The Aura of the Airport

This is one first-hand experience, ‘another first’ this year, of seeing someone off at the airport. I have always been on the other side of the story, happily bidding adieu, boarding the flights while looking forward to my journeys. During all these farewell cheers, I could never understand why my parents used to shed tears, for a dimwit like me had never felt that heart-wrenching sentiment of biding au revoir and returning home with a feeling of having left something at the airport.

This time it was my brother who decided to take his career to a new level, stepping out of his comfort zone, punching hard the challenge, right on its nose. And there, a new experience set its first foot in my life. The aura there, it just gets into your nerves, slowly reaching each limb, weakening them from within, making them anorexic that you just go weak and cannot help but cry.

I stood there, noticing the scenario around and here, I've tried jotting down the snippets of the things I can, now, only sum up to call it all a ‘feeling’. I saw parents hugging their kids tight, with tears in their eyes, though waving their hands, still unable to say goodbye; fathers clutching mothers’ hands and holding them while they walked out of the parking spaces; spouses leaving and the partners who got to stay not able to bid adieu with a smile (I also saw a couple or two cuddling, which, apparently, made my heart grow fonder and brought along an 'aww' monent); a few grandmothers who were checking from a never-ending checklist the things their kids, who were leaving, should do when they land and the things they should never do when they land; friends exchanging hugs and high-fives — uncounted prayers, well-wishes, hugs, kisses, talks - sad and happy - all enclosed in oodles of LOVE. You don’t feel the world is going to come to an end, you want to forget about wars, you don’t want to remember all those who have been hostile to you, not helped, never cared… you only want to remember this moment, the feeling, the thoughts, what you should say, what you shouldn't, the prayers and the best wishes. The only thing that makes one cry is the aura of the airport, which makes LOVE flow along!

I remember this dialog, which actually made me skip a beat when I'd heard it for the first time, from the movie, Love Actually:

“Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around.”

I concede that I shed a few tears when I was seeing my brother off, but I cried my guts out during my travel back home – this experience possibly drew me closer to him, way more closer than I’d ever thought I’d ever be. I think the distance does that to you, the AURA does that to you!