When my niece stopped a plane!

Bangalore, the beautiful garden city was engulfed in a thick blanket of fog at 4 o’ clock in the morning that day. Getting up that early was not my usual routine, but it was meant to be a very special day. I was to drop my dear cousin and her little one to the airport. My cousin had a trans-Atlantic flight to catch from Bangalore all the way to Chicago with one stop in-between. It was going to be an affair with the skies for more than 20 hours! She was quite tensed thinking of the long journey with my niece who was just a few months old. The very first flight for the baby!

We reached the airport before time so that she could comfortably finish check-in related procedures. These were the days when online check-in was yet to become the norm. My uncle and aunt, her parents, were with us as well to see her off. Uncle informed her that we’ll wait outside the airport till the time the flight departs. It was probably one of the finest decisions uncle took which I’m sure made him happy later.

The sequence of incidents that unfolded later was to be termed nothing less than a real-life-drama. My sister along with the baby completed the check-in procedures pretty well. Being a mom for the first time and travelling with a few days old baby is never an easy combination. She somehow managed to complete the process and moved to the boarding gate. Soon enough she found herself seated next to an American guy who was destined to have a flight of his lifetime!

Shortly before the take-off, my niece decided that she had enough of being a nice kid and started acting cranky. My cousin used every possible arsenal she had to pacify the little one. This was the first of a million times she was to realize that there were certain moments when no tricks what-so-ever worked with an angry baby. What she wouldn’t have known then is that she was to become an expert in all such cases soon with God blessing her with four more such angels in future!

The baby continued to act difficult and started crying incessantly. My cousin could see the American gentleman starting to get a bit uneasy in the next seat. Somehow he seemed to have got a vision of what’s going to happen next and was mentally preparing for the worst. The cabin crew started to take notice of the situation as well. While the drama was on, the captain of the flight announced the immediate departure of the flight. The tyres started to roll.

My niece promptly elevated the tension of the scene by shifting her crying to top gear. Soon she was competing with the vibration of the flight taxiing to the runway with her earth shattering scream. She realized that something needed to be done immediately lest the flight will take off. The moment of truth arrived! She took her full strength and with a loud cry splashed an entire load of vomit right on to the lovely wrinkle free shirt of the American. This was the very moment when flight touched the runway!

The whole scene on-board turned quite chaotic. Everyone around my cousin’s seat started getting panicky. The cabin crew decided to intervene. Without wasting a moment they informed the dire situation to the captain. This was moments before the flight was given clearance to take off by Air Traffic Control.

Not knowing any of these dramatic events, we remained at the airport parking lot awaiting the sight of the departing flight. Shortly after my niece finished executing her final scene of the play, my uncle got a call on his mobile. I could see his face muscles getting tightened as my sister gave him a quick summary of what happened. In a few minutes, we greeted her along with my niece at the Arrivals area of the airport.

My sister narrated the unbelievable story again to all of us. I looked at my niece and there she was, peacefully lying in the arms of my aunt. She even had a smile, the one that is seen only on the face of those who created history!