It has been 3 years since I last wrote, so this is more of me stretching my writing muscle than anything else. I am going to share this encounter that happened with me about a fortnight ago that touched me in ways I didn't expect.
I was recently traveling back with my 1.5 yr old from London to New Delhi. I was seated next to this lady, let's call her Lady PD for now, who was also travelling back home solo. She had this soft stylish sophistication about herself. With kid smiling and giggling around, we had a brief exchange as we waited for flight to take off. That wait was about 3 hours and some, and then we were informed that the flight has been cancelled due to technical issue. Time: 12:15 a.m.
Kid had just fallen asleep in my arms.
Crew informed that there were two options: 1. You have a home/place to stay in London, please head home. 2. You do not have accommodation, then the airline will provide you one. Both me and Lady PD fell into Option2.
Without saying much to each other, we waited as passengers hurriedly deboarded. She then took down my hefty carry-on backpack (As a toddler's mother, you carry their world in your bag-formula, food, water, diaper, wipes, tissues, talcum, medicines, a spare pair of clothes for him and self and then some more) and picked up all items around my seat and closed the bag.
My kid's buggy was handed over at the end of the bridge. I seated him in it and then the three of us made our long way back to the baggage belts at Terminal2 of Heathrow airport. Along the way we discussed about flight rescheduling and other cancellation riddles. Amidst all of this (after almost 4 hours of first 'hello') we exchanged our names and I also noticed that she probably had a more painful knee than she admitted.
When we arrived at belts, she went ahead, got the trolley, got her bags and asked me to stay put with the kid. Once she had done that, I got my baggage. She had her 3 suitcases on trolley and I had my suitcase and a duffle (that went on top) in one hand and his buggy in my other hand. We waited and the airline staff gave us clarity on rescheduled flight, our accommodation for the night and the transport to hotel. We had to walk till a certain parking spot and board bus with our luggage.
Seemed manageable, but alas kid woke up howling, probably disturbed by all the commotion and noise. Tried to feed and get him to sleep back in buggy but he just wanted to be in my arms. Mind you, this is Heathrow and unlike here in India, at this hour of the night it was a ghost town. There was hardly a handful of airport staff and absolutely nobody you could ask or hire for help. So, I picked up the kid and she put my luggage items on her trolley and then pushed that 80 kg+ trolley. We boarded bus and reached hotel. Time: 2:30 a.m.
At 15 degrees weather outside was cold and quite windy. The check-in queue extended till outside the hotel (about 250 people checking in takes time). There was just one bellhop who was helping checked in guests with their luggage. Lady PD suggested I go in with kid and she'll wait outside till the hotel staff could come back and help with our luggage items. We were last to check in. Time: 3:40 a.m. (ish)
Once in our room, I tucked in the kid and moved on to do some small chores. After all of that I put up my feet for the first time in that night and it was already dawn. As I looked outside, the calmness of Thames conflicting with the frenzy of a day or rather night that had been.
Next day, we boarded bus and began the whole process of travel to airport, wait in random queues, check-in queue, security and then again wait for boarding. We boarded, settled in, talked and then caught on some sleep. Next morning, with breakfast we caught on our journey ahead (we were both traveling further from New Delhi) and plans for the weekend (or what was left of it). Flight landed in New Delhi (T3) and just like that we are on our way, our separate ways. Time: 1:00 p.m. (IST)
When I reminisce about it, there are so many, seemingly trivial gestures that spoke so loudly of the strong and lovely human she was. Her thoughtfulness: there were items I was feeding the child an orange or some drink and it would drip and before I could bend and open my bag for tissue, she had one ready in her hand. Kid pushed and played and banged around her carry-on suitcase for hours, but she did not once mention or show an objection, instead was happy to see him happily occupied. She let me give all my attention and energy to kid and handled all the luggage issues herself without ever once mentioning how arduous or tiring this was, especially given the pain in her leg.
For me, personally, meeting a woman who was so passionate about her career, loved being the head of her big-joint family and most importantly had such a measured reaction to everything, felt very 'center-ing'. Like there can be humans who are nice to you, in a gentle quiet way. Give you space and yet take care of your needs. Show affection, ask your kid to call him Plane Dadi (PD) and yet not be overtly friendly or emotional. Give you respect and not make age a determinative between two women and their lived experiences.
Here's hoping to being more human and more such magic of serendipity!
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