IT FINALLY HAPPENED
It finally happened. It is now true. It began with a very strange feeling for a totally unexpected place. I was standing at airport security-check line and I was feeling happy. Not just happy, in fact I experienced a gamut of emotions, but happy was a new one. To answer why, in case you are suitably intrigued, I will have to introduce you to a bit of my personal history.
I am not a very airport friendly person. Every time I travel I acquire a new unhappy incident, mostly of my own creation. I miss the flight because I start late or I get the wrong date (12AM syndrome) or I reach wrong airport (Houston has 2) or at least wrong terminal, some times I miss flight because it’s a long line at check-in or flight gets cancelled due to variety of reasons or I miss the connection. Every time I acquire a new unhappy experience I convince myself I have covered it all, a new mistake jumps of my back and surprises me.
So, you will understand why this time it was different. It starts from the fact that it was not an early morning flight. I was ready before time, I left my home before time, I parked my car at the rental before time, I got into the shuttle before time, I reached airport before time, I dropped of my check-in bag before time, I was at the check-in line before time. It was a fairly long line, in fact 2 long lines. But I was relieved because I was there “before time”. Once-in-a-while when all the stars align and I am “before time” I am relieved. No Sir/Madam, not this time. As I was in the line a strange feeling of happiness creeped upon me without me realizing. Suddenly I was not a relieved Thakur, I was a happy Thakur. How I realized I was happy? There were a couple of couples with couple of kids in the line next to me making noises and it was not irritating me. A 2-year-old toddler was crying but instead of saying to myself, “why don’t the parents give her pacifier or milk bottle”, I was thinking about my own daughter who I dropped at school in the morning. It was all surreal as if I was discovering my new self which I never knew existed. The happy Thakur didn’t last much longer and was soon taken over by curious Thakur. “Why” was the question. Why was I happy? I have had encountered much shorter lines before, sometimes I was taken in as soon as I get in the line but all those times I was more relieved and never happy. What was different this time? Then it hit me like a charging 20-wheeler on a freeway. I always heard it happened to someone else, never thought that it will happen to me but here I was. MY LINE WAS MOVING FASTER THAN LINE NEXT TO ME. It has finally happened. What they say is true, all good things come to those who wait. I was ecstatic Thakur. Everything was moving with the precision of Mangalyaan. To begin with, most of the fellow travelers in my line were single passengers and not big family reunions huddling in a group. Two, officer at the end of the line checking our boarding pass was a phenomenon. I will come to it later because she needs a paragraph dedicated to herself in this daily journal. Satisfied with what’s happening before me I started looking behind me at people who were lagging, those kids, those couples, those elderly, those teenagers, I felt a sense of triumph from getting ahead but not for long. Soon it was overtaken by guilt. Was I laughing at the pain and agony of those people, those people who were looking at me and saying to themselves, “wish that guy was me”. Was I a sadist? Just when I was transforming from allegedly sadist Thakur to sad Thakur, defensive Thakur intervened and gave my shame much required cover. He argued, “Thakur, these are very same people who laughed at you when you were being left behind, rejoicing in your misery, looking down upon you as a loser.” He then directed his Salim-Javed to my shame, “Jao pehle un sab ka sign lekar aao jinhone mere boarding pass pe ye likh diya, ye, SLOWER THAN INZEMAM-Ul-HAQ, tab main guilty feel karunga.” That monologue started racing my pulse and heartbeat and before I know I was “angry” Thakur, giving fiery looks to the travelers in adjacent line and they were feeling the burn. I was marching towards the check point with theme music of Chariots of Fire playing in my head. When I reached to the officer it didn’t took much time but events so powerful are etched in memory forever, not diluted by time or age. She took my boarding pass and id, put them under the boarding pass scanner and id scanner, scrutinized them for just the right amount of time and looked at me for just the right amount time and, now this is important, handed over to me the boarding pass, id with her left hand, while smiling, rolling her eyes and tilting her head to her left indicating me to go on and with her right hand signaling next passenger to come forward. She didn’t even waste time to say those three words, "you are good". It was magical. As I move to physical security check I would have actually believed if all my surrounding would have turned into golden sunset and I have embraced the sun itself. I DESERVED IT. It was glorious and I was victorious Thakur.
I remain optimistic that I will encounter similar experience at least once or may be twice again in my life but it won’t be same again. The feeling of first love lasts forever.
It finally happened. It is now true. It began with a very strange feeling for a totally unexpected place. I was standing at airport security-check line and I was feeling happy. Not just happy, in fact I experienced a gamut of emotions, but happy was a new one. To answer why, in case you are suitably intrigued, I will have to introduce you to a bit of my personal history.
I am not a very airport friendly person. Every time I travel I acquire a new unhappy incident, mostly of my own creation. I miss the flight because I start late or I get the wrong date (12AM syndrome) or I reach wrong airport (Houston has 2) or at least wrong terminal, some times I miss flight because it’s a long line at check-in or flight gets cancelled due to variety of reasons or I miss the connection. Every time I acquire a new unhappy experience I convince myself I have covered it all, a new mistake jumps of my back and surprises me.
So, you will understand why this time it was different. It starts from the fact that it was not an early morning flight. I was ready before time, I left my home before time, I parked my car at the rental before time, I got into the shuttle before time, I reached airport before time, I dropped of my check-in bag before time, I was at the check-in line before time. It was a fairly long line, in fact 2 long lines. But I was relieved because I was there “before time”. Once-in-a-while when all the stars align and I am “before time” I am relieved. No Sir/Madam, not this time. As I was in the line a strange feeling of happiness creeped upon me without me realizing. Suddenly I was not a relieved Thakur, I was a happy Thakur. How I realized I was happy? There were a couple of couples with couple of kids in the line next to me making noises and it was not irritating me. A 2-year-old toddler was crying but instead of saying to myself, “why don’t the parents give her pacifier or milk bottle”, I was thinking about my own daughter who I dropped at school in the morning. It was all surreal as if I was discovering my new self which I never knew existed. The happy Thakur didn’t last much longer and was soon taken over by curious Thakur. “Why” was the question. Why was I happy? I have had encountered much shorter lines before, sometimes I was taken in as soon as I get in the line but all those times I was more relieved and never happy. What was different this time? Then it hit me like a charging 20-wheeler on a freeway. I always heard it happened to someone else, never thought that it will happen to me but here I was. MY LINE WAS MOVING FASTER THAN LINE NEXT TO ME. It has finally happened. What they say is true, all good things come to those who wait. I was ecstatic Thakur. Everything was moving with the precision of Mangalyaan. To begin with, most of the fellow travelers in my line were single passengers and not big family reunions huddling in a group. Two, officer at the end of the line checking our boarding pass was a phenomenon. I will come to it later because she needs a paragraph dedicated to herself in this daily journal. Satisfied with what’s happening before me I started looking behind me at people who were lagging, those kids, those couples, those elderly, those teenagers, I felt a sense of triumph from getting ahead but not for long. Soon it was overtaken by guilt. Was I laughing at the pain and agony of those people, those people who were looking at me and saying to themselves, “wish that guy was me”. Was I a sadist? Just when I was transforming from allegedly sadist Thakur to sad Thakur, defensive Thakur intervened and gave my shame much required cover. He argued, “Thakur, these are very same people who laughed at you when you were being left behind, rejoicing in your misery, looking down upon you as a loser.” He then directed his Salim-Javed to my shame, “Jao pehle un sab ka sign lekar aao jinhone mere boarding pass pe ye likh diya, ye, SLOWER THAN INZEMAM-Ul-HAQ, tab main guilty feel karunga.” That monologue started racing my pulse and heartbeat and before I know I was “angry” Thakur, giving fiery looks to the travelers in adjacent line and they were feeling the burn. I was marching towards the check point with theme music of Chariots of Fire playing in my head. When I reached to the officer it didn’t took much time but events so powerful are etched in memory forever, not diluted by time or age. She took my boarding pass and id, put them under the boarding pass scanner and id scanner, scrutinized them for just the right amount of time and looked at me for just the right amount time and, now this is important, handed over to me the boarding pass, id with her left hand, while smiling, rolling her eyes and tilting her head to her left indicating me to go on and with her right hand signaling next passenger to come forward. She didn’t even waste time to say those three words, "you are good". It was magical. As I move to physical security check I would have actually believed if all my surrounding would have turned into golden sunset and I have embraced the sun itself. I DESERVED IT. It was glorious and I was victorious Thakur.
I remain optimistic that I will encounter similar experience at least once or may be twice again in my life but it won’t be same again. The feeling of first love lasts forever.
