Last Row in a Flight

“What? How is that possible? She asked. What will you do now?” “Lets see, being a Mumbaikar, I need a bar to hold and latch on to it for travel”, I said. “Aivi hi thodi itne paise diye the, ki latak ke jao” she reverted immediately. But within my heart I felt as if all my plans were in doldrums.

Earlier during day, I was very excited about this trip to Mumbai. I was visiting my family after a gap of a month. I was missing those chubby cheeks and naughty eyes a lot. My bundle of joys too were eagerly waiting for this day as never did I leave them for such a long gap. They would often ask “Papa aap kab aoge? You don’t miss us?” With moist eyes, used to promise them “will be coming soon Betu”. My wifey is very reserved, she would never express so openly as the kids, but her eyes during the video call would always say “Come Soon”.

I did my web check-in this morning and reserved the aisle seat 31D in the last row. Not that I love last row but, in the web check-in, that was the only aisle seat which was available free. Being in aisle seat gives me a feeling of being in control, as if I am the pilot. The real reason, however, is my deep-seated fear that in the eventualities it would be difficult to run towards exit if you are ensconced in other seats. Being in the last row has an added advantage of getting some opportunities to sneak a peek into souls which bring fresh air in every flight.

Entire day I was checking my To-Do lists lest should I forget to finish some in my excitement. After a hectic and satisfying day, I was all set to go, when I got a call from my boss, “Pankaj can you come?” My past experiences gave me a hint that I am going to miss the flight. Such meeting invariably lasted for an hour or so, by which time I feared I would miss. Comforting myself I said  “All is Well” the famous dialogue from a block buster movie, I entered boss’ cabin, “May I come in Sir”. “Yes please”, he said. I entered with a face which said, “Sir aaj nahi, please baksh do”. “Pankaj, I know you are travelling today and would not take much time, I just called you to convey my regards to your wife and love to your kids, please take this small pack of chocolates for them”. Taking deep sigh of relief, I rushed towards the airport.

With only forty minutes left for departure I completed the security checking fast, luckily it was not crowded at all and ran towards my flight. Huffing and puffing I reached my favourite aisle seat in the last row. As I settled on my seat and took few deep breaths with closed eyes, the cabin crew along with two passengers came and said, “Sir there is some printing mistake in the boarding pass”. “How is that possible when I myself selected the aisle seat of the last row, 31D”, I questioned. “Sir we are sorry to inform but there is no 31-series row in this plane, it ends at 30. Hearing this I went total blank, didn't know how to react. Sensing big question mark on my face, he tried to pacify, "please don’t worry Sir, we will work out something, till then request you to give the seat to these people”. For a moment I thought, is this the reason they call this airline “GO”. Anyways as I left the seat to wait at the rear exit, I noticed there were five others waiting there for their luck to smile. I asked a young girl waiting for a seat, “Are you a Mumbaikar? Yes Sir”, she said. Winking my eyes, I said “Chalo apne ko toh latakne ki aadat hai, apne ko koi panga nahi hoga Mumbai latak kar jaane me”, with that everybody around roared in to laughter. While the situation was by no means funny for any of us, had little choice, as we were left at their mercy. These practices of multiple booking or over booking are quite common in buses in the countryside, it was very difficult to believe the existence of the practice in airline industry. I was completely lost in thoughts that, what if the airlines is not able to arrange all six seats, then who will be the lucky ones to travel in this, when I was interrupted by a melodious voice from behind “Excuse me, Sir” I turned to see a very beautiful air hostess with the tag reading “Aishwarya Rai” standing behind me. She didn’t resemble the celebrity of similar name but she was even more beautiful. A beauty, full of simplicity and carrying an elite elegance on her shoulders, someone for whom hundreds will be willing to die hundred times each. “Sir, can you hear me” bit louder than normal, when I was brought back to the real world. “ we are happy to inform you that your booking has been upgraded to Business Class, and sincerely apologize for the tense moments”.