Alien Land(shalini guleria) Alien Land

I could hear the loud beeping of the horn. My dad yelled at the cab driver to hurry up. My mum kept on checking our luggage and counting it. My brother sat next to me and examined the chaos our family was in. the main road to Delhi airport was jammed with traffic and all I could see in front of my eyes was a sea of bright red lights and black smoke blurring them. All the people sitting in their cars were frustrated. The whole atmosphere was stressful. Everything happened so fast, I didn’t even get time to think or even tell my parents about how I felt about the decision they made, but my feelings wouldn’t change my parents’ decisions. Their decisions are well thought and are only focused towards the benefits that they will receive. At that time all I thought about was my parents being so selfish. My mind was baffled with thoughts of leaving my country
‘India’ and going to a totally strange place that I haven’t even seen on the map.

I remembered on Monday afternoon, I calmly sat on my study table doing my algebra homework and sneakily watching the Indian television programs while my mum prepared for dinner. I was having my normal afternoon that I had everyday but somewhere in my mind I had a suspicion that something different was going to happen today. I overheard my mother talking to my father about some news that they have been hiding away from my brother and I. My mum looked really happy after she put the phone down and she kept on singing her favourite song all afternoon.

That evening my dad came home from work, surprisingly happy. Usually he would be really tired and grumpy but today his face was lightened up with joy. I ran up to him and gave him a hug and he looked at me and told me to sit down on the sofa. I knew something weird was happening because I never saw my dad this happy after work. My dad drank a glass of water that my brother got him and then he leaned forward towards me and opened an envelope. In that envelope there were four airplane tickets, when I first saw them my face lit up with excitement, as I had never been on a plane before, but then after a few seconds of happiness a dark cloud of sorrow came over my mind. My dad told me that we were moving to this completely new place that I couldn't even pronounce properly and our flight was on Wednesday. The thought of leaving my country, my friends, my house and all the people I loved felt like my heart had stopped beating, my whole mind was now filled with negative thoughts. Random questions popped up in my mind; “How will I communicate there?”, “Are the people there nice?” my mind was filled with these questions and the tension of leaving everyone behind.

It was 11:00pm now and we were still stuck in the traffic jam. Our flight was at 12:30pm. The weather outside was humid as it was monsoon season in India at that time. The windows of the cab were covered with fog and everyone yelling at each other wasn’t making the situation any better. I was squashed up against the left hand side passenger door and my brother kept on pushing me more. To me everything felt like a worse nightmare and I just wanted it to be over as soon as possible. After a long time of beeping the horn and yelling at people the traffic started to move slowly and finally we were on our way to the airport.

It was 11:15pm when we finally reached the departure area near the airport. There were so many people and everyone looked so occupied in their own world. No one cared about anyone, some people pushed each other and didn’t even say excuse me or sorry. I felt nauseous looking at all these people. They looked like a swarm of bumble bees busy in their work and if someone disturbed them they would sting. My mother and father got the luggage out of the cab. We had nine suitcases. I wondered what my mother was bringing with her. My brother was playing with his PSP and was lost in his little world, sometimes I thought it would have been better if I was little, then I wouldn’t care about things so much. My dad looked in his bag for passports and got them out for checking in. I was a new bird to this travelling business; I didn’t know anything about flying or how to even start. I kept on looking at my dad and watched him do all the official work.

I never saw an airport in my life before this new experience. I did read about it in my books but never knew what it was like to be inside one. I was happy with travelling in a car, a rickshaw, and my favourite, the train, but I never thought that this day would come that I had to fly. As I stepped into the airport my eyes widened like a monkey’s eyes when it finds something delicious to eat. I said to my mother, “Ma this place is so big and it even has shops in it, it looks just like the market near our house, but better, with no cows or stray dogs roaming around”. My mum looked at me and gave a smile that showed hints of amusement and stress. We went through all the checking procedures and the weighing of the luggage. To me all of this was completely new and I was actually starting to like it, but still in my mind the fear of leaving my country was eating me like a termite. I tried to convince myself but it didn’t work and all I could think of was negative thoughts. We hurried to the departing gate and we were last to check in. Like a new bird I didn’t know how to open my wings yet and my mind was overwhelmed by looking at so many new faces.

Inside the plane there were plenty of seats, exactly like my science teacher once told me. The air hostess greeted my dad and asked him, “Namaste, sir what seat number?”

My dad took out the tickets and said, “E-12, E-13, E-14 and E-15”.
The airhostess pointed straight ahead and my dad followed. My dad showed us the seats and we placed our hand luggage inside the cabins above us. Everything was going fine, my mother didn’t look stressed anymore and she had her smile back on, my brother was still busy with his PSP, and me, I was just praying to god to make our journey safe. At that moment I was feeling sad but then again I confronted myself and said, “Everything is going to be fine”.

The pilot spoke from his cabin, “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Malaysian airlines. We will be taking off soon, please fasten your seatbelts and I hope you have an enjoyable journey”.

My dad fastened my belt since I had no idea how to do it. My heart was throbbing so fast it felt it was going to come out of my chest any time soon. I held my dad’s hand as the plane started to move. In the beginning it was fine and then the plane took off. I screamed in fear and hugged my dad as tightly as I could. My brother kept on laughing at me but I didn’t care at that point, my situation was very critical. After a minute or two my dad took my hands off him and told me to open my eyes. I was so frightened my face was soaking with sweat. My dad said, “Don’t be scared sweetheart, go look out the window”.

I slowly turned away from him, still scared. I looked out the window and saw a bed of clouds and twinkling stars. The feeling of fear and sorrow was now gone, the stormy dark clouds were cleared from my mind and I was ready to open my wings and fly. All the bad thoughts and feelings were gone now and my heart and mind were liking this new feeling. I was actually enjoying this amazing feeling of flying so high. Taking in these thoughts and looking out the window I forgot everything and got lost in my dreams.

I felt like I was going on a bumpy ride. My body kept on going up and down; it reminded me of my camel ride back home in India. I couldn’t figure out what was happening, but then a thought came in my mind, “what if the plane was crashing?”

I opened my eyes in a shock and found myself being carried by my dad.
“Papa, what happened”, I asked him still shocked and confused.

“We reached our destination, I just didn’t want to wake you up”, he replied in excitement.

I looked around myself and found a lot of people, but they looked different to my eyes. It felt like I had landed on some alien planet and they also spoke a different language. My dad put me down and we started to walk towards the big gate that said “ARRIVAL” on top. Till now everything was fine and this airport looked mostly similar to the Delhi airport. Near the far end of the gate I saw my uncle standing and waiting for us, I ran straight towards him and gave him a big hug.

“How are you little kiddo?”, he said to me, ruffling my hair.

“I am fine uncle”, I replied.

My dad walked towards my uncle and they both gave each other a warm hug and my mum and my brother greeted him. A bomb of starting a new adventure exploded in my heart and I ran outside the gate and saw a completely new world in front of my eyes. The new bird finally reached her destination and she was ready to fly high in the deep blue sky.

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