Friday, January 03, 2014

A Spaniard, a German, and an American walk into a plane ...

When I reached my seat, I was disappointed that despite my careful seat selection, I was at the row that I thought I had systematically avoided--the bulkhead row that is usually for families with infants and toddlers.  They had changed the plane and retained the row/seat, which meant that I was now stuck with a toddler.

A beautiful and charming kid.  But, I know enough that it only takes only a nanosecond for a sweet angel to become a devilish siren.

As we waited for the liftoff, I said hi to my seatmates.  The one in the middle was a Spaniard doing her undergraduate studies in the US on a football scholarship.  "Soccer" she clarified.  A goalkeeper!

The mother of the child was at the window seat and was heading to Germany for a vacation.  "If my parents want me to visit, then the deal is that they take care of the kid all the days that I am there" she said with a wide smile that suggested that she really meant it.

The kid was happy with the iPad.  Flipping the screens, and selecting her favorite videos.  I was mighty impressed that the kid was so much at ease with the device.

"How old is she?"

"Two months short of two years."

"And she is so fluent with the iPad!" I remarked.

"Oh, she happily Skypes with her grandparents" the mother added.

Kids these days!

The German and the Spaniard started talking football.  Two women discussing the World Cup, the US' chances, and their favored teams.  They knew the names of players in the different teams.  I, the male, had nothing to contribute to the discussion and watched and listened to their comments with fascination.  When given the opportunity that had been denied to women for the longest time, well, they can certainly kick the male butt!

The German seemed a tad uneasy as we taxied.  "I am not a good flier" she explained.  "And I am married to an air force pilot" she laughed.  She added that the kid was a born flier.  "She has her father's genes for flying."

I was in and out of sleep, almost always waking up with the sounds and smells of food.  Perhaps I am getting older--I am rarely able to eat any of the airline food anymore.  I finally woke up for good about an hour before landing time.  The kid was watching a video on her iPad.

"Did she sleep at all?" I asked the mother.

"Maybe for one hour."

And I worried that the kid might not be an angel throughout.

Maybe the kid stayed awake worried about me!

2 comments:

Ramesh said...

Shame on you. Two ladies discuss football in detail, and you go to sleep ???????? Fat chance of bagging a redhead :)

And you didn't teach the two year old how to play Candy Crush Saga
And you didn't ask the goalie for an autograph
And you didn't hold the German lady's hand when she was nervous about the takeoff
And when you see an angelic two year old, your thought is of a devilish siren"
And you say "Kids these days"

Hahahahahahahahahahaha

Sriram Khé said...

Aha, that explains the redhead failures ;)

I tell ya, it was crazy to watch two young women passionately discuss football and compare players of different teams. It is one heck of a different world from the old days when discussing sports and politics was reserved for the men. More about women in the next post, too.