Filmi Stories by Basu Kunal

Author:Basu, Kunal
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789357080408
Publisher: Penguin Random House India Private Limited
Published: 2023-04-24T00:00:00+00:00

‘You must sit down, Sir. Immediately!’ The stewardess poked her head out of the galley as Rishi stood up in agitation. ‘We are about to take off.’

‘Where are the passengers?’ he managed to shout through the roar of the engines before the forward thrust jolted him back on his seat. We have lots of seats available—the Rapid Air counter lady had told him during check-in. Did she mean all seats were available, that not a single soul wished to fly from Bombay to his hometown? Even for someone unversed in worldly matters, the whole thing seemed incredulous. As the state capital, the city of his birth boasted trading firms and big companies with head offices in Bombay. There were more than two dozen daily flights between the two cities. Workers came to do menial jobs; the streets of Bombay were full of policemen, electricians, auto drivers and even executives and film stars who greeted each other in the favourite dialect of their much-beloved Patna. He had expected a crowded cabin, with little room in the overhead compartments to stow his kitbag, not 200 seats all to himself and row upon row of empty lockers.

‘We are experiencing some unexpected turbulence, and all passengers are requested to keep their seat belts fastened and refrain from using the toilets. Cabin service will begin once we reach cruising altitude.’ The captain’s voice came from the cockpit. Rishi gazed out of the window into a dark, cloudless sky. Used to joyrides on the giant wheel as a child, turbulence didn’t worry him. He enjoyed the bumps and sudden lurches, took it as a joyous part of flying. But now, the dark exterior filled him with foreboding. It reminded him of the airport’s departure hall, the sudden blackout and his solitary confinement within it. Used to a busy city with bustling bodies all around, he craved for the crowds, the rude shoving of elbows on local trains, the unwelcome breath of a stranger packed tightly close to him. Most of all, he worried how long the flight would last. He was afraid to check his watch. On a day when nothing had gone to plan—from the birthday card to the airport saga—he shuddered to foresee what the night had in store.

When the stewardess brought him a snack, Rishi was still stuck in his stupor and couldn’t manage to ask the question that clawed at his throat. ‘We shall be landing shortly,’ the stewardess, who was smiling now, said and applied a gentle push on the backrest of his chair to set it upright.

Landing in Patna made all the difference to Rishi’s mood.

As the sole passenger, deplaning was easy, and he rushed out of the aircraft without even a nod of thank you to the stewardess. Freshly painted white walls welcomed him into the terminal building. Sparkling new glass windows sported stickers with the name of their manufacturer. The smell of paint was suffocating, but Rishi felt proud. There was talk about building a new terminal to replace the old one, but he hadn’t expected it to be ready so soon.

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