I watched the dust storm gather strength on the tarmac and the
runways from the safety of the interiors of the airport at Jaipur. It was
getting somewhat worrisome. I wondered if it would delay all departures. My
flight was to New Delhi and onwards to Pune with quite a number of hours to be
in transit. I was usually careful about that sort of a time gap between flights
but this could take it right up to the edge. The announcements were coming in.
Flights were being delayed and it was by three hours for now and could be much
more. I logged in to my ticket status and checked the one from Delhi to Pune
and relaxed. Several flights out of Delhi were also getting delayed. Now, I
could settle in at the departure area, find a silent and comfortable section
and get out a book to read.
Most passengers were seated nearer to the high outer windows and
were watching the dust storm. The regulars from Jaipur and those who looked
very much local were in the middle section, not bothered, and were busy with
their cellphones or were napping. What was there to watch in a dust storm for
someone from Jaipur? I walked around a bit, scouting for a good location. About
four entire long rows of rather comfortable seats were somewhat less crowded. The
reason became obvious as I neared it. There were no television monitors or
eateries or rest-rooms in the vicinity.
I made myself comfortable near a large potted palm and placed my
haversack between my leg space and the plant. The other carry on had my airport
stuff, books, bottled water, small packages of snacks and one particularly
aromatic parcel of puri bhaji from an excellent foodcart near the railway
station. I was looking forward to enjoying myself with it when on the flight or
while at the transit lounge at the New Delhi airport. For now, I could be busy
with my book.
An elderly couple on the other side of the potted palm had already
made themselves quite at home, actually, in a way. They were snoring away
happily while a younger couple were busy chatting with one another. They must
be related, I guessed, for otherwise they would have been irritated or would
have moved away to another section. I was ok with it for I was used to
traveling with mixed group of fellow passengers in long distance railway
trains, night buses and while staying in dormitories and whatever. Opposite, to
the extreme corner, I had a group of pilgrims, from the sight of all the stuff
that they carried and their dress. They also had a guruji amidst them and yet they were silent.
Right across me, the most intriguing group of all. An elderly
gentleman, a not-so-youngish lady, and two very young kids, a boy and a girl,
with about eight bags on alternate seats, being used for various purposes. The
elderly gentleman had his elbow resting on a large carry-on bag while the lady
was using one soft bag as a back support and had another bag tucked below her
seat. The kids were more enterprising. Each one was using a bag as a pillow and
backrest and was able to adjust adequately to sit across two seats. The more
interesting of all, each one had a book.
Curiouser and curiouser, I tried to identify the books without
giving away my intention. The elderly gentleman was reading a book that I
recognised right away. It was one of the very popular Jim Corbett titles and I
felt happy about it. Fellow nature lover. He must be a good person, I
certified. Everything is all a-ok about him. The lady a book from the
One-Minute-Manager series. Slim book about management and organisational behaviour.
Hmmm, I thought. She must be a working professional, recently promoted, good
organisation and wants to be better informed at work.
The young lad had a book from the Game of Thrones series. My mind
went ‘Wow!’ That was some heavy reading. I had enjoyed the TV series but
reading it had made me quite tired. This young fellow looked determined at his
task and I saluted him. Not many adults would have picked it up at a book shop.
They young lady, possibly his younger sister, had a novel-sized book about
basic photography skills. I was impressed. She was not going to be one of those
who were just happy to be a point-and-click accidental photographer just
because her cellphone had a camera.
I could run an experiment, I thought to myself. I returned the
heavy-set novel that I was about to read and picked out ‘The Wolf of the Plains’
about Genghis Khan by Conn Iggulden. The cover would be interesting to each one
of them for it showed up the title about a wolf while it had interesting art
work about Genghis Khan and of course the image would also be appealing.
Something for the elderly gentleman and both the kids. I wanted to see if they
would gaze at the cover, look for longer times, and would be curious enough to
come over to chat with me.
Sure enough, the young lad glanced past, something clicked in his
mind, and he turned back to look at it keenly. It had caught his imagination
and he could not let it go. He walked over to the elderly gentleman and
whispered. The elder looked around politely and casually, very casually,
brought his gaze to my book. Now, he was hooked. He whispered back to the young
lad and nodded. The lady was possibly the mother of the two kids and she had
not moved her gaze out from her book. There was quite some furious and hectic
whispering between the elder and the young lad.
It was however, the younger sister who was bolder and impulsive. She
had been hooked on by the cover page of the book and she was smart. She picked
up her mother’s cellphone and, I just guessed at this by her actions, must have
typed in the title and googled about the book. She read it up and understood
the contents and also realised that there were more titles in the series and
that all were best sellers and were all about Genghis Khan and his descendants.
She walked up to the elderly gentleman and her brother and spoke in
a stage whisper that I could hear very clearly. “It is not about a wolf. It is
about the plains of Mongolia. It is about Genghis Khan. You will like it, brother.
There is a book series and they have better Amazon ratings than ‘Game of
Thrones’. It has history, war, adventure, geography and all other stuff in it.
Dadaji, you will also like it. There is something about a wolf and an eagle in
this particular book of the series. Mummy will not like it, maybe. The stories
are very long. But, I checked about Mongolia. It is good country and the
potential for photography is very good. I saw some of the photographs. Maybe I
will go there.”
I was blown away, absolutely. The young girl must have been on the cellphone for just about two minutes or more. She had absorbed all this first-time information, rapid fast, and picked out just the salient facts for her brother. The elderly gentleman probably realised that I had heard all that she said. He looked at me and smiled, very politely.
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