A Midair Honeymoon
I could not sleep well as I turned and tossed in my bed. The thought of flying to New York the next day set my mind adrift. It would be my first trip abroad and that too in the land of green dollars, The Statue of Liberty and The Empire State building, beckoning me, with arms wide open. The next day, I arrived at the airport and saw a huge crowd near the check in counter. I suddenly caught sight of a divine beauty, surrounded with many people.
She had well chiseled sharp features, very fair complexion, and smile on her soft red lips, almond eyes, and a curl of hair descended on her forehead. I stood mesmerized by her beauty. She was newlywed, draped in a red silk sari and laden with gold, befitting a princess. The flurry of passengers and the din at the airport could not divert my attention, till I found someone charging towards me.
‘Rahul, what are you doing here?’ asked Girwalkar, a ship mate of mine, as he gazed at me. 'I am off to New York for training ', I replied, as I recovered from the sudden unexpected encounter. ‘Let me introduce you to Sonali, my cousin, she is also leaving for NY to join her husband ' he said, as he took me along to meet the girl in red sari!!
Sonali was a charming girl and after a brief introduction, her parents insisted that I assist her in flight and ensured that we got seats next to each other. After bidding goodbye to her relatives, Sonali accompanied me and soon we settled on our seats, after boarding the flight. I was still a bachelor and was at a loss to find a right subject for conversation with her. A little later the flight took off and headed in the westerly direction. I could see the receding landmarks of Mumbai till everything merged into the blue horizon. The seat belt sign was switched off and the air hostess got busy with in flight service. A constant jingle of the gold bangles and fragrance of Calvin Klein perfume kept intruding my senses.
I asked Sonali ’Do you hail from Mumbai?
She replied in a silken voice, with widening kohl lined eyes ‘I am from Pune, and my parents reside there’.
Soon she took over the conversation as the ice was broken. In place of a coy and shy girl I was now talking to a bubbly girl full of all kinds of queries and opinions. It was a maiden voyage for both of us. I gathered that she had been adjudged 'Miss Pune' in the previous year's beauty pageant and was married only two months earlier. Her fiancée was working as a Chemical Engineer with a company in New Jersey.
She kept chatting along and the stewardess mistook us to be the newlyweds and kept devoting extra attention to make our journey a comfortable one. We were served with lunch and our conversation continued. There was a brief halt at Rome and we stepped out of the aircraft to get the feel of the Roman soil. It felt ecstatic to be in a place hailed for once a great civilization. We admired the beauty of the place for a while till the flight onwards was announced. The flight landed at London's Heathrow airport. It was cold, as we stepped out of the aircraft into the lounge. The crew changed and after a halt of about two hours the flight took off once again. Sonali, fell asleep after a while as the flight continued over the huge expanse of the Atlantic. I looked out of the window to find only the black waters. It was still a long haul to New York as I tried to catch some sleep. A few hours passed when the loudspeakers cracked to life and announcement was made by the pilot that we would soon be entering the US and were required to fill the Immigration Forms. I helped Sonali in filling her form. The flight slowly started the descent as the glittering lights of the skyscrapers loomed large and I could recognize the Empire State building. It resembled a fairyland. The tiredness which I was experiencing a short while ago vanished all of a sudden. The aircraft landed smoothly on the JFK International airport. We picked up our hand baggage and after clearing the immigration walked past the customs. The duty official checked the passports and asked us if there was anything to declare. He winked and tapping my shoulder said' Enjoy your honeymoon'!! Both I and Sonali went red, on hearing this. Sonali's husband was waiting for her and after a brief introduction we exchanged a few pleasantries and parted our ways.
My first trip abroad could not have been more exciting and incredible to have been mistaken for a newlywed, whilst still a bachelor, and enjoying the frills and pampering in flight! How time flew and I reached the other end of the world, is still fresh in my memory!