The Take Off

“Go ahead, Babu! Hurry up – hurry up!!”

Leela pinched babu’s elbow with her super excited big eyes glued to the paper on his hand.

“Read, will you? What more?”

“mmmm” Babu squinted his eyes. “Let me see”

They were sitting under the shade of the big mango tree in the garden. Sun was slowly setting beyond the tall coconut trees and the golden rays of dusk shone on their faces. Babu had a page of an English newspaper on his hand. Leela was anxiously sitting beside him, bending over his arm, waiting for him to unveil the magic written in black ink.

- “Unmarried!”

- “Perfect eyesight!”

Babu mischievously looked at Leela and raised his right hand with three fingers up and two fingers down.

- “Now what?” Leela pouted.

- “How many?”

- “Three!” Leela replied. Babu folded another finger.

- “And now?”

- “Two! Stop it will you...!!” Leela yelled angrily hitting his arm hard.

- “ Hey, no no!” Babu jumped away.

-“ They are asking for perfect eyesight” He burst into a laugh.

- “Idiot...!” Leela said.

-“So, so...? what more? read – read!” Her face was beaming with zest.

- “Good health!”

- “ Uuhhh...! Fair complexion...!” Babu looked at her.

“You would pass for that Leela! That’s it!” He handed over the newspaper back to Leela. She folded it and carefully crept into a pocket of her salwar.

“ But don’t forget the first qualification, ha! Fluent English! What fluent English, you are not even fluent in Hindi!” Babu chuckled.

“Also, they said at least a secondary school diploma.”

Leela glanced at him and got up. Babu tried to decipher the strange look she had in her big black eyes.

“Leela...!” Babu called her.

“Look at the sky!” Both of them looked up at the sky painted in enchanting twilight colors.

“It belongs to the Rich, Leela. We should live on the ground. The moment we think to fly, it becomes a dark curse, and that curse never leaves us” He sighed.

Leela silently left the Mango tree.

Leela lived in a little shanty house in the slum situated on the outskirts of the big, glamorous city with her mother. Her father had passed away two years ago. Sarada, Leela’s mother had been a housemaid for as long as Leela could remember. She leaves for the city every early morning to do her job as a housekeeper. She worked double shift. Leela had to leave her school when she was twelve years old and follow her mother’s footsteps first helping in some small restaurant kitchens around, and eventually, she was called to work in the city.

Sarada once worked at an air hostess’ house. She had to do a lot around that magnificent villa located very close to the beach. Sometimes she used to carry little Leela in and Leela remembered the lady as a fairy who appeared amidst the mist. She was barely home. She flew all around the world in a giant airplane; that’s how Sarada described her to Leela. She was tall; as fair as some foreign ladies Leela used to see in city malls; her eyes were long with long eyelashes; her lips had the color of a dark red rose. She would walk in the house gracefully, draped in elegant sarees. Little Leela was all mesmerized by her presence. The soft, distinct fragrance emanated from her body got stuck in Leela’s mind forever. She grew up dreaming of herself inside an airplane in the same kind of beautiful sarees; wearing a perfume that had the fragrance of jasmine flowers.

Leela started to work in this house a few years ago. She got a strong recommendation from an ex-housemaid who was a close friend of her mother. A leading businessman in the city lived in the mansion with his wife and two young children. The daughter was only two years younger than Leela.  One day Leela heard her talking to her mother about something very interesting. It was obviously very interesting and absolutely alluring that Leela almost dropped her jaw. The girl was showing a newspaper page to her mother and saying that Air India – one of India’s top airline companies – had called walk-in interviews to recruit air hostesses.

Leela stole the page, but she couldn’t read anything as it was written in English. But she could never take her eyes off the dazzling young woman who was smiling at a corner of the page. Her smile; her eyes; her lips; her gorgeous saree along with the petite traveling bag she was carrying; everything was totally inviting and reminded Leela of the house lady she saw more than a decade ago. Later in the day, she brought the newspaper to Babu, the driver of the family, who was peacefully napping under the mango tree after his late lunch. Babu had worked in the middle east for more than fifteen years and could read English a little.

Babu went back to his nap trying to figure out what happened to this girl all of a sudden. The jungle belongs to lions. The sky belongs to eagles. The ocean belongs to sharks. How dare a tiny sprat imagine being a shark? Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.  Babu tried to keep thinking, but the cold evening breeze shut his heavy eyelids soon.

When Leela reached home, it was already dark. Sarada had prepared rice with lentil curry and fish curry for dinner. Sarada was suffering from a headache, so they had a quick silent dinner and went to sleep. With Sarada placidly sleeping beside her, Leela took out the piece of paper and tried to see it in the feeble yellow light illuminated from the lamp post right next to their shack. She couldn’t see the letters clear but still saw the pretty girl smiling at her in the utter darkness.

***************

The next day was a Saturday. Leela managed to wrap up a little earlier and get off work to come to the bazaar. She had one pink saree in mind – her favorite, best and finest saree – the one she bought from the city festival last year and wanted to buy a new pair of matching earrings and a necklace.

“Fifty-Fifty – Fifty...!” She stopped at Muhammad’s stall who was yelling on the pavement.

“Take it or lose it...!! Fifty – Fifty – Fifty...!!!” Muhammad was screaming so loud exhibiting some jewelry items in his hands, his body soaked in sweat.

“ Hello, Muhammad bhai...!” Leela called him. Muhammad stopped and looked at her.

“ Hey, Leela – Leela...!” His face beamed.

“Long time no see! So glad to see you ha!” Leela smiled.

“What brought you here to this poor Muhammad?”

“ I need a pair of earrings and a necklace” Leela said.

“ Woah…!” Muhammad whistled.

“ There you go!” He dramatically pointed out to his stall.

“It’s all yours!” He grinned.

“Oh, I’m not joking Muhammad bhai!” Leela said.

“Neither am I” Muhammad said.

“You look confused though. What do you need? Well, I’ll give you a fifty percent discount. Take anything just for twenty-five bucks.” He turned and got back to his job.

Leela watched the stand carefully. It was full of fancy pieces of jewelry. Earrings, bracelets, necklaces, anklets, what not!

“Muhammad bhai” Leela called him hesitantly.

“Have you ever seen an air hostess?”

Muhammad turned around.

“Sorry, who? What??”

“An air hostess...!” Leela stammered.

“You know, the kind of girls that work in planes. You know what I mean, right?

“Errrr…!” He sounded puzzled.

“Yea I know they exist. I have seen them on movies and TV.” He shrugged.  

“But never seen one in real. Why?”

“What kind of jewelry do you think they wear?”

“Ohhoo…!” Mohammad laughed.

“ What kind of stuff do I think they wear?”

“An air hostess...?? Well, they must be rich, I guess” he said.

“I don’t know what they wear, but not this cheap gaudy crap, for sure...!! Why Leela, you want to be an air hostess, all of a sudden ha?!!”

His big tummy bumped up and down as he laughed hysterically.

“Ok, give me these.” Leela handed him a pair of earrings and a necklace. She did not want to spend more time entertaining him.  

When she reached home, Sarada had already arrived home and was preparing some chapatis for dinner. Leela freshened up and sat on the kitchen floor to help her. Leela carefully observed Sarada’s face. Sarada looked calm and restful. She had not uttered a single word of her plan to Sarada till now, but this moment might be the best.

“Amma” Leela called Sarada.

“Tomorrow I’m going out!”

“Why?” Sarada was kneading the chapati dough and didn’t lift her head.

“Tomorrow is our off day, right? We’ll go to the temple in the morning, and to the bazaar on our way home. I need to pick up some stuff from the bazaar”

“ I can’t, Amma” Leela said in a firm voice.

“ I’ll have to attend an interview early tomorrow morning”.

“ What?”

“What interview? Where?? When???” She raised her perplexed eyes on Leela.

Leela got up and fetched the piece of paper she had carefully kept under her pillow last night.

“I saw this ad in Anil sir’s house.” Leela said.

“ Babu translated this for me. It’s about a walk-in-interview to recruit air hostesses for Air India. I’m going to attend this tomorrow!”

“Oh, my precious God...!!” Sarada let out a cry of astonishment.

“Say that again Leela? Say that?? I can’t even believe you just said that. I don’t know who puts this trash into your head.” She pulled her hair.

“An air hostess? Do you even know what an air hostess is?? Any idea about their job??? Such an elite profession it is, reserved for the rich and high class. You remember Sonia ma’am, don’t you? How dare you even imagine yourself doing her job?”

“I think somebody must have had their evil eyes on you!” Sarada said.

“I’ll take you to the temple. Oh, my Lord Krishna!” Sarada looked up.

“ Don’t know what happened to this girl. She has gone crazy! Yeah, totally out of her mind. I don’t know what –“

“Amma!” Leela interrupted.

“ I said I’m not going to any temple. Not at all! I’ll be out early in the morning!”

“No!” Sarada shouted.

“Don’t you dare step out! I’ll take you to the temple, first thing tomorrow morning. I’ll ask Pandit Ji to do pooja. He’ll take out the evil spirit inside you.”

Leela said nothing. Her ears shut down. She used to have this weird habit since very childhood, that sometimes her ears shut down and open into a super-strong vacuum. Whatever entered one ear got fully sucked out through the other ear. Nothing stayed inside for her brain to comprehend.

Sarada didn’t stop yelling until they went to bed. Leela’s eyes slowly closed as Sarada’s all scolding and curses turned into a sweet soft lullaby and put her through sleep.

************************

When Leela woke up, it was still dark. Sarada was sleeping beside her, and she could hear her breathing softly. Her chest was slowly moving up and down. She was sleeping peacefully as it was a Sunday – her only day off after a very strenuous, hectic, hard-working week.

Leela tiptoed to her little cupboard and took out the saree and the saree blouse. The light pink color saree with an embroidered golden border design gorgeously matched her complexion. Leela got ready in a hurry as she didn’t want Sarada to wake up till she had left home. She draped the saree around herself and put on the earrings and the necklace. She applied a fine layer of rose powder on her face, put on a light layer of lipstick, and carefully applied kajal with the help of the faint light in their tiny living room. She did the final touch-up, put a small pink bindi on her forehead, and stood in front of their broken mirror. She did not see Leela, the housemaid; but a charming young woman who appeared to be working in one of those tall posh buildings in the city.  

The paper advertisement had asked the applicants to bring their certificates, Babu said, so she took the little file that had her one - and - only certificate – birth certificate. She used to carry that old file whenever she went for housemaid agency interviews.

She walked to Metro station and took the train. From the train station, it was a ten-minute ride to the Grand Taj hotel. She got down the taxi, paid the driver, and started walking. It was only 7:00 am and the interview was to be started at 8:00 am. She entered through a colossal gate and walked towards the majestic building that rose to the sky. She passed a beautiful garden filled with people walking, jogging, and relaxing on the bright green damp grass.

Leela felt lost once she approached closer. It was a huge building with many arches, she had no clue. She saw a security guard in a neat and tidy uniform. She showed him the newspaper.

“Where should I go, bhai?” She asked. The guard looked at her cautiously, and then bent his head with a sweet, polite smile.

“This way please, ma’am!” He said some more in English but she couldn’t understand. But she understood that she had to enter the door he showed. She smiled at him and walked to the door. There was another guard standing beside the entrance. A very tall, broad-chested, charmingly handsome young man -  Leela saw him by the corner of her eyes. Obviously well-groomed; wearing a bright blue suit; his black shoes shone as two little mirrors.

He greeted her with a warm smile as she passed.

“ Good morning, Ma’am...!”

Leela didn’t know what to say. Her heart was thumping and her lungs were out of air. She got goosebumps all over. Her hands started to shake slightly.

Leela stopped. Closed her eyes. Her mind was empty for a couple of minutes. When she opened her eyes, she was not the housemaid Leela anymore. She took a deep breath and started to walk ahead.