Shipping up to Boston

"I hope no one comes between us", she said to him, in her slightly accented English which betrayed her Indian origins. She was quite fair for an Indian girl, which suggested that she was from the north.

Chaaya, of course, was referring to the empty seat between them on the commerical airliner en route Boston. There was a sudden jolt in Aditya's gut, but he couldn't tell whether it was her words or just the sudden acceleration of the aircraft taking off the ground.

Surprisingly, the plane had quite a few empty seats, although it was right after Christmas break. "Man, I wish I was one of the lucky people to get 3 seats to themselves", she remarked, "so that I could sleep". "Well sorry for intruding on your sleeptime", Aditya ventured, "but at least you have me." "I'm going to inspect the rest of the cabin to see if there are any empty seats in a row" she announced, stepping over Aditya's feet without waiting for a response. "...sure...uh..." he mumbled, failing completely to be nonchalant as he gaped after her.

Aditya was secretly happy when she came back with a disgruntled look and plopped back down on her seat. He tried really hard not to let it show. "You can certainly have the seat between us and lie down if you like..." he said, in a sad attempt at chivalry. "Aww its alright, I just popped a couple of sleeping pills, they work like a charm. Want one?" "N...no thanks, I uh" "Whats wrong with sleeping pills?" "N..nothing I just don't take drugs...I mean...shit...medicational things"

Medicational? Thats not even a word! Aditya thought helplessly. "So does that mean you take other drugs?" "I uh...don't really care about those." care about those? you meant care FOR those you dumb schmuck. "So you do drugs?" "n..no I just don't mind other people doing them..." what the hell am i saying? Aditya felt retarded.

The last flight that Aditya was on involved an overweight man in his sixties splashing his drink on the passengers around him and rolling onto Aditya's shoulder in his sleep. Compared to that, this was certainly a step up as far as random passengers went.

"By the way, my name is Aditya." he got a sudden surge of courage. "Chaaya." she said shaking his hand. He was so taken aback by this unexpected contact that the airline safety video was like a buzz in the background.

The two proceeded to have some of the standard conversations that any college aged Indians living in the United States generally have - Bollywood movies, how the American winter sucks balls, how visiting home for two weeks is too short but for four weeks is too long...

Aditya was staring blankly at the only-too-familiar safety video. "I think that airplanes must have at least one...no, two lavatories designated as smoking lavatories. Otherwise how could people addicted to cigarettes sit through long flights? My dad can't tolerate long flights because of that!" Aditya was surprised at the sudden outburst, but nevertheless chimed in "I totally agree...its an injustice to smokers everywhere..."

Chaaya was getting groggy. "Are you going to sleep on the flight at all?" "Depends, neend aayi toh" (if sleep finds me). "I don't know why you don't use sleeping pills. I pop pills for everything, even for a slight headache." "The sky looks beautiful." said Aditya, although he was looking straight at her. But she was already asleep.