More in the Rest Room

I was at the Frankfurt airport on 29th May on my journey back to India from Aarhus, Denmark. It was 11.0 am and my flight to Delhi was at 1.45 pm. I was thirsty. I had controlled by thirst for one hour and I couldn’t bear it anymore. I was cursing the lady at the security check point in Aarhus airport who ordered to throw away the water from the bottle I was carrying for security reasons.

Now, the dilemma was I wanted to drink water and I did not want to spend any money to buy water. For any Indian who lives in India buying 500 ml water at a cost of 2 Euros would sound illogical. Sounds silly, but I was thinking alike. Secondly I did not have any change with me. Buying water would mean asking for a change in coins. The finance people in my company had already informed that coins won’t be accepted on return.

Finally I thought, my thinking is not correct and I should buy water. In my frustration, I vented all this out. Karthik was sitting next to me. “You are buying water!” Karthik exclaimed in his inimitable Kerala style. “What to do, I am thirsty and that lady at the Aarhus airport did not allow me take water. I am left with nothing now”, I replied. “Water...you can go in the rest room and get the water!” He replied. “Wow! What an Idea”, I exclaimed. I was simply astonished. How come such an inventive idea struck him? All the way I was blaming, but I could never think of going to the rest room and get the water. I still feel that “awe”!

The idea had merit, but I was not yet convinced. I was not sure if the water was good in the wash basins of the rest rooms. Secondly, it was embarrassing to drink the water from the wash basin at the airport. I thought for a while… My need overcame all the inhibitions and with full conviction I got up, picked up my bag with the “wildcarft” bottle tucked in its pouch and walked towards the rest rooms.

There were three people there. I felt, filling water in front of them will be odd. To kill time, I went to the rest room and emptied whatever was residue in my bladder. By this time, there was only one person in the rest room area. I washed my hands at the wash basin and took out the bottle. In a hurry I filled the bottle and kept it back in the bag. All the time I was conscious with my eyes looking around so that nobody sees me.

With the bottle filled I picked up my bag and walked back to the place where I and Karthik were seated. I opened the bottle. There it was ‘transparent and warm’. It was waiting to be swallowed by my thirsty throat. Without wasting any time, I gulped it down under my throat and had a sigh of relief!

My thirst was finally quenched! I wondered how amazing these rest rooms are…They satisfy our basic needs so well! It was indeed quenching of thirst in the rest room.

Sometimes, things which are simple and natural seem to be illogical. This was one such case. Many times our ego makes us behave artificial and keeps us away from a simple way of living. If an animal is thirsty, it searches for a water body, tap or bore well to quench its thirst. As a social animal, I should logically do that. But when no water is available and one has to resort to the rest room, the ego makes things difficult. Karthik was Genius! Well connected to his natural self! Thanks to him. I set my ego aside and did what I could naturally do…

Love and best wishes
Amit Kalyani