The longest five minutes

"The captain has turned the seat belt sign ON. We are about to land at Indira Gandhi international airport shortly. Outside temperature is 38°C". F**k 25°C to 38°C. I was about to land at Delhi. I was happy all this while. Suddenly I could feel my heartbeat. I was actually meeting her eventually. Finally, I landed at Delhi. I turned on my phone. Usually vodafone welcomes me to new places with their roaming tariffs. But it was a text from her "Welcome to Delhi, enjoy the heat". I smiled. While exiting from the aircraft, I immediately realized that I had traveled from an AC to a blast furnace. Delhi, the capital city and the city, I was scared of the most. In the recent past, it had always been in the news for the bad. In a few minutes, I was out of the airport. Taxi drivers thronging “Kidhar jana hai bhaiya, main leke jata hu”. Unlike Bengaluru, where I hardly understood the South Indian dialects, here I was able to make out everything, right to the distant whisper. But there was a strange fear and anxiety, may be due to the unbearable heat. It was a few minutes outside the air conditioned airport, I was sweating badly. I went to the Delhi Police taxi counter as instructed by her. “Bhaiya, Paharganj” and then a black maruti van was my ride with an old chacha who kept on showing me hotel pamphlets, even though I repeatedly told that I already had a room booked. Every passing auto had a poster “Arvind Kejriwal vs Sheela Dikshit” followed by a flashy tagline. It started to rain, thought it would be a breather to the weather. But unlike Bengaluru, the temperature hardly changed. It was hot and humid. An hour later, reached my destination. Turned On the noisy AC at the hotel, what a relief. It was like a mini Kashmir then. I thought to take a quick nap. A phone call woke me. “Shit! It’s 4:30 already, time flies”. I picked “Am reaching in an hour, come to the Lajpat nagar Metro station”. I took a quick shower and decided to take a rickshaw ride to the nearest metro station. My goodness, the rickshaw decided to take a route over a fly over! He was struggling hard. So I decided to get down and walk. Finally I reached the station and took a metro to Lajpat Nagar. I was waiting for her at the platform. Every minute seemed so long, I gazed on every passing face. Waiting eagerly for the girl of my dreams. Chubby cheeks, a cute dimple, sporting a nose ring. I was fond of her ever since I first saw her. It's a three year journey, and finally we meet. I kept looking at my mobile. Crazy thoughts came to my mind. What if she doesn't turn up? I came just to meet her from down South to the North. My Android was beeping constantly, displaying "Low battery". "What if my phone gets switched off now? What will be my first words when she arrived? What if she does not like me?". All these questions hovered around me. I kept on looking at the mirror hanged in a nearby tea stall. God, I was not so nervous even while during my maths exam. I was confident a while ago. Even though i had made innumerable calls to her all these years, now I did not had the guts to give a call. "What if she doesn't pick up?" So I kept on waiting, looking around the unknown faces and trying to find her. And finally she arrived, in a purple t-shirt, black jeans with a bag she was hardly able to carry. She was just the girl I had always loved; only that she was wearing glasses. She was approaching me slowly and steadily and her first words “Did I keep you waiting for too long?” 


I responded “Yes, the longest 5 minutes of my life!”