bus window to see if I can spot granny for one last time but I couldn’t. So, I didn’t really notice and the lady next to me also got down from the bus. But I met this old lady again near the conveyer belt and simultaneously, granny was wheeled to the belt by the ground force men and guess who was along with her. Assisting her with her baggage was her fellow traveler, with some quick Telgu phrases.

I was very excited to see her again. Just then, my bag came and along with it were my neighbor’s. I helped her out with her luggage and saw granny leave. My neighbor then offered to drop me nearby from where I could take an auto. I couldn’t refuse and so I went with her. Her driver had come to receive her and I helped her get her walking stick and assisted her to the car. On our way, I got to know that she was none other than Prof. Ratna Naidu, a former professor of Sociology, University of Hyderabad – a Bengali married to a Naidu.

She was very interested to know about the course I am into and said that it is a very relevant one for the current scenario. She also exchanged her phone number and told her driver to catch a good auto waala for me to get back to the university. What more? Prof. Naidu blessed me for a bright future when I got down from the car, before I waved her goodbye.

Travel, as I have always presumed of it, is an enriching and educating experience in itself. There is always something or the other around us that is admirable or sometimes even adorable. it is definitely worth living for. The places we go to, the people we meet, the things we see – everything has a reason, a story to tell and a lesson to teach. Even at this age, the spirit of these two interesting old ladies I met in the flight was truly inspiring. Their independence and courage to travel alone, ignoring a hundred possible things that can go wrong is indeed very appreciable.

That was when I realized that I can’t meet such interesting people from my home-sweet-home every day.
Here are a couple of Prof. Naidu’s works.
http://www.uohyd.ernet.in/Ratna_Naidu.pdf
http://www.erctrust.org/newsletter/sep2002/index.php?load=nl12002-1.htm


5 comments:

  1. Hey engrossing story!! A vibrant tale of our everyday lives, which makes me realize how interesting they can be. Looking forward to your next post...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks a lot Punit n Pratha :)i will drop my next one soon...

    ReplyDelete
  3. come home sweet home frequently for an another interesting post.. good one.

    ReplyDelete