More than two
hours have passed but I am still waiting at the Pune airport
to catch my flight to New Delhi. There was no further
announcement for the delay also. The scheduled departure for Pune-Delhi flight
was 17.30 hours. Initially the delay was by one hour only
but later it crossed two and half hours but no announcement about
the flight departure yet. This unexpected delay was due to late
arrival of in-coming flight from Mumbai. There was cloud burst and heavy
downpour in the city which upset the normal city life, all roads, railway
tracks and even the airport runway was flooded with excessive rain water
logging and the bustling city life of Mumbai had come to a standstill.
Though I had since checked-in and was holding my boarding pass
for a window seat standing at no-smoking zone and still anxiously waiting at
the airport-lounge to board the flight.
Meantime,
suddenly, I heard someone conversing behind me at my back seat over a
cell phone in Bengali language and explaining about this unusual delay of
Delhi flight. I could feel the nervousness in her voice who was
communicating with her family members over the phone and when I walked towards
her with a water bottle I could see her eyes over-flowing with tears. I first
offered her the water bottle and paper napkin which she accepted without any
hesitation and continued talking about the flight delay.
I sat down on
the vacant chair next to her and tried to console her but she was not yet ready
to calm down. I asked her with lots of courage about her concern and she again
broke down and started crying. I immediately withdrew my request and told her
to calm down, control her emotions and keep quiet for some time; meanwhile, I
requested her to wait so that I could collect the latest information of the
Delhi flight from the enquiry counter.
The Delhi
flight departure status had not changed and chances of more delay were
evident. I was feeling quite hesitant to tell her about any further delay
and with lots of courage I finally informed her about the actual flight status.
She kept quiet for few seconds and did some calculation in her mind and
suddenly she decided to cancel her Pune-Delhi ticket and proceed to Mumbai by
taxi-car so that she can take a direct flight from Mumbai to
Delhi.
She told me to
look after her soft luggage and rushed towards the enquiry counter. She slowly
came back after ten minutes and sat down quietly on the chair without uttering
a single word. I decided not to ask any probing question as such and tried to
be silent. After five minutes or so she again spoke to me and said: “Chances of
getting a flight from Mumbai will be very difficult because
reaching Mumbai airport itself will be difficult task due to heavy
water logging all over the city of Mumbai”.
She started
offering prayer with both her folded hands in which she requested her Lord to
take care of her father in her absence. And her tears were also joining her
prayers with equal dedication, devotion and trust. I could not control
myself any-more and tried to console her by saying not to lose
hope, pray and everything will be al-right. She looked at me with wet eyes
and said: “Noting will be al-right, I am afraid, tonight, I may lose my father
forever!” I tried to keep her calm and quiet but I miserably failed in my
repeated attempts to make her normal.
She was Mrs.
Sutopa Mukherjee, 35 years old, qualified engineer (M.Tech), working in an IT
firm, married and settled in Pune with her husband, who was also working in the
same company as a senior software engineer but at present had gone to the
US on an official assignment. Her parents are living in Gurgaon with her
elder brother who was working in a multinational co. as a Chief Finance
Officer. Today afternoon she got a frantic call from her mother that her father
had a massive heart attack and has been admitted in a private hospital in
Gurgaon. He has been kept in Intensive Critical Care Unit and all the family
members were waiting outside the ICCU to know his present health status but the
Doctors have told them that his situation is very critical and they should wait
for another 24 hours to know the further updates on the actual health status of
the patient.
I could easily
understand how she must have been feeling at this very moment but I was not in
a position to improvise her situation by all mean and I decided to offer my
sincere prayers for the well-being of her father and submitted a few kind
words to console her at this difficult moment of her life. It was over 9
'O-clock and there was no news of departure of our Delhi flight. I requested
her to have some food but she declined my offer. I insisted her to take
at-least one hot cup of coffee and sandwich which she finally took after lot of
persuasions. Meanwhile, her cell phone was constantly busy with numerous
in-coming calls mostly from her immediate family members, in-laws, relatives,
colleagues and friends.
On the other
hand, I also conveyed my wife about the unexpected delay of my Delhi flight and
she was equally worried to know when I would come back home? Suddenly Mrs.
Sutopa realized something and straight-away asked me a blunt
question: “How come you speak so fluent Bengali Mr. Singh?” First time in
this difficult moment I could see her face brighten-up with mixed expressions
of excitement and eagerness. I briefed her about my Kolkata
background and also informed her that I came to Pune by today morning
flight from Delhi on an official tour and now I am going back home to Gurgaon.
I also told her that I have over-heard her talking to her family on cell-phone
about illness of her father that’s why I came forward to offer my assistance
and support to her at this most difficult moment of her
life.
She thanked me
many times in-between and also made a request to offer prayers for the well
being of her father because she was highly religious person and she strongly
believed in the power of prayers. Therefore, in front of her, I closed my eyes,
folded both my hands and offered my prayers for her father in silence for his
fast recovery. After finishing my prayers, when I opened my eyes I saw her two
big eyes staring at me with deep intensity which were still not dried and she
asked me a very innocent question: “What happened?” I answered her back: “I am
sure my prayers will be answered and your father will get well
soon.”
She literally
embraced me with both her hands and said: “Thank you sir, you being very kind,
may God bless you!” and I could see her eyes started flowing with tears again
but this time it were filled with gratitude. I tried to console her and
make her calm and in the very next moment I heard an announcement about
the departure of Delhi flight at 23.30 hours. That meant, we would be
reaching Delhi airport around 2: AM at night and by the time I am home, it
will be mid-night. I called my wife and told her about the departure of my
flight and Mrs. Sutopa Mukherjee also conveyed the same news to her family.
By the time we
reached Terminal-3 of the New Delhi airport it was 2.30: AM and I
decided to take a pre-paid taxi for Gurgaon. I was wondering how she would go
home alone at this hour of night, may be her brother would come to the airport
to receive her, I didn't exactly know but I was feeling
very hesitant to offer her a lift in the first place
because in-spite of everything she was still a stranger, I hardly knew her and
we had met only a couple of hours before tonight for the first time; it’s
also true that we had shared sandwich and coffee together at Pune airport that
is it, nothing more and nothing less; but still, I did not exactly know her as
a person, how could I offer her lift? Who knows, how would she react when I
will offer her a lift in a private taxi that too in the city like Delhi; where
trusting a stranger is a very difficult task. At the same time, I could see
through her present family crises which seemed to me very genuine on the face
of it but still I could not take any chance with a stranger who happens to be a
female also.
We were
approaching towards an exit gate together and we both kept quiet; maybe,
she was also thinking in the same way as I was thinking. I saw her
walking towards exit-gate very slowly and talking to someone over phone and
suddenly she stopped in between, I wanted to say her goodbye before leaving but
then I saw her raising her left hand and instructing me to wait. Therefore,
I stopped and waited for her to join me. After disconnecting her cell
phone she came running towards me and said: “Please don’t go, my brother is
coming to pick me up and we will drop you at your place on our way home,
al-right?”
I was
dumb-founded, stood still for few seconds in almost shocked condition; I could
not believe what she said and I asked her to repeat her sentences again. She
said the same thing twice and finally asked me abruptly: “Why, you don’t want
to join us, any problem?” What I could say, I immediately responded by saying:
“No problem at all, but I was wondering, why should I bother your brother at
this hour of night?” She again repeated her request and said: “I and my elder
brother will be truly very happy if you can accompany us!”
We were
standing near the paid-taxi booth so that her brother could easily locate us.
Her brother came within next ten minutes and one Audi black colour car stopped
in front of us. The driver opened the car-door and Mr. Shubojit Mukherjee
(Elder brother) came-out and first met his sister and briefed her about
father’s present health status and later he came to me and thanked me several
times for accompany his sister and offering moral support to her at this difficult
hour. I was feeling so low, guilty and nervous with my own behaviour. I
wondered, what I was thinking about her and what she and her family was doing
for me, there was no comparison between us at all.
Her brother
requested me to give the direction of my house to the driver so that he could
straight-away drive and drop me home without any further delay. Due to less
traffic at night, we reached my place within the next 30 minutes. On
arrival at home, I invited them to have a cup of coffee with me but they very
politely turned-down my request by saying family members must be impatiently
waiting for them and they left immediately by saying
good-bye.
The next
morning around 10: AM I visited private hospital to meet with Mrs. Sutopa
Mukherjee’s ailing father. On arrival at the hospital reception, I was told
that senior Mukherji sahib had died last night itself and his body has
been taken away by his family members in the morning around 7: AM.
I was standing
there in totally shocked condition and was wondering how it was possible.
When they came to drop me home, Mr. Mukherji’s father was already dead but
still he had not talked about his deceased father and decided to drop me at
my place first without uttering a single word. Although Mr. Shubhojit Mukherjee
was much younger to me by age but I found him more matured, tall and senior in
all respect. Suddenly, my eyes were filled with tears; both my hands rose in
the air and I offered prayers to God Almighty: ‘Oh Lord, Senior Mukherjee
sahib’s soul may rest in peace and his family get enough strength to bear this
sudden loss, Amen!’
With Prayers
Gurcharan
