Flights, Babies And Magical Moments!

 

I am Navya, and I am traveling with my baby in a flight for the very first time.

I am nervous, and the reaction of the people beside whom I have to sit on the flight has done nothing to assure me. While one guy tried really hard not to wince, the other guy looked at my baby, shook his head and gazed out of the window.

Too bad that I get to sit in the middle of these two. Too bad that they will have to ‘suffer’ my baby who, in the meanwhile, looks supremely unconcerned.

The guy sitting on the window seat tugs his bag closer to his chest and stares out. The guy to my left leans back on his seat and closes his eyes.

I sigh. It is going to be a long flight.

---@@@---

I am Arnav, and I am frustrated.

It was bad enough that I didn’t get the window seat. I now have to sit beside a baby, who by the likes of it, gives every indication of being a royal pain.

I do not get the allure of babies. They are fragile, require a lot of attention and caring and patience, all three of which are missing in my case.

For two years, I and my wife have avoided the topic of parenthood. But she has started giving subtle hints. Although I do not mind becoming a parent, I just feel like I would not do much justice to the role.

The baby – Ayan, I think, I heard his mother address him so once – settles on his mother’s arms and grabs the bottle of milk with gusto. He makes cute cooing sounds. I would have enjoyed them if the baby’s tiny foot wasn’t kicking my ribs.

Actually, it wasn’t kicking. More like, touching softly, now that I observe.

A crazy thought comes to my mind. I gently tickle the baby’s underfoot. He widens his eyes, stops drinking and lifts up his head to look at me. Then he grins and playfully moves his leg up and down, gesturing me to tickle him again.

It is the grin that does me in. Converts me. Makes me a believer, if I may say. The grin is a mix of playfulness, happiness and innocence all rolled into one tiny being that has the capacity to wrap a grown adult around its little finger.

As I gently massage the baby’s soft underfoot, I realize that babies are really all right and perhaps it is time for me to start a family.

---@@@---

I am Shantanu, and I just wanted to sit in solitude beside the window seat and look out into the clouds, hoping that their sight will take away the melancholy of leaving my family behind. I am moving abroad for higher studies, and there is no saying when I will get to meet my parents and my sister.

I seriously never thought that it would be this hard. Saying goodbye to them has been the most painful moment of my life.

I just wanted to sit in silence and brood for a while, until the melancholy drifted away.

I didn’t expect to be seated beside an infant who promised utter mayhem throughout the flight.

Then I feel ashamed of myself for thinking such awful thoughts and risk a glance at the baby who is looking at me wide-eyed and curious.

His mother is searching for something in her bag and is holding the baby awkwardly on one hand.

“Here, I will hold him so that you can search comfortably.” I hear myself say and my hands, as if they have a mind of their own, stretch towards the baby. The lady looks at me in surprise and then hands over the baby to me.

I make him stand on my thighs and gently rock him. He giggles and starts moving his body up and down, as if gesturing me to do it again. I smile and repeat the motion. The baby giggles yet again delightfully.

Then he brings his palms near my face and gently rubs them on either side.

I close my eyes at the feeling of immense affection that the baby is projecting towards me. My eyes threaten to well up but I take deep breaths to compose myself. I settle the baby against my chest where he snuggles and looks at his mother.

Far too soon for my liking, she takes the baby from my arms after thanking me. I watch her gently rock the baby to sleep. The rocking motion calms my own turmoil and as I gaze outside at the clouds, there is a feeling of peace and bliss.

Really babies are all right. And I will be too. I know.