Love is in the air, rather in airports!!

She was standing on a long queue for the immigration check. Her heart was pounding and adrenalin was constantly rising. She was going to meet him after a year almost. He had gone to the US on work and had not returned for a year. When she got the opportunity to go to Seattle on a project she jumped immediately and grabbed it. She remembered how emotional it was to say bye to him in Chennai airport. Her eyes were moist and so were his. She wanted to hug him and tell him that she would miss him a lot. But his family and friends also had come to bid farewell to him. So she had to hold herself together without showing her expressions. She really wondered how men were so strong and composed all the time. Finally it was time, he had to leave. He came up to her, shook her hands and said bye, “take care“. Her eyes met his, it was like a silent powerful language being spoken between them rather than using their vocal chords. She felt how intense the moment was and wanted to break it off before she broke down, she quickly exclaimed, “hey, don’t come back with a phirang chick!“, she knew she couldn’t have possibly meant it even in the distant sense. He smirked and so did she, superficially. He quickly moved and waved his hand before he went in. 

The line broke into two, and half the crowd moved to another immigration desk when one of the officers got back from his long gossip session. There was lot of commotion in the process and her thoughts drifted back to reality. She was eagerly awaiting her turn and the Indian guy standing next to her was trying to fill her ears with his first trip experiences. She did not want to listen to it, but he did not give her any option. Suddenly when she was getting closer to the desk, she was very nervous. She was not sure if it was her first international trip which was making her nervous or was it the fact that she would meet him in probably 10 minutes time. And all of a sudden, the ten minutes wait started to look longer and drearier than the one year wait.

 After the long wait, she walked up to the immigration desk and the officer said, “What is the purpose of your visit?”  She wanted to say the truth, “to meet him”. Instead she said, “Business visit“. The officer had one good look at her and stamped 3 months on her passport. She felt a sense of relief but now the anxiety feeling was gripping her and she wanted to probably run to see him. But the airport was full of security officers and they were constantly looking for suspicious people. So she told herself that she wouldn’t indulge in such acts of stupidity. Finally, she pulled out her baggage out of the carousel, went through the customs check and pushed her trolley as fast as possible and the same time, trying hard to not attract attention. She walked through the exit and reached the terminal entrance. There were people everywhere, some waiting for their friends, some for their families, some for their acquaintances or business partners. The air was filled with excitement, happiness and she could feel that love was everywhere. She looked around everywhere for her long lasting love. She wanted to say so many things; she had rehearsed all of it on the flight. She wanted to hold him, cry aloud which she missed when she said “bye” to him. But there was no sign of him. Her eyes were constantly scanning everywhere and her heart was beating really fast. She started walked full lengths of the lobby and looked for him. But still no sign! She told herself; probably he is caught up somewhere. After 15 minutes of wait, she wanted to see if she could find a pay phone to call him. She found one but she did not have the change. She sat down quietly. She had a sense of disappointment because he has done this before, made her wait lot of times. But there was fear as well in her heart, not knowing if something bad happened to him or probably he did find himself a phirang chick indeed. She wanted to distract herself from all the strange thoughts. She took the book that she carried all the way from Chennai, which she never managed to read beyond the first 30 words. Nothing was getting into her head. She kept constantly looking at the entrance and then mundanely at the book. Thirty minutes passed, still no sign of him.

The crowd started to clear in the terminal and fresh faces started to come in. She had tears in her eye; she traveled for more than 16 hours, she was tired and eager, and her heart was filled with this weird feeling. She did not know whether it was sadness or too much of happiness. She put her head down, tears rolled down her cheek. She wiped it with her bare hands. Suddenly, somebody tapped her shoulder she raised her head; he was standing in front of her. He was dripping wet; probably caught in one of those torrential rains and there was no phirang chick by his side. He had a bunch of red flowers as fresh as his eyes. And all the anger, disappointment, fear, anxiety started to vanish away slowly inside her. He hugged her, lifted her with his strong hands and said, “Baby, I missed you!!“. She felt like a kid in his arms. Before he had come, she wanted to spill all her anger & disappointment, but now all she said was “Me too!!!… ”  

~ by amreetha on July 6, 2007.