An evening with the tolerant by Shristi Nangalia

“Maa, do you see the big jumping horse?” she almost plunged from her seat pointed out to the airplane window.

“Jumping horse? Where, Tiya?” the lady sitting on the aisle seat asked.

“There.... in the clouds, maa!” she was still pointing and looking incessantly at the clouds outside.

“Oh, yes. Now I see it.” Her mother confirmed and her shocked face went smiling.

I was on the window seat and she was sitting between me and her mother. I had been noticing her since the time we boarded the airplane. The adult looking fair girl, named Tiya (which I overheard), had a slightly twisted knee and behaviour of a 12 year old. Autism, a disorder widely found but improperly judged, had her. She was initially whispering to her mother while we got on the plane but later got very excited looking at the shining white clouds passing by. Her consciousness was fixed on the window and the views outside.

“Hi, do you want to exchange seats with me?” I asked with a smile.

Her almost-smiling face turned to a wide-eyed shock as she saw me looking at her. She turned away immediately, moving her eyes from one thing to the other timidly.

Her mother noticed and smiled at me.

“She is not used to talking to strangers, I am sorry." the lady said in the politest of manner. That is when I noticed that Tiya was holding her mother’s hand tightly throughout.

“Oh! No problem, aunty. You can ask her... if she wishes to sit by the window.” I said.

 They exchanged a few more whispers. I looked outside and around, trying to act natural. But just then, a sharp unexpected scream startled me.

“AAAAAA....." "Hahahaaha.” “Hehehheh..."AAEE...”
Two kids in the preceding row were playing a strange game where they punched each other one after another.  

“Stop it, you two!” their mother, sitting adjacent to them, shouted out loud. With no positive response, she turned back to the movie she was watching... plugging her earphones.

They did not stop. For which I had to put on in my earphones too and play some nice songs on my new phone. I checked on Tiya; she looked disturbed. She had her shaking hands covering the ears and an agitated facial expression. Her mother was comforting her without saying a word. She calmed a little after a while... That is the magic of mothers, I suppose.  

I had a Disney animated movie on my phone memory; which I played to pass the time. After a little while, I felt Tiya’s head coming closer to mine. I tried to look at her from the side of my eyes. She had her eyes stuck on my phone, probably curious about the animated movie which I was playing. I tilted the screen a little so that she could see clearly. This time she smiled back at me.

Soon afterwards, we started talking. I asked her simple random things and she replied to each of it with a smile. She even let me see her drawing copy in which she scribbled words, animals and stick human figures. She was no longer holding her mother’s hand.

I could see Tiya's mother gently looking at her daughter with love, on whatever she did or said. Tiya got scared when the airplane experienced slight turbulence and when the naughty kids shouted and kicked the seats repeatedly. But there was no disrespect or anger of any sort; not on Tiya or on her mother. I guess, her mother chose to be calm and subtle at every time... so that she could teach her daughter to be the same.

Being a sober mother, having Tiya, nourishing and cherishing her....all this and she was smiling. This made me question the unimportant things that I complain about every now and then.
That day, I did not expect I would sonder and understand the real meaning of it. I did not expect Tiya and a parent to Tiya, could teach me lessons for life. I learned to stay, and to stay kind. It became clear to me that is not about the heights that I would reach during my existence, but it is about the little milestones that I create for myself on the ground.

Sometimes, people whom we think need assistance, assist us in making our lives better by enlivening the little lamps of goodness inside. I thought it was Tiya’s curiosity that bought her to me, but in actuality, it was her generosity.