Karma!

Another flight and another set of experiences and again so different from the last and certainly heart warming.

We had just had our boarding passes checked to Coimbatore and I watched an older gentleman and a lady begin the descent down the ramp. The lady had a suitcase and a bag on one hand and another bag slung on the shoulder.

From her gait I could tell that it was not a comfortable descent so I offered to help her. No, in fact I asked  "can I help you with the bag"  she quickly said she would manage. Instinctively I knew that she would actually feel better if I helped so I said "it's ok please let me take them. It easy for me"

My instinct was right because without any protest she allowed me to take the luggage from her. And it WAS easy for me. I just had a backpack slung over my shoulder and another small bag.

I started walking slowly down the ramp behind them. Despite the fact that the lady was probably my age or maybe only slightly older, I felt protective as I saw her cautiously proceed. Something about the way she moved reminded of how Amma had distrusted these ramps.

It also occurred to me  that I wasn't being quite selfless. I was hoping the concept of good karma etc would hold good. Not many years from now, I'm likely to be in a similar situation, and I hoped a stronger possibly younger woman would step forward to help me too.  (ok wouldn't object to a nice man doing the same but that is a different conversation 😁)

I smiled at a completely random memory that popped up - amma always used the word karma in a not very positive sense .. "Kharrrmmmam" she would say when she wanted to exhibit disgust, dismay, disapproval... That word was quite versatile really.

My monkey brain was jerked back to the present as we were asked to stop and wait at the point before the aerobridge commenced.

The lady turned to me and said "the surface is so uneven" and I said in as reassuring a tone as possible "yes, even though we know our footwear won't slip, we still feel unsure,illai? "

She nodded her head and turned to move forward.

Throughout this exchange I noticed another lovely young girl watching this interaction between us. I was glad that she didn't get impatient with the slow progress the two people and I were making. I think she understood the importance of consideration and anyway, everyone knows that the plane is not going to take off without us, right?

Wrong - two young men obviously weren't convinced and they tried to dart forward, so they could get ahead of the gentleman and the lady. They misjudged the gap between the lady and me and had to shuffle to a stop to my left, just half a foot ahead of me.  "I could hear ammas voice in my head -" khharrrrrrmam! "
And I heard it exactly the way she would have said it - she would drag out the word "kharrrrrrrrmam"... With the audio like a sine curve 😁

I stepped into their personal space, ready to intimidate them with my trademark snake eye contact. But my body language alone sufficed. They meekly went back to their place in the queue behind me.

Honestly! What is it with some people? What is the need to display such inconsiderate impatience ? Of course the poor intimidated young men must have thought the same of me 😁but shhhh!

While I was congratulating myself on this little victory, my backpack slipped off my shoulder. Without thinking, I angled my elbow so I could hold it in place and I continued walking. It was uncomfortable but manageable. And that's when history repeated itself. Well, the immediate history I mean

The lovely young lady who had been watching my exchange earlier, stepped to my side and said something about my backpack. I thought she was offering to carry it for me and I quickly said "thank you it's ok" . She then repeated and this time I heard what she was saying"let me help you move the backpack on to your shoulder " or something along those lines. And without waiting, just like I had done earlier for the other lady, she reached out and helped lift the back pack off my elbow and settled it back on my shoulder.

I smiled at her and said thank you and my heart smiled too. I felt all warm and fluffy inside as I savoured this incident and the run up to it. There ARE considerate people out there too.

In fact MANY more than I thought. For when I got off the plane, the indigo staff had already stepped forward to help the lady with her luggage, while on the bus another passenger waited patiently for her to board and two other people offered their seats to the them.
The fluffy happy feeling blossomed even more inside me.

I didn't have to wait too long did I? The positivity chain is well and alive as is  instant karma .

Or in the case of the impatient young men instant kharrrrrrrrmam!