I continue, ‘Megha’s logical too. In fact, she’s more logical than I am.’
‘Where’s the fun in that?’ she says. ‘When do you think they will land in Jaipur?’
I check the time. ‘Another fifteen minutes.’
‘Do you think they will not fly today?’
‘It doesn’t matter what I think,’ I tell her and shrug.
The waiting hall’s now filling up, lines are forming in front of Costa Coffee, Vaango and other outlets. The forgotten patties and the soggy fruitcakes are finally getting the attention they never deserved. Watching the girl texting again makes me open Megha’s chat too. I click a picture of the crowd near me and send it to her with a text.
Me
Out of all these people, I’m the luckiest one.
It doesn’t reach her, of course. Instead, her last texts stare back at me.
Megha
We are not making a mistake?
Megha
Sorry.
Megha
I meant, we are not making a mistake.
It’s one of the few times that Megha made a typo. If I were into signs the universe sends out, I would have freaked out.
I had replied lamely, No, we are not.
I’m about to put the phone back into my pocket when a single tick appears, and then a double tick. I hear Aditi.
‘They have landed!’
Before I can turn and nod, she’s already on the phone, walking away from me. As if on cue, my phone rings. It’s Megha.
‘Hello? Megha? Baby?’
‘Hey!’
‘They took you to Jaipur?’
‘Yes,’ says Megha. ‘It was so scary, Raghav. The entire aircraft was wobbling. It’s fine here, though. You’re still at the airport?’
‘Where else would I be? Are they telling you when you will fly again?’
‘No, no. People are shouting at the flight attendants, but what will they say? They also don’t know, na,’ she says.
‘So, are you deplaning or not?’
‘No clue,’ she says. ‘Wait, wait, they are making some announcement.’
I try to strain and listen, but I can’t make out what the captain is saying in a typical holding-the-microphone-too-close-to-their-mouth voice.
‘Why can’t they speak normally?’ I say.
