Jai Hind

Part X

“Hi Palak” Shilpa waved at Palak as she entered the breakfast area next morning. Palak waved back and was happy to see Shilpa and Priya. Palak filled her breakfast plate and joined them.

“Where are you these days madam?” Priya asked Palak.

“I injured my knee on the flight here. So had to take a day off to let it heal”

“Are you ok now?” Shilpa and Priya looked worriedly at Palak.

“Yeah I am fine now. The wound has started to heal.”

“What happened?” Priya asked

“The bar cart just darted towards me and hurt my knee during a bad turbulence.”

“Oh someone must have forgotten to lock the cart. Did you see a doctor?” Shilpa said.

“No. It wasn’t required. Munir helped dress the wound.”

Just then Munir smiled at Palak as he passed by. Palak smiled back at him. The exchange was not missed by the privy eyes of Shilpa and Priya.

“You should buy a lottery today Palak. That snob gave a smile to you.” Shilpa said.

“It looks like the injury is an excuse. Is there something we are missing here? Did you sleep with him? How is he in …?” Priya said softly with a naughty, mischievous smile while looking at Priya.

“Stop it Priya.” Palak interrupted and scolded Priya in an angry voice. But her mind had already started wondering about the time she spent with Munir.

“Palak…. Palak… He is Munir, Munir Khan, and a Muslim.” Shilpa said with a concern in her voice.

Palak stopped eating. Her hand froze in air. The spoon in her hand was bracing for a free fall on the plate. Palak remembered Munir reading Namaz. She realized the futility and sordid intrigues of even an association, forget friendship, with a Muslim. Her obstinate parents would never allow her to even have an acquaintance with any non-Gujarati. It would be highly implausible for her to talk about a Muslim in front of them and they would force her to leave her job immediately. Her face turned pale as she quietly started eating. Finally, she had found someone with common interest and one who understands and respects her profession. She remembered the funny pose that Munir had when he asked for tip. She liked his sense of humor. She remembered the care he showed to dress her wound. But he is a Muslim. If he were at least Hindu, she would have fought with her parents. But Muslim is a non-starter for her parents. She cursed her fate.

All the while, Priya was narrating about her meeting with a boy who had come to see her. The boy was mama’s boy and all the time talked about how her mom cooks the best food, how well she takes care of the house, how she chose to never work (as if she would have been CEO of a company), and how he has traveled with his parents everywhere.

“I asked him whether his parents would join for honey moon.” Priya said with a giggle.

“I bet he must have said yes.” Shilpa said.

“It was more interesting than that. He said that in his family there is a custom to go to a religious place after marriage and so his parents will also join and that he can combine both honeymoon and that trip together and save money”

“When we will find a good decent man? Are we asking too much? All we want is a man who understands marriage and who considers his wife as his life partner and not a caretaker of him and his family. You know I saw an impressive profile of a boy on a matrimonial site and started communicating with him. Within two days, he wanted me to do a video chat with him in exotic clothes.” Shilpa said.

“Palak where are you?” Priya inquired.

“It looks like the knee pain has reached the heart.” Shilpa said. Priya and Shilpa started laughing.

“There is nothing like that. I got hurt and Munir put a dressing on the wound. That’s it.” Palak said with her eyes on her plate not able to have eye contact with them. She knew if she told about the SF trip, both of them would endlessly tease her.

Palak secretly glanced at Munir. Munir was having his breakfast alone. She remembered the breakfast she had with him. She quickly regained her composure and decided firmly to avoid Munir. She remembered the couplet from a song of movie Gumraah,

“Woh afsaana jise anjam tak lana naa ho mumkin
Use ek khubsurat mod dekar chhodna accha”

(For that tale which cannot culminate in a conclusion
It is best to give it a beautiful turn and leave it be)

Munir was quietly eating his breakfast. Even today he took only vegetarian food. He had a restless night. Palak was in his thoughts. He thought that he had seen so many flight attendants and even so many girls but he never had experienced such feelings. His eyes longing to see her, his lips yearning to talk to her, his ears hankering to listen to her, his nose craving for her fragrance, his hands desiring to hold her hand. He looked at Palak. Palak was quietly having her breakfast. Does she feel the same? Munir thought and then shrugging the thought, he concentrated on his breakfast.

After finishing breakfast, they all went to their rooms to get ready. The crew boarded the shuttle bus to the airport. Munir saw Palak in her uniform with the red hat with a white scarf tugged inside the hat on the right side and worn across her neck and resting on her left shoulder. She had put on a red lipstick and a light makeup. Munir noticed that she had put on the red earrings and the necklace. Palak, Priya and Shilpa sat in the front row seats while Munir was seating on the seat in the last row. Munir was staring at Palak as she chatted with Priya and Shilpa and occasionally laughed. Munir was enjoying the sweet sound of Palak’s voice.

The crew reached the airport and boarded the plane. The plane reached its cruising altitude. The weather was cloudy. The night was dark except for spasmodic moonlight visible whenever the clouds didn’t cover the moon. Shilpa, Priya and Palak were busy with their duties on the airplane. She thanked God for stopping her from thinking about Munir. It would have been like chasing a mirage.

From the window of the cockpit, Munir saw darkness around. He remembered his first time flying a jet plane at night. He felt it scary. It was like staring a dark black wall and at the same time realizing that the plane is traveling but where he couldn’t see. He had nothing but to blindly trust his instruments – compass, gyroscope, altimeter, speedometer, etc. For company, he had the co-pilot for some casual talks or different magazines and newspaper. He had heard from older pilots that adult magazines were popular among pilots in those days. The newer stricter rules prohibit them.

The clouds cleared a little and Munir saw the moonlight clearing the dark sky. Munir saw Palak’s face on the moon. His mind worked on penning a poem,

Yeh Nasile nain na milte to maikashi hai kya kab jaante
Yeh hasi tarruf na hota aapse to zindagi hai kya kab jaante

Khud ki nazar se dekha to dur tak siyaah siyaah tha
Aaapki palko se na dekhte to chandni hai kya kab jaante

(Without your stimulating eyes, wouldn’t have known what intoxication is
Without our nice mutual acquaintance wouldn’t have known what life is.
Seeing from my eyes it was darkness and darkness
Without seeing from your eyes wouldn’t have known moonlight)

 

Thanks Rohsik.

 

Thanks PS. Love finds its way. I remember in school, I had a story in my English class where the two lovers are neighbors and both families were at war with each other. The lovers discover a small hall on a wall that separated the two houses and used that hall to see, feel and communicate with each other.