Rainbow Dreams

Jyothi (Jo) was very anxious as it was her first onsite trip. She had been working her onsite plans for nearly 6 months and it became fruitful only now. Her flight was at 12 a.m the next day and she was still in office completing her existing pending work for the current project. She had already packed her luggages the day before. She was about to start from office and received a call from a landline number around 3 p.m. She was shocked to hear that her flight had been preponed to 9.30 p.m and the connecting flight to Dubai was about to start in an hour from Chennai airport. She called her home and informed them to quickly start from their house with all the luggages and pick her up from office as her office was only half an hour drive to airport. But it would take 1 hr for her parents to drive to her office. She called the airlines officials to buy some time so that she will not miss the connecting flight. She was filled with relief to hear that they would wait for extra half an hour as it was a sudden change in the timings and they had passengers travelling from different locations in Chennai to airport. She completed all the formalities at the airport and found herself comfortably seated in an aisle in the flight. The flight started to take off and so were her dreams. The flight landed in Dubai after 3 hours. Dubai International Aiport was massive than she had expected. She had read somewhere that it has multiple terminals as Dubai had connecting flights to many of the countries worldwide. Her boarding pass had an entry for the terminal gate number and she arrived at the designated gate. The flight was supposed to start in another half an hour but still they hadn’t started the check-in. She enquired an old lady next to her if that was the terminal to board the Houston flight. That lady replied that it was a terminal for the flight to Dallas. She then learnt that the flight to Houston was in a different terminal and that it was completely in a different direction. She hurried with her hand luggage towards the correct terminal but she was very far from the destination. Jo panicked as she had very less time. She had to take multiple elevators and she was almost in a running pace. She was nearing the terminal where they had been announcing the final call for her name. She was the last person to step into the flight and she felt as if she had completed a race. The flight took off and she would land in her dreamland in 17 hours. Jo was dozing off frequently due to dizziness. She was relentlessly checking the monitor and her watch to see how much distance they had travelled. The distance was decreasing in a very slow pace. She had started to sense nausea and vomiting and already she was homesick. The flight finally landed in the George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Houston. The passengers were directed to the baggage claim area. There was a huge crowd in that vicinity and Jo managed to find a place to position herself. The baggages started to flow in the conveyor belt and people started taking theirs. Time was passing by but Jo couldn’t find her baggages. She now started to get nervous. After 20 minutes, the conveyor brought one of her luggages, she was yet to find the second one. The crowd had now moved away with their luggages and there were hardly 5-10 baggages gliding in the conveyor. She gazed around the terminal in dismay and stumbled upon a stranger. He introduced himself as Praveen and was from India and asked her if she needs any help. She explained her situation and also told him that this was her first time visit to the U.S. He quickly took her to the airline’s helpdesk and lodged a complaint about the missing baggage. The authorities assured them that they would get the baggage as early as possible after taking Jo’s residential address. Praveen helped Jo with a taxi to her hotel. She thanked him and left the airport. She realized that she hadn’t taken down Praveen’s number only after taking the cab. Jo reached the hotel in half an hour. She settled down to the room and called her home in India to tell them that she had safely landed in the U.S. After about 2 hours, she received a call from the reception that she has some visitors. She was surprised to see her lost luggage with one of the airport authorities. They did some initial identity check and handed over the baggage to her. She was overwhelmed with joy and wanted to thank Praveen but didn’t know how. After completing the official procedures for her employment, she started to doze off. She started the next day morning with full fervour as it was her first official day in the U.S. She reached office much earlier and was waiting for swipe card access to enter inside. Her manager arranged for the preliminary procedures. It was a huge office housing thousands of employees from different countries. She was being introduced to her teammates and was allocated a cubicle parallel to her manager. She was busy reading through her emails, when she heard some familiar voice around her. She couldn’t believe her luck; yes, it was the same Praveen whom she had met in the airport. They both exchanged surprises and were delighted that they were in the same place. Praveen had actually joined the project just 2 months before her and was in the airport to send off his friend to India. She told him that she had received her missing bag from airport and thanked him. He helped her find an apartment nearer to the office and helped in the transport to and from the office daily. They became good friends thereafter. Five and half years had passed by and both were working for the same client in the same project. One fine day, Jo was getting ready to go to office, when she suspected something wasn’t feeling good for her. She suddenly fainted and was taken to the hospital. She was then diagnosed for Flu and advised for complete bed rest. Praveen was taking good care of her. He used to visit her daily after office hours. He cooked diet food for fever and made sure she took her medicines properly. Praveen worked late hours every day to complete Jo’s pending assignments. This was the time when Jo started to feel that Praveen was not a mere friend but something above that. Jo had always acquired the best in everything right from childhood and thought Praveen would make a good partner. But she was hesitant if Praveen also would have the same feelings towards her. They had to leave to India in a few months as they cannot stay in U.S for more than 6 years due to visa restrictions. Praveen would be leaving prior to her as his visa was expiring earlier. Jo decided to speak her heart out on the day Praveen leaves the U.S. Time flew away and Praveen was scheduled to leave to India the next day. She created a collage of the pictures they both had taken in the past and developed a souvenir and intended to hand it over to him in the airport. Praveen had arrived on time in the airport and completed the check-in formalities. Jo had informed that she would be a little late as she had to complete auditing in office. Praveen’s flight was scheduled to take off in 1 and half hours and he should be leaving the visiting area in half an hour. Jo was still missing in the airport. Praveen kept trying Jo’s number but it wasn’t reachable. He had come to the terminal gate where the flight was leaving but still Jo hadn’t arrived. After some time, the passengers were asked to join the queue to enter the flight. When he started to leave to join the queue, he received a call from a reputed hospital claiming that Jo had met with an accident on the way to airport and was admitted to the ICU. Praveen cancelled his ticket and hurried to the hospital. Jo was lying unconsciously and had stitches all around her head. She was hasty in driving from office to the airport where she didn’t notice the snow berg across the road. Her car catapulted against it and she got stern injuries in her head. Praveen was in tears on seeing Jo’s condition and prayed that she should regain her consciousness very soon. After a day, Jo gained conscious. She wanted to see Praveen and the doctors beckoned him. Jo whispered in a feeble voice that she had been unlucky with airports for the 4th time and smiled at him. Her eyes were conveying something but before Praveen could decipher what it was, Jo’s body started to tremble and gave a deep breath. It was her last breath. Praveen completed all the formalities in the hospital and received Jo’s belongings. He found something in a gift wrap, drenched in blood, addressed to him. It was Jyothi’s parting gift to Praveen !!!!!