Welcome to this new series which is a simple, slice of life scene or story from my observation. It is best read with a warm cup of tea while listening to your favorite song(maybe “Yeh din kya aaye, lage phool hansane” from Choti si Baat 😀 ).
Petrichor in English is the smell of the Earth at the first bout of rainfall. It floods your mind with happiness, memories and pure nostalgia which brings forth an unforgettable smile on your face while the heart rejoices in glee! In this case, the word petrichor symbolizes rooted stories from the heart of the writer(me) to the reader(you!).
Hope it brings you joy and you remember such heartwarming memories from your days, while taking a short break from the hustle and bustle of life.
Do mention them in the comments. Let’s make this series a collection of
reminiscent memories to live long on the internet, much like a time capsule!
Traveling hearts 💕
An airport so tiny, never seen before!
A small lot, enough to house a family of four.
A room for arrival, another for departure, one for security check and another to board the flight.
No aerobridge, no bus. Just a short walk to the aircraft.
Only one small eatry with bakery items and instant noodles while people check in and wait for the staff to start the security check. Pantnagar airport still has those tags on cabin bags, which gets meticulously stamped on completing the security check reminding us of how once upon a time airports used to be!
This isn’t the first time I am here.
Nay, neither is it the last.
I am just one of those travellers who come to this tiny airport, which still doesn’t have a conveyor belt, every year or two, to appreciate the forests and satiate the inner call of the hills of Uttarakhand.
I came in that day for a 2.45pm flight, extremely drowsy from the motion sickness medication, wondering if I would even get a seat to wait. I got the last seat and dozed off for a while. The smell of warm brewing coffee woke me up to catch the glimpse of my fellow co passengers. Unlike other airports which entertain a vast number of flights, this tiny one has 1 or 2 flights a day. A flight comes in from Delhi, with chirpy tourists and the same goes back with rejuvenated albeit tired tourists and a few excited locals.
An old couple sat opposite me. Probably in their seventies. Wrinkled hands, grey hair, sagging cheeks but a spark of youth in their eyes! They sat together, the lady unwrapped a paratha from a silver foil, carefully halved it and gave it to her husband. They relished it in seconds and proceeded to split a bread toast in two, along with a banana. Their lunch was done. He held her bag while she went to the washroom and she wiped the crumbs from his face. While she slept on his shoulder, he wrote her name on her bag tags.
A bit bored, the old man made entries in his travelogue, called his relatives, maybe their children and told about their whereabouts. He was tired from the travel himself, clutching a bag of shawls from Kausani. But he didn’t sleep a wink, lest they miss their only flight home. Soon, security check was announced. The old man woke his wife up and dutifully informed the staff for wheelchair access. The couple got up, sat on their wheelchairs, held hands while they were wheeled to the tiny propellor aircraft. They spoke in a language unfamiliar to me, either Bengali or Assamese. They were probably heading towards East of India, to go back to their daily life of television and grandchildren, only to return another time to fulfill their bucket list for the few years of their existence.
The presence of this couple stopped the pill induced slumber in me while I wondered about their “old school” love. There were others boarding this plane too, many senior citizens on temple travel, new parents with cranky children who just wanted a break from the torturous summer, trekkers who had come to explore the Himalayas and some families like mine, here on our annual Himalayan summer break.
But this couple stood out due to their simplicity, with an expressive form of love which isn’t just a fleeting emotion but a commitment of true companionship, for years to come!
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