The Paper Plane

I was sitting in the flight anxiously waiting for it to take off. I was in a hurry to reach my office in Mumbai. I was returning from a client meeting in Chennai and had another one to attend as soon as I land in Mumbai. All other passengers were busy either sleeping or chatting with each other. A little boy was playing near me. He was flying airplanes made of newspaper.

Suddenly one of his paper planes landed on my lap. I picked it up and looked at it with admiring eyes. A cramp of nostalgia rose somewhere deep within my heart. The paper plane had brought back the memories of my childhood. We used to hurl such paper planes at each other during our school days right under our teacher's nose. And the condition was that you shouldn't get caught. He, who had flown the highest number of flights without our teacher's knowledge, was declared as the 'pilot of the day.' I chuckled as those memories came rushing to me.

Then during our adolescent years, me and my gang of friends used to write annonymous love letters on the paper planes and hurl them at the gorgeous damsels of our locality. And there again the condition was that you shouldn't get caught otherwise a special prize awaited you in form of a good beating from her father or brother. The age old memory tickled me and I giggled. Gone are those days and the paper plane was reduced to a mere artifact in the museum of life.

"Can I have my plane back, sir?" The little boy, who had come to claim his possession, brought me back to the present.

"Can I keep it?" I said bribing him with a chocolate.

He readily agreed and left happily with the chocolate. The flight took off and I spent the rest of the journey reminiscing about my childhood days. When the flight landed in Mumbai, I called my office and cancelled the meeting. I went straight to my home. My wife was evidently surprised to see me back home so early. My son was on cloud nine to have me back after a gap of nearly a fortnight.

"What have you brought for me, dad?" He asked while running into my arms.

I pulled out the paper plane from the pocket of my blazer and placed it on his tiny palms. He flashed one of his most beautiful smiles at me and his smile reflected in my eyes.