Stranded

 

The adventures that I undertake leave me drained. I usually have no desire to leave my home, or the one place I am in. Sometimes, it feels good just being a tree; rooted at one spot and having no stress of displacement. No choice, no anxiety ------> peace. 

But sometimes, we have certainly no choice but to become anxious because we don't have the option not to travel. And in those unfortunate moments, with some baggage and work, I had no alternative but to travel. It was a purposeless travel, and I intended to visit and re-live old memories. But then, destiny had a different plan for me. 

I went through the first round of preliminary security check into the airport. I waited for a while before I made my way for Air India's ticket counter. One of the cost- effective but least customer friendly service is provided by AI Express. When I went to the counter, I was dismayed. My flight had been cancelled and I had no knowledge about it. It was midnight and all I could do was wait and think over. There were so many bookings and connecting flights and if I missed one, I missed them all! 

Sometimes, life doesn’t take you where you planned to go.
But it lands you exactly where you’re meant to be.

It had taken weeks to arrange the trip, and I was exhausted but excited — the kind of restless joy that only comes when the heart expects something it’s been missing for too long.

I stood among a crowd of angry passengers — people arguing, shouting at airline staff, demanding answers that no one had.
I just stood by the counter thinking what to do. My heart sank. I wasn’t angry; I was tired, frustrated at the prospect of not seeing my love soon. 

Somewhere between disappointment and silence, I saw her.

She was a few feet away, at the next counter — dressed in modest clothes and a black hijab, scrolling on her phone, talking to the airline staff. There was something about her — calm, contained, and yet full of life. In the noise and frustration around us, she looked untouched, as if even in the desperate situation she was in command.

I found myself watching her. Not in a way I’d be proud of, but in that helpless, human way we look at someone who seems to belong to a better moment than ours.

I didn’t say anything at first. I didn’t even know what to say.
But eventually, we exchanged a glance, and then a few polite words — something about flights, delays, how miserable waiting could be. Her voice was soft. She spoke little, but every sentence seemed to make the air easier to breathe. I thought it would be pleasant spending the waiting hours with this beautiful lady. 

Time passed. I learned she too was stranded for the night. And though we didn’t speak much, there was a quiet understanding — two strangers sharing the same waiting hall, the same tired night, and perhaps the same loneliness. I wanted to speak and know more about this beautiful lady, but she seemed reserved - a lady you wouldn't want to meddle unless you had business! 

For the first time in a long while, I felt something move inside me — something I thought had died. That pleasant feeling which I used to experience had disappeared wooing a woman who seemed to not care for me at all.

---

But I was married.
And not unhappily — just quietly, uneventfully. My wife and I had grown into different people. We lived together, but in separate worlds. Still, there was affection — or at least, duty disguised as it.

So I sat there, torn between what I had and what I was suddenly beginning to feel.

Was it attraction?
Was it loneliness pretending to be love?
Or was it just the heart’s way of reminding me that I was still alive?

I didn’t have answers. Only a growing ache that felt both wrong and comforting. Either I could make my move, and write a different story or do nothing and let my life be as usual. I deliberated seated on the bench, what to do next. Travelling made no sense now as the next flight was after 24 hours, enough to ruin all my plans. And even when if I had made the journey, it would result in no gain. Rebuke...rebuke...and some nasty words from the woman I had once loved and who had loved me back. That's what crossed my mind as my eyes closed. 

---

When my eyes opened, it was dawn; announcements filled the air again. Some flights were leaving.
I must’ve drifted to sleep for a while, because when I woke, the terminal was quieter. I looked across the hall to where the lady had been sitting.

Her seat was empty.

I waited for a while, scanning faces — hoping to spot her in the crowd, maybe near the boarding gate, maybe by the coffee stall. But she was gone. No trace, no goodbye.

Something inside me tightened — not heartbreak, not regret, just an emptiness that words can’t quite hold.

Maybe she had taken another flight. Maybe she had simply walked away.
Maybe she was never meant to stay long enough to be a part of my story.

---

I sat there for a while, thinking about my wife, about my love, about how people drift in and out of each other’s lives like delayed departures — some waiting too long, others leaving too soon.

Maybe God, in His quiet wisdom, was reminding me of something — that love, no matter how imperfect, is still sacred when it’s chosen again and again.
That desire is easy, but faith to continue on is what makes it love.

So I got up, stretched my stiff back, stopped looking for alternative flights and left the airport back for my work-place. A delayed flight is better than a cancelled flight, and a cancelled flight is better than a crashed flight. God had been merciful to me!
My flight had been cancelled — but somehow, so had a mistake waiting to happen.

A woman can make or break a man.
And sometimes, life gives you two women — a woman who loves you but turns nasty, and a woman who also loves you but disappears!

That night didn’t take me anywhere, but it brought me back to myself.
And sometimes, that’s all the journey we really need!