The Long Town

It was morning, the 13^th of March, 2020. Rishab woke up feeling not so fresh but exited. He was going to India. Not forever! Just for a temporary time. It was Spring Break in his school. He was planning to miss out the rest of his school year. He was going their because of a certain reason. It was Rishab’s Uncle’s wedding. He saw the wet grounds outside his window. It had rained the previous night. But now, the sun gleamed and filled the air with delightfulness. He got dressed and went outside the house. There was a park just behind his home. He saw the grass soaked up like a puddle.

 They had packed their luggage. His dad, Anshul, was planning to stay at US. Rishab, his brother, and his mom were going to India. Anshul was staying at home because he still had work. (This is the story of the Covid – 19 crisis. It is nothing but the truth. I promise you!) They had a flight at noon. They ate their breakfast and left for the airport.

Rishab’s mom’s name was Pooja. His brother’s name was Sammy. They wore masks for safety. They were going through the United Airlines. They were going from Phoenix < San Francisco < New Delhi. The check- in took longer than usual. That was because they were checking the temperature of several people. (I don’t know why that took so long but…. Oh well!)

Rishab had nothing to be entertained with except for his ipad. That too, was low on battery. Rishab sighed, ‘Oh well, I guess it is my fault to have not charged it in the morning!’ But, he was in luck. His mom told him that she had a power bank on full battery. He took out a lead for his ipad and charged it. He then, for the meantime, had nothing to do except look at the window and talk to his brother. Oh wait, he couldn’t even do that. His mom had already called shotgun and taken the spot. ‘Oh darn!!’He muttered. His mom had decided to take a quick nap for the rest of the flight. The flight was of an hour to San Francisco. There was no TV because it was a domestic flight, not an International. His brother was gulping down on some soda. With disgust filling his mind, he closed his eyes and drank his soda quietly as well.

The assistant spoke in a loud voice over the loudspeaker. ‘Good Afternoon passengers, the trip from Phoenix, Arizona to San Francisco has almost come to an end. We are about to land in only a few minutes. Please buckle your seat belts and be seated. Thank You! We hope to see you soon!’ Rishab was doing stuff on his ipad while he was hearing this. Meanwhile, his mom woke up with a start and finished the remaining bits of her soda. Samarth was looking at the ipad greedily as if to snatch it away and send a photo of him to his friends on messenger. Then, the flight started to dip a bit. Pressure started to fill Samarth’s ears. He groaned, ‘man, this hurts.’ He gulped down some more of his soda. He had actually asked the flight attendant to pour more before the message had come.

They came out of the airport. Then, they ate lunch. Their next flight was after a few hours. They sanitized themselves and explored the airport. Then, just out of the blue, they found that machine which gives you information on their flight. They saw that their portal had changed. But no announcement was made. Or they didn’t hear it. Then Rishab said, ‘Look mom, our portal has changed. It is now east of where we are right now.’ Then they headed towards that portal. They went towards that portal and rested there for some time. Rishab bought 2 drinks for him and his brother. His mom drank coffee. They waited for their arrival to India.

An announcement came by, ‘Passengers who are travelling from San Francisco to New Delhi, India may enter the flight F335R2. The boarding has started.’

They stood up and headed towards the boarding line. Many people had already entered the aircraft. They took out each one of their passports and boarding tickets. They very soon had entered the aircraft. They were greeted by the attendants. They were now heading towards their seats. Rishab stared at the business class seats dream fully. He moved on towards the economy seats. This time, he called shotgun! He went to the seat closest to the window. He saw the blank screen and his heart raced wildly. It had been so many years since he had been inside an aircraft that he had forgotten that there was a small screen filled with entertaining things.

He turned on the screen and plugged on his microphones. He then heard the announcement you would hear every time you would enter an aircraft. Safety rules. ‘Not Again!!’ He groaned. After the safety video was over, the pilot began to say his speech. (I am going to mention it as a speech because I hear it every time I go in an aircraft. Same with the safety video. They annoy me so much. But this is a personal opinion, so don’t judge. Please!)

Rishab buckled his seat belts and got prepared for television to fill his eyes with entertainment. He searched movies and saw many movies like Harry Potter 1-7, Spider Man – Far from Home, and many more. They were awesome. He wanted to set up a reminder that in 16 hours, he had to finish eight movies for the minimum. But, he would surely need sleep. Unless he is planning to skip sleeping. You know like you sometimes skip dinner, that would be what his grown up mind would be planning. Do the math, you will find out. Grown –up mind, ha!)

He feasted his eyes on the Harry Potter movies. He skipped the first four, and went on the fifth. His mom told him to be ready when dinner arrived. He noticed that he was hungry. He opened the tray and sanitized his hands. Meanwhile, a small, puny bug screeched in his ears disturbing his unrecognized movie. It was his little brother. He wanted to put on a show. So then, Rishab put on his cartoon channel and focused on his movie while dinner arrived. There were rice, bread, curd and curry for dinner. He ate hungrily. He then felt sleepy so he ate his food and went to sleep.

He woke up 4-5 hours later. It was early morning. Everyone was asleep. He went to the bathroom and started watching TV. A few minutes later, his mom woke up and started watching TV as well. His brother kept sleeping. Then breakfast arrived after an hour. When the breakfast was put on his plate, he woke up hungrily and started chewing on his breakfast.

We then reached New Delhi. My mom was excited the most. Rishab’s uncle came to pick them up. He took us to the hotel because they were to go to a city called Lucknow. They ate dinner and went to bed. (You see, the time is different. If it is morning in US, then it is going to be nighttime in India.)

The next morning, they went in a flight to Lucknow at noon. Rishab played on his ipad for this flight. This was an hour long as well. They soon landed in Lucknow. Rishab’s uncle went to pick up our luggage while we went outside and waited for him. Rishab’s uncle’s name is Abhishek. We then saw a car that was ours. We put our luggage and headed for our house.

Rishab and his brother greeted his grandparents and they greeted him back. They went inside and refreshen up. They ate some food. Then they felt sleepy. So they all slept. This ability is called jetlag. It is when you sleep in the morning and stay awake in the night. Like a bat! After a week of this repeated pattern, they had no jetlag.

The next day, Abhishek’s would-be wife came to meet them. They played a lot of games. Samarth enjoyed the day the most. Rishab could tell. Then, the news came that there would be lockdown in India because of Covid –19. They went with the lockdown for a long time. It was still going and there seemed to be no way to stop it except for stay at home.

Meanwhile, Anshul still stayed at home alone. He really missed them a lot. That was why he always called them two times a day. One in the morning and another in the night. He was waiting for the arrival of them. But there was no way to come home. Their mom watched news all day to get a report about when flights would start. It was a sad period in their time. This would go down in the books. Covid- 19 had stopped them like a finger trying to squish an ant. But they had to do something. They would!!

(There had to be a way. There had to be a way… This corona virus proved out to be very powerful. But don’t worry! We shall unite and fight. Hear that before? Probably have. So, don’t fear, we shall overcome this virus and assemble. Just a few moments! Hang on tight! Because we will win this fight!!)

To Be Continued…