I had a very interesting experience which for most would have been a regular happening and it would have been so for me too but for the perception we have about Islam, thanks to the extremist groups that exist in this world. I wouldn't like to stress too much on extremism, religion and terrorism because its very personal topic and everyone has their views on it. I will just narrate my incident which got me thinking and leave it to you my dear friends to infer your thoughts on it.
My trip to India was coming to an end. I was waiting in Mumbai airport for my flight to Newark. As I was waiting for my boarding pass since I was travelling as a standby passenger, my eyes fell on this middle aged lady who had airport assistance. I did not pay much attention initially but for her few actions where in I observed she was wearing a lot of gold bangles in both her hands, an elaborate mangalsutra coupled with another gold necklace. She was repacking her suitcase for some reason and I noticed her folding a fuchsia colored sari with an intricate gold embroidered border. OK now for some of my friends, this would go against my earlier statement of 'I did not pay much attention'. She spoke in beautiful Urdu language which sounded like music to the ear and so polite in rendering the language too. Every sentence had the reference to Allah which in an ideal scenario would have sounded as a God respecting person but for the things happening in the world today in the name of Allah it would sound as fanaticism.
As soon as I got my boarding pass, it was time to run for security and immigration and I forgot about her momentarily, little did I know that she would be my neighbor in the flight. We first got speaking when the steward asked us our meal preference since we were just about to be pampered in our business class seats. She said she could read some Hindi but could not read English and she requested if I could help in translating messages to the steward which I gladly accepted. We got into a conversation and what a polite lady, I must say. She has been travelling for the last ten years to her daughter's place in Chicago, of which she has traveled 6 times by herself and four times with her shauhar (husband) as she addressed him. She told me about her fasting as we are in the holy month of Ramadan and how the Koran says that they should not fast while traveling but make up for the days when they have completed the traveling. Her Hindi was a melodic blend of Urdu and Hindi with some of the key words in Urdu that gave her Hindi a very poetic sound. I started to get myself comfortable with the in-flight movies and I asked her if she needed a hand with the movies and she said she had been to Haj a few years back and after that she stopped watching films. After dinner we both got busy with our own activities, she went off to sleep while I watched some movies and went to sleep myself. She woke up in the morning to her morning duties, brushed and got ready. I noticed she had a very polite way of thanking the staff as they served her, she said 'Thank you very much' in her soft way that even the staff replied to her in a very touching tone of 'You are most welcome'. I don't mean to sound rude but not many Indians thank people whom they don't know. Probably its the Urdu touch. When it was time to land, I could sense her praying and as the flight touched the runway, she thanked out aloud and I asked her if she was scared and she said no, I am thankful that Allah has brought us safely and may Allah do good to all. Good things should happen to everyone and Allah will do good to all. It really touched me. We landed really early in the morning, even before customs opened so we were expected to stay in the plane till customs opened. That meant half an hour on board the plane. She requested me if I could give her my phone so that she could call her daughter to let her know that she has landed. Her daughter appeared really worried because I could hear aunty pacifying her and assuring her that she would be absolutely fine. She kept telling her that why would you be worried, this is not the first time I am coming and I will manage it, don't you worry. It was such a touching gesture, firstly I can understand why her daughter was worried because her mum knew no English, she needed help to fill the immigration form and Newark is a huge transit airport. But the confidence with which she assured her daughter was commendable and she displayed the emotions of a mother to her daughter which is way beyond religion.
I thought I would help her till the luggage counter as that was the common point till where we could be together since we were going in different directions after that. But then while leaving the flight, I noticed she was having wheelchair assistance. I decided to go ahead but couldn't stop thinking about her. I completed my immigration and got my luggage and decided to wait there for her and that was when her daughter called me and told me that she has gotten a confirmed ticket for her mum to Chicago while earlier she was going to fly as a standby. She asked me if I could convey the message to her mum and I told her that I was waiting for her mum any which ways. As soon as I saw aunty come through, I gave her the message but the wheelchair assistance guy just mechanically wheeled her through and checked in her luggage for the standby flight while I was running behind them. Finally we managed to print her boarding pass as per the confirmed flight which was scheduled for 3:15 pm and she blessed me profusely in that melodious language and she was so happy.
The flight's gate was still not announced and I wonder where the attendant would have dropped her, I am still in Newark airport waiting for my flight and it is more than six hours since we have separated. I thought I should go to her gate and check if she is alright but the gate announcement is not done yet. I cant stop wondering where she would be waiting and how she would communicate with her daughter with no phone.
I have been wondering, we all meet for a purpose, why was I chosen to be with her? She reminded me of my mother and I thought I was helping my mother. Her devotion to Allah will surely take her safely. I must have been her medium to get her through a certain point, Allah would have appointed me but would He have communicated with Krishna to resource me out for some time to help his devotee? LoL.. And we fight around in the name of religion to achieve what? I was sitting in the food court and people watching and it struck me that in an ideal world this incident would be just any other one because man is always helping people. Man is an emotional, social animal but with the skepticism that we show towards Muslims these days, is it really worth generalizing and they are no lesser a loving human being. On the other hand, do they really need to fight in the name of Allah, when He too just wants us to love one and all!! I will leave you all thinking. As for me, I thought I helped my mother.
