While I was waiting at London heathrow terminal for my next flight to Delhi, I never thought time would pass so quickly.
A lady, in her late 50s was sitting besides me and talking on the phone with her relatives in punjabi. She almost covered all the topics of discussion I've ever witnessed in my life so far. From food to jewellery to clothes to land deals, and even to the extent of hiring some famous goons to get some job done.
But soon enough, I had lost interest in her talks.
A man, again probably in his fifties came up to me and complimented my skills for photography which I was doing an hour ago. Apparently from his accent, it was evident he was from southern part of India. He was going to India for a two weeks visit to meet her mother and to attend a vocational course on spiritual teachings in Chandigarh. He told me about his native place, somewhere near Mysore. Since his city was at the juncture of three states- Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala: he could speak almost five languages fluently. I was pretty impressed by his knowledge and his simplicity. Then he left to make some phone calls, hence ending the discussion on a sweet note.
Suddenly another guy, this time an American in his forties, came up to me. After usual introduction, he told me that he was going to India to meet a girl whom he had found through shaadidotcom. I was amused listening to an American guy going to India for the very first time to meet his to-be-future-soul-partner. I know India is never a pleasant place for the first time visitors. Just to make sure that this guy shouldn't get into any trouble, i asked him if he had ever talked to the girl's mom and dad or other family members. Here i got the first shock, though i was expecting it to come somehow. Girl had been brought up in an orphanage and she was living alone in Pune. This could be a very well planned trap to make some money from this rich American guy. But i couldn't muster the courage to tell him so. He told me some colleague of that girl was coming to pick him up from Mumbai airport and from there on, they'll drive to Pune. I wished him best of luck, and at the same time prayed to God that all would be good with this guy.
And we parted our ways from the lobby to our respective flights: mine to Delhi and his to Mumbai.
Written while sitting in plane on October 23, 2013.
