Flight Delay

It was a routine Friday morning. Routine for me meant getting up at 4.30 am in the morning, taking bath and changing into washed clothes to offer prayers to all the deities I believed in, preparing morning meal and breakfast for my family, preparing school tiffin for my younger son, ironing the clothes for everyone to be worn that day to school, office, etc, etc.. 

Suddenly, at 5 am, my elder son who is studying in a different state called up. I was surprised as it was earlier than the time he usually called. He told me he had not slept the night before due to diarrhoea and vomiting with fever. I was alarmed and decided I should visit him immediately. 

I woke up my husband and younger son who were still sleeping and apprised them of the situation. My son would go to school as usual and my mother would come over and stay with him the rest of the time. My husband and I would immediately leave for Jaipur. 

I called up my office to take leave for about 1 week as I did not know how long it would take for everything to come back to normal. 

Then, I started looking for airline tickets and found one which would take us at the earliest to Jaipur. We were to catch the 11.25 am flight to Guwahati and then the connecting flight from there to Jaipur was supposed to take off at 1.30pm. Ultimately, we would reach Jaipur at 4.30pm which gave us ample time to reach my son's hostel at around 7.30pm.

I called up their hostel warden that we would be taking out our son for a few days till he recovered. We informed him of the tentative time of our arrival. We also called up the school's guest house also to expect us latest by 8pm that night. 

Everything went well upto Guwahati. Then, suddenly Air India Express sent a mail and a message through WhatsApp that the flight from Guwahati to Jaipur would be delayed by 2 hours.. not by a few minutes or half an hour but by 2 hours! Here, I was counting every minute thinking about how my son must be suffering with the fever and diarrhoea and vomiting with no one out there to even give him a glass of warm water! 

He had been taken to the school's clinic and some medicines had been prescribed but illness like this needed a lot of nursing care. His friends would also be going to classes and there was no provision for dedicated personal attention. On top of that, there was chicken pox infection going on in the hostel at the time and students who contracted the illness were just kept isolated but the mother in me could not just take this clinical and detached attitude so mechanically. 

With my thoughts running wild thinking about all kinds of possibilities like dengue, typhoid, etc..besides the chicken pox, I had reached the end of my sanity.. a condition which only a mother would understand. 

At such a crucial juncture, we were stuck in Guwahati for 3 hours.. 2 hours more than the scheduled 1 hour for domestic transfer. Only a third of the journey had been done and another two thirds were still remaining. What a predicament! 

Before booking on Air India, I had also looked at Indigo which would land us at Jaipur at 8.30 pm but thinking that it was too late, I had opted for Air India which was Rs. 4000/- more and altogether Rs. 8000/- extra for 2 tickets and now what a betrayal! The silent rage which I felt inside cannot be described in words. 

Pacing up and down in the airport and finally thinking that the waiting time was over, then casually without any regret, Air India smoothly sent another message saying that the flight would now leave at 4.30 pm which meant an extension of 1 more hour. 

At this moment, I totally gave up. There was an announcement now that we would be provided refreshments which could be collected by showing our boarding passes. The flight which was supposed to leave at 1.30 pm was going to leave at 4.30 pm now. We collected their so called lunch comprising of a small sandwich, a muffin and a tetrapack of juice but didn't feel like having them. So, we searched around the food court for a more substantial lunch because we were going to reach our destination quite late in the night and we had to fortify ourselves for that. 

At 4.30pm, there was another quiet message saying that we would leave at 4.40 pm and actually boarding started and we took off at around 5 pm after being at the airport for more than 4 hours. 

We finally reached Jaipur at around 7.30pm. This was the time we were supposed to reach our son's hostel had we gone on schedule but now another 3-4 hours stood in the way. 

The taxi which we had booked earlier took another half an hour to reach us. Everything on this day was running behind schedule somehow. I had to call up the school and the guest house again informing them of our delay which meant they would be waiting upto midnight and beyond to receive us which was one huge favour we were asking for. 

The evening traffic was busy in the city and we could not move fast. Gradually, as we moved away from the city limits, speed improved and we thought we would be able to reach atleast before midnight. Then, the taxi went for refuelling at the fuel station which had a long queue. After reaching our turn, the taxi driver asked for normal fuel which was not available and so we had wasted precious time for nothing. After that the driver entered another fuel station, stood in one more queue at this precarious time but this time the normal fuel was available and so we set out on our journey again. 

When something starts going wrong everything goes wrong... that is so true! Now, our driver was a young man. To beat the boredom of long monotonous drives, he called up his lady friend and started a long leisurely chat with her with the speaker on. It was so irritating but we could not say anything. Indirectly, we requested him to focus on the road and drive a little faster but little did he bother about our request! 

So, clenching my fists and keeping my lips tight, I prayed to all the gods I believed in... that nothing bad should happen to my son and that we reach before midnight because the hostel and guest house staff were already working beyond their routine schedule to accommodate us. The guest house was supposed to close at 10 pm but they were still waiting for us. The hostel's visiting hours were only till 6 pm but they were also waiting for us till whatever time we arrived at. 

Finally, we reached our son's hostel at 12.30 am in the night. The warden who was a young gentleman received us warmly and called out my son. While filling out the form and completing the paper work, my son whom I had not seen for the last 5 months came down the stairs helped by his roommate. His appearance shocked me... visible weight loss, darkened complexion and the once chubby cheeks were full of pimples. My heart wept inside. 

I was so happy that I had taken all the trouble to come. After completing the formalities, we headed for the guest house. My husband decided we should pick up some food as the mess in the guest house would be closed by then and so we went to a restaurant on the roadside and requested them to prepare rice, dal and veggies for dinner which they readily did. I must say help comes from very unexpected quarters sometimes! 

Finally, we reached the guest house which was hard to find at first but the security guard there gave our driver good instructions over the phone and we reached the place safely. 

The guard welcomed us at the gate and showed us to our room. The feeling at that moment was one like that of reaching home after a long journey! 

My son's condition matched that of typhoid. The school's doctor had already started treatment in that line. I thanked God that it was not something more serious. He still vomited and could not take anything. I had come armed with everything that he might need. The next few days saw him gaining his full strength again. We decided to stay there for a full 10 days till he became the strong and athletic boy that he was, once again. Being the rigorous academic school that it was, there was exam every Sunday and he was quite ready again to take the exam the coming Sunday and on the next Monday, we would be leaving for home again not knowing what kind of surprises the flight company would deal out to us! 

Flight delays happen all the time but this time, it surely tried my patience and certainly, one particular flight is permanently struck off my flying list!! 

Memchoubi Phanjoubam.