Everyone was going somewhere
And we built entire lives for them
On occasion, my wife and I go to the airport for no reason at all.
We sit in different corners of the concourse, sip on coffee, share a meal, or just walk, and watch the world move.
Sometimes, it is just an excuse to catch a sunrise or a sunset. On lucky evenings, even the moon decides to make an appearance.
And so, we were back at the airport again. But this time, our harmless little ritual took on a life of its own.
We started watching people walk by and quietly constructing lives for them.
Where were they headed? Why now? What conversations were unfolding between hurried footsteps and half-finished coffees? What brought them to this exact place at this exact moment?
Three young women quickly became a wedding party in our minds. One of them was obviously the bride-to-be. Another seemed deeply invested in the guest list. We could not make much of the third person in the group. When a fourth woman joined them later, we assigned the role of wedding planner because she looked confident, decisive, and seemed to be carrying the energy of someone who had already solved several crises that day.
A young man walking in with nothing but a laptop bag was, according to us, on his way to a hackathon. We decided this with unreasonable confidence. Perhaps it was the way he walked. Or perhaps we simply wanted him to be.
A young couple, meanwhile, could only have been travelling to or from their honeymoon. They carried that unmistakable look of people temporarily protected from the rest of the world. Good for them.
Lately, my wife and I have been trying to eat healthier and lead a slightly more disciplined life. Which also meant that, for an entirely unnecessary stretch of time, we looked at anyone carrying a generously loaded plate with quiet disapproval. No one asked us for our opinion and yet we delivered judgement. Privately, and with great efficiency, of course.
One of our favourite games was deciding whether someone’s luggage was original or counterfeit. We passed verdicts freely. No way s/he can afford that. Definitely fake. Surely borrowed. We behaved as if the two of us had been appointed custodians of everyone’s financial reality. And every now and then, my wife would quietly declare, “See? I told you that luggage is in style these days.”
With the IPL season being in full swing, another thing hard to ignore was anyone wearing team jerseys. Whoever walked past wearing RCB colours received an approving smile and an entirely imaginary hug. Anyone in a jersey other than RCB’s was, however, immediately acknowledged (in our minds obviously) for their bravery.
And then there were the people sprinting toward the departure gates.
“Could they not have planned better?” we wondered, with the confidence of people who have apparently forgotten their own history. On more than one occasion our carefully planned schedules have gone out the window too. Traffic, delays, long queues, misplaced optimism - we have experienced all of it. In the comfort of observation, though, generosity becomes surprisingly negotiable.
One could go on and on but hey, there were sunrises to catch and sunsets to watch. And to see the moon do its dance. And to hear the birds chirp and do their thing.
Of course, it is entirely possible that someone else at the airport had already invented a story about us - the oddly relaxed couple who seemed to have nowhere to be and far too much interest in everybody else’s business :-)
In that moment though, all that we seemed to care was that everyone was going somewhere, and were becoming a part of our story.
And for a little while, much like this sparrow, we got to travel with them too.
Perhaps people-watching is just storytelling without consequences.
P.S. Cookie would have quietly watched the world with us too. Although, admittedly, with far less judgement.
New hobby unlocked 😄