Author's Note: I have been having a long standing affair with SC, my sensuous ex-colleague. Recently, I accidentally ran into her grown up daughter, whom I had only once met many years ago while she was just a kid. Readers are requested to refer to the stories about my Chakkar with SC, to get the best out of this story.
***
I was on an early evening flight from Mumbai to Kolkata. Actually, I had a confirmed booking on the late evening flight but since I had finished my business early, I arrived at the airport just in time for the earlier flight. The airline staff had not only accommodated me on the earlier flight, I had also been allotted my favorite window seat, in spite of the executive class being almost full. These private airlines really know how to take care of their regular passengers. I had had a full day and was feeling a bit tired. I had a busy schedule at Kolkata for the next couple of days, after which I was scheduled to return home to Delhi for the weekend. As usual, I concentrated on reading the pink paper of the day, paying scant attention to my fellow passengers or the stewardesses bustling around to attend to the passengers' needs.
For some reason one particular stewardess caught my eye as she smiled and talked to an old lady sitting a couple of rows ahead. She was smartly dressed in her well cut western outfit, like her colleagues. She was rather tall; I thought. She had a nice, full figure and long hair neatly gathered in a chignon at the nape of her long, slender neck. Her dimpled smile appeared vaguely familiar. SC used to keep telling me off and on about her children's doings. Now that I saw this girl before me, I recalled SC once talking about her daughter wanting to join an airline. Then I caught her profile as she turned and I was almost sure that she was SC's daughter. I looked at the name badge pinned on the lapel of her jacket as she passed by. "Ujwala" it read. That was the final confirmation that she indeed was SC's daughter!
The last time I had seen Ujwala was perhaps about fifteen years ago at a social gathering of my previous company. Then she was just a school kid in pigtails, clutching her mother's hand. Wow! She had really grown up. She appeared to be in her mid-twenties and I caught a flash of the engagement ring she wore on her left hand. For a while I wondered whether I should introduce myself to her, then decided against it and went back to my newspaper. After another twenty minutes, the stewardesses started serving food. As SC's daughter came over towards me, I couldn't stop myself.
"Excuse me Miss. Are you Mrs. SC's daughter?" I asked, using SC's last name.
"Yes, I am! And you are...?" She responded after a brief hesitation, flashing me her best dimpled smile. She had a nice, soft, husky voice.
"Oh, I am Mr. Sam. Your mother and I used to be colleagues in X Company many years ago." I replied, again using my last name.
Her eyes widened after a moment's hesitation, and an eyebrow arched saucily as she placed me.
"Oh, so
you
are Mr. Sam!" She exclaimed. Obviously, she had heard of me.
"Yes. So, how is Mrs. SC?" I enquired politely, not letting on that I'd met SC just a few weeks back.
"She is fine, thank you." She replied.
"Please give her my regards." I said.
"Yes, sure." She responded. Then the smiling, impersonal mask of a well trained stewardess was back in place as she continued with serving food to the passengers.
I had informed our company's office at Kolkata about the change in my flight schedule before boarding the flight and a limousine was waiting for me as I stepped out of the arrival gate. After arriving at the hotel, I strolled into the bookshop to pick up some reading material. While I waited for the elevator to the executive floor, I spotted a gaggle of airline crew walk towards the registration desk. I immediately noticed Ujwala, who was busy laughing and chatting with her colleagues. She was a head taller than the other stewardesses. Suddenly, she looked up in my direction. I saw a flash of recognition in her eyes and then she turned away.
I intended to have some light refreshments served up in my room and then retire early, so that I could be up refreshed and ready for a long day tomorrow. I had just showered and was vigorously toweling myself dry when the phone rang.
"Hello, is that Mr. Sam?" Ujwala asked, using my last name. I immediately recognized her voice.
"Yes! Is that Ujwala?" I responded.
"Yes, it is! Mr. Sam, umm... I'm so sorry I couldn't speak to you much on the plane since I was on duty. My mother speaks so well of you, I wonder if we could chat for a while?" She asked. She sounded pleased that I had recognized her voice.
"Sure. I'll be down in the lobby in ten minutes. Meet me there." I said.
Although this meant a change in my plans to retire early, my curiosity wouldn't have allowed me to do otherwise. Besides, I rather looked forward to spending some time in the company of an attractive young woman.
She was already in the lobby as I strolled out of the elevator. She stepped forward and offered me her hand.
"Good evening! How do you do?" I inquired politely as I shook her hand.
"I'm very well, thank you! And you?" She responded, not to be outdone in manners and etiquette.
Her hand was soft, but the grip was firm – a working woman's hand. I caught a whiff of expensive perfume as I sized her up. She was tall for an Indian woman, the top of her head easily coming up to my eye level in her two inch heels. Must be five foot seven at least; I thought. She looked freshly showered and appeared to be wearing no makeup. She wore a pair of tight fitting, low rise black jeans and a short, tight fitting white top with double spaghetti straps. A bright, colorful patterned silk scarf wrapped casually around her neck beautifully set off the rather severe white on black combination of her jeans and top. Besides, it also served to partly cover up her delightful bare shoulders and the décolletage of her full bosom that otherwise would have shown through the plunging neck of her top. She had a full but not overblown figure and she looked absolutely stunning. Had she been another kilogram heavier, she wouldn't have been able to carry off the clothes she had chosen. Her belly was soft and had just the right roundness to make her look sexy. Any rounder and it would have looked gross. Not one of those delicate, anorexic types ready to blow away on a puff of wind; I thought. Her navel peeped out discreetly above the waistband of her jeans. Except for the engagement ring and a heavy gold bracelet on her wrist, she wore no jewelry. Altogether, she presented the picture of a sophisticated, cosmopolitan, confident young working woman.
"Would you like a drink?" I asked and led her to the bar as she nodded her assent.
We were seated at a corner table – I don't fancy sitting at the bar on a stool. I don't know why I should I have been surprised when she ordered a Bloody Mary. Somehow, being SC's daughter, I had expected her to ask for something non-alcoholic. I ordered a glass of my usual Australian white wine.
"So, tell me about yourself and your mother! By the way what do you call her?" I asked after we had settled down.
"I call her Mamma." She responded and her face softened. Her deep affection for SC showed through.
Soon we were chatting away as if we'd known each other for a long time. The alcohol too had an effect in loosening our tongues and we ordered a second round of drinks in due course. We both decided to eat substantial snacks in the bar rather than move to a restaurant for dinner.
Ujwala talked about her school and college adventures. She came across as a bright, smart, articulate young woman with an attitude. She appeared to have a sharp eye, and didn't seem to miss much. She spoke of her rather rebellious childhood, being constantly at loggerheads with her mother. She hadn't been good at her studies, much preferring extracurricular activities like dramatics and elocution. She had some aptitude for games and sports; rather like her mother, I thought, remembering SC's descriptions of her own school days. Ujwala had been secretly rather relieved when a setback in her father's career had meant that the family wouldn't be able to finance her "professional" (read doctor, engineer, architect etc.) education. She had been quite happy to join an arts course and enjoy a carefree life in college, although she wasn't above occasionally playing the martyr just to keep her mother on the defensive. She told me all this in a rather casual, off-hand manner, seemingly enjoying my discomfiture at the flippant, almost disrespectful attitude she occasionally displayed towards her mother. Curiously, her father hardly received any mention in her narrative.
She then proceeded to recount her experiences with boys, whom she'd discovered just about the time she started going to college. She had quickly found that the boys too were keenly interested in
her
. Ujwala narrated with relish how shocked and worried her mother had been when she'd discovered that she had started dating boys. Apparently, what had concerned SC most was the danger of her daughter losing her "virtue" i.e. virginity before marriage. She had even thought of getting Ujwala married off quickly, but had met with a flat refusal from her.
Ujwala was an ambitious and smart young girl who fully intended to use her wits and other assets to get on in life. She had gotten herself a modeling assignment even as she was studying in college. This had stretched SC's patience too far and she had refused permission. There had been a massive row between mother and daughter, with both of them sticking to their guns. Finally, as a compromise it was agreed that Ujwala could take up a job of her choice, but only after she had completed her studies and graduated. So, here she was, working for an airline as a stewardess!
I too regaled Ujwala with funny anecdotes about our days with my old employer, of course duly censored where needed. I was keen to project the image of a friendly senior colleague and well wisher of her mother and I thought I did a good job. Of course that was the truth, even if it wasn't the whole truth.
Ujwala then spoke a bit about her mother. She recounted how her mother often used to tell anecdotes about goings on in her office, making fond and respectful references to my role in giving her fledgling career a boost. It appeared that I was quite the hero in the stories SC often narrated to her family. Ujwala recalled how it was SC who had held the family together in their time of crisis, both emotionally as well as financially, with her secure and well paying job. In spite of being frequently at cross purposes with her, Ujwala also had a lot of affection and respect for her mother.
"You know, Mamma always keeps talking about you even now. She tells us how you knocked some sense into her and made her take her job seriously. That's what helped Mamma to get ahead in her career and take care of the family when Appa (father) lost his job." Ujwala recounted.
