A Lie

It was a less crowded airport that Thursday morning. It was getting colder than usual in the premises. "Your kind attention please!, this is the boarding call for the passengers travelling in Air India flight AI 540 to New Delhi, I repeat.. AI 540 to New Delhi. Passengers are requested to proceed for boarding through Gate No 7 on the first floor"....came the announcement.

"Priya darling! our flight is ready for departure, we should now speed up"... told Karthik to his 10 year old daughter Priya at the security check area.

"O.k Appa"... said Priya listening to the announcement. After the security check, both gently walked in to take the escalator to the first floor. The airline staff checked their boarding pass before allowing them to board the aircraft.

After receiving a warm welcome smile from the hostess, he moved a little forward and was waiting for the passengers in front of him to clear the way. He along with Priya stepped forward towards their seat forward and placed the bags at the overhead cabin. Karthik pulled out a book to read and they settled in their allotted seats 12 A and B. After making himself comfortable he turned to Priya and asked her to fasten her belt and helped her through the process.

"You take the window seat all the time, I will be sitting there when we return pa"... said Priya. He nodded his head and said an o.k. to her and opened his book.

He then turned to her and asked “Do you want to switch the seats now Priya?” asked Karthik. “No, I’m going to sleep” responded Priya closing her eyes. Few other passengers were settling down and the others waited for their turn to move forward from the gate. As the aircraft was connected with the aerobridge, there was only one way for entering in.

"Karthik!"... the voice of Priya took him by surprise when he raised his head from the book and to notice Priya standing in front of him at the aisle. She was in a purple color salwar kameez with a pure white shawl. He didn't even imagine he would come across her. It was 7 years since they met. After such a long time she is now the co-passenger with him in the aisle seat. There wasn’t a communication between them since they last met. Karthik could feel buttrflies in his stomach and was getting a little nervous. She still was looking as gracious as she was when they last met. Priya was also a little nervous to have seen Karthik after a long time. She could actually judge that the little girl sitting adjacent to him must be her daughter and her eyes were actually gazing around to locate a lady. She actually couldn’t find anyone of his wife’s age and she had the seat number 12C. She could logically conclude that his wife wasn’t travelling with him. All these happened in a super quick moment.

"Do you know this aunty dad?"... questioned Priya to her father and he nodded his head to say a Yes. "How are you Priya?"....he then looked at Priya who was still standing and was looking for a space to put her back. She responded “I’m good Karthik” and looked for the air hostess to assist her. The air hostess approached Priya and collected her bag to help Priya find a location in the nearby overhead cabin behind their seat. Karthik leaned into his child's ear and whispered “This is the Priya aunty about whom I’ve been telling you all the time”. The child exclaimed hearing that and whispered back to her dad “She looks like an angel pa” and smiled.

After placing her bag safely Priya settled down at her seat adjacent to the child. Both Karthik and Priya were so much embarrassed to be together there after the take off and the little girl could sense that they both were little uncomfortable. She then intended to break the silence between them and looked up to Priya and said "Aunty my name is also Priya! and my dad never lies to me!". Karthik was so much surprised to see his daughter being so smart but he didn't express it out. He just caressed his daughter’s head and smiled at her.

After a few more moments of silence Priya decided to break the silence and she turned to Karthik and questioned "Am I so good Karthik?".... and surprisingly even before Karthik’s response his daughter answered, "Aunty this seems to be a dialog from the old Tamil movie Vinnaithandi Varuvaya, probably for a change you should have asked my dad, Are you so good Karthik?" and giggled.

Priya's expression showed that she was impressed with the little girl and she said "You are very smart dear!" and caressed her head. "Didn't your mom come with you?" questioned Priya and the little girl looked up to Karthik when he responded "She is already there in Delhi for work and we will be coming back together when we return".

"I want to see her Karthik"... said Priya and he answered "Sure. Do come home some time". The little girl who was actually smart, now got up and walked to the restroom allowing them more space and privacy.

"When did you adopt her Karthik?" asked Priya.

"The processing took 2 years, now she is with us for the past 3.5 years?" again there was a little bit of silence in the air and the silence made Karthik sense some question is on due for him. She knew that he is never going to ask her anything. "I'm glad to see you so happy Karthik".... her mind spoke to herself, but the silence continued.

Suddenly she threw a question to Karthik "Your daughter knows everything about me right? And why did she mention to me that you won’t lie to her?".... His mind read “how come most of the females are bold enough to ask whatever they want and why most of them want an answer for every question of theirs?".... he raised his head to just give a simple plain smile to her. There are some statements which are best said in silence rather than explaining with millions of words. In fact, Priya is the one who made Karthik realize this at the time when they parted 7 years back. So he knew that she would have understood. She did understand and exclaimed “The one who is named as Priya is always smart isn't it Karthik?”.

“Yes aunty” answered the little girl who was just returning back from the restroom. The child took her seat and said Karthik “Pa, I am going to sleep. Wake me up when we have to get down” and closed her eyes. Priya did not feel like asking more questions though she was eager to know what was Karthik’s wife doing. While the air carrier was cruising at 34000 feet and 700 km/hr speed, both Karthik and Priya were also travelling to their past and present lives at the same speed. Karthik was so much in love with Priya and wanted to marry her. They both were great friends till the time he proposed her but things changed after. Priya could never understand the love of Karthik for her. She was actually not very comfortable in meeting Karthik as she felt that it would bring back all the memories from the past to Karthik and he might be disturbed. However, the silence that existed between them during the flight made her realize that Karthik was cool and composed.

The flight landed right on time at the Indira Gandhi International airport T3. They walked out to the baggage belt to collect their bags and walked out. After collecting the pre-paid taxi receipt they walked out to the taxi bay. Priya before boarding the taxi stopped and said "I'll definitely come to visit your home someday Karthik, I definitely want to meet your wife", and turned towards the child and said “take care da Priya sweet heart, and I’ll see you soon, bye!" and walked to board her taxi.

Once she departed the little child looked at her dad said, "The one lie you said about mom today holds much more value than your all time stated truth to her pa!” He hugged his child and kissed her head!. It was indeed a mature thought of the child and he really felt happy for the little Priya for being so matured at this age.

"What if the aunty visits our home pa, what will we then tell about mom?" asked the child for which he smiled and replied "She will never visit us Priya!" and walked towards the taxi.

The real sweetness of some men lies in a bitter ending of their story thought the little girl. A little drop of tear did peep out of her eyes but thinking that her dad would never appreciate or like to see on Priya’s eye, she quickly whipped it off with her handkerchief and walked forward holding her dad’s hand.