Turbulence

Sumedh is a young investment banker in his early 30’s. When we first see him he’s waiting for his flight in a busy airport terminal, and in a heated dispute with his wife over the phone. Sumedh is trying to convince her that it’s not the right time in his career to have a child, but in his flimsy argument we begin to understand that Sumedh actually just dislikes children and sees them as a burden on his independence and care-free lifestyle. Not wanting to argue in public, Sumedh tells his wife that they’ll talk about it when he lands and cuts the call.

When Sumedh boards the flight he steps into the first class compartment only find that his seat neighbour is Lippy, an 8-year old girl. She doesn’t seem to notice him and continues watching some cartoons on her iPad. The air hostess offers Sumedh a hot towel which he accepts. As he’s fumbling with it, the air hostess tries to get Lippy’s attention but she doesn’t notice. Sumedh nudges Lippy who nonchalantly takes the hot towel and handles it with ease to wipe her hands. Sumedh smirks and rants to the air hostess about how today’s youth is too obsessed with technology.

Lippy looks up from her cartoons to give Sumedh a disapproving look, which he notices and tries to shame, “We’re going to be 10,000 feet in the sky and looking at a beautiful sunset, but you’d rather look at… whatever that is.”
“Do you want to exchange seats?” Lippy asks bluntly.

“No. I have a lot of work to do…” Sumedh realises sheepishly as he pulls out his laptop. Ashamed of his own hypocrisy, Sumedh tries to excuse himself, “But I don’t have a choice, you do. That’s the difference between, uh, kids and adults.”
“Do you have windows in your house?” Lippy asks.
“Yes, obviously.”
“Do you watch the sunset every day?”

Sumedh is annoyed by the question but doesn’t want to admit defeat, “No, because I’m usually at work till 8 or 9.” Even as the words leave his mouth Sumedh feels a tinge of pathetic self-pity, “Sometimes even later…”
“Does your office have windows?” Lippy asks sharply.

Sumedh can’t hold in his irritation and hisses, “Yes, it does! But my table, is East facing- just watch your cartoons, alright kid?”
“Lippy.”
“What?”
“My name is Lippy.”
“I’m Sumedh.”

Sumedh and Lippy return to their devices, and the flight takes off smoothly. After some time, the air hostess returns with refreshments and asks them what they’d like to drink. Sumedh immediately replies, “Coffee please, black. No sugar.”
“Same.”
“You can’t drink coffee you’re too small.”
“My dad lets me drink his coffee sometimes.”

“Well then he’s a bad father. And he’s not here now, and I don’t believe you.” Sumedh turns to the air hostess, “Don’t let her have any coffee.”

Lippy pulls out the on-flight menu and glances through it, “Then I want a mojito.”
“You can’t drink that either! Also it’s pronounced ‘mo-hi-to'.”

The air hostess interrupts Sumedh, “It’s alright Sir, we’ll get her a virgin mojito.”

“Okay, thank you.” Sumedh sighs. The air hostess pours his coffee and leaves to make the mojito. When she’s out of sight Lippy turns to Sumedh, “’mo-hi-to’. Thank you for teaching me that.”

“No problem.” Sumedh turns back to his work and takes a sip of his coffee. Lippy pauses, then asks, “What’s a virgin?”

Sumedh spits the coffee all over himself and starts coughing, “You’re too young to know about that stuff.”

Sumedh pushes his laptop and cup away and nervously gets up to clean himself in the washroom. While he’s in there, the air plane goes through a short patch of turbulence which only causes Sumedh to make a bigger mess of himself.

When he takes his seat again an announcement is made on the PA system to prepare for further turbulence. Sumedh puts away his things and glances sideways to see Lippy back to watching cartoons. He tries to comfort her, “Don’t worry, it’s just a bit of turbulence… Turbulence means the plane is going through a stormy cloud and-”
“Yeah, I know.” Lippy interrupts.
“Of course you do.”
“I’m not worried.” She adds.
“Of course you’re not.”

Suddenly the plane dips down heavily and Sumedh jolts up in his seat as he fumbles to put on his seat belt. The plane shakes violently and there are many concerned voices from all the other passengers. Lippy looks up from her cartoons and asks, “Are you okay?”

There’s a blinding flash right outside of Lippy’s window followed by a thundering boom as lightning strikes the air plane. The lights in the cabin switch off and we hear a shriek echo throughout the craft. When the on-flight sirens go off the previously mild murmur of the passengers turns into a rambling ocean of yelling, prayers and sobs.

As we travel down the aisle we see the reactions of all the other passengers. Some trays fly open and random cups and paper napkins fly around the cabin as the plane rocks side to side in every which way. One of the passengers has his cell phone out and is performing a digital aarti on a special app. An old Goan lady has drawn a cross on her window with lipstick and is praying to it. A mother is singing a verse from the Bhagwat Gita to soothe her baby. The air hostess is trying desperately to close some of the overhead compartments. One of the overhead bags spills open and dozens of theplas fall on her head.

When the sirens finally turn off and we return to Sumedh & Lippy, we see Sumedh gripping both sides of his seat with his eyes tightly shut. In his confusion he had held on to Lippy’s hand for dear life. The plane starts to stabilise and Sumedh opens his eyes with relief; his hair is completely dishevelled and he is sweating right through his shirt.

“You can let go now.” Lippy tells him calmly. Sumedh looks at his hand on hers and quickly pulls it away, embarrassed.

“You called me ‘Amma’!” Lippy complains while massaging her wrist. Sumedh apologies for grabbing her hand too hard. He also apologies for treating her with disrespect earlier, and seeing Lippy handle herself so calmly during the turbulence really impressed Sumedh, “How did you manage to stay so calm? Weren’t you scared?”

“No. My daddy promised me I’d be safe, so why would I be scared?”

“But he’s not here to protect-” Sumedh tries to understand Lippy’s logic but at that moment one of the pilots of the aircraft approaches their seat and announces theatrically, “Did somebody order a virgin mojito?”

“Daddy!” Lippy exclaims and excitedly accepts her chilled mock-tail.

Lippy’s father asks her if she's alright, affectionately calling her his ‘little co-pilot’. He thanks Sumedh for taking care of Lippy and returns to the cockpit in preparation of descent. After the pilot leaves Sumedh turns to Lippy who is watching cartoons and sipping on a virgin mojito, “So that’s the secret, huh? Your daddy’s strong, and so are you.”

Lippy doesn’t look up from her cartoons, “Nope.”
“No?”
“Daddy isn’t strong, he’s a big cry baby!”
“What?”
“He’s always crying…”
“Like when?” Sumedh asks, cautiously.

Lippy nonchalantly describes the quiet moments she caught her father mourning for his wife, Lippy’s mother, who died a year ago. Lippy pauses her cartoons and looks out the window, “Oh look, the sunset!”

Sumedh and Lippy look out the window together as a beautiful orange sun sets against the horizon. Sumedh pauses to think, then speaks, almost to himself, “I need to speak to my wife.”
“About what?” Lippy asks.
“Oh, you’re too young to know about that stuff.”

END.