Just Bliss

Sometimes he looked out of the window at the airplane on the runway or stared at the ceiling of the office where he was. There were three other men besides him in the room. They were wearing uniforms of three different colors. It was obvious that they belonged to different agencies. Awhile later the man in light blue uniform said to him; “if you admit that you are a Pakistani national and sign this paper that says that you are Pakistani; we’ll deport you to Pakistan with a request to the concerned department to treat you humanely”

Turning his face towards the man who asked him to sign the document, he looked at him for some moment and without saying a single word he looked out of the window and at the airplane. The man’s silence provoked the soldier in dark uniform to pull his hair and snarled; “While searching your clothes we found things that prove that you are a Pakistani. You traveled without visa and passport to Iraq and then to Syria. You worked in Syria for an NGO to serve the war stricken people. Both Syria and Iraq has confirmed that you are neither a born Syrian nor Iraqi or Arab. But you are a Pakistani”

The man looked at the man in uniform with any expression on his face and went back to look at the airplane on the runway. The third man fully clad in khaki uniform who was listening quietly lost his temper at last and howling at the man hitting the table said; “Go to hell man! We’re least bothered who you are or where you come from.“Our government doesn’t acknowledge you as an Iraqi or Syrian refugee; you are a Pakistani for sure. We will send you to Pakistan in the air plane you see there on the runway” he then looked at the two officers. Those two men took him to the Immigration Investigation office in hand cuffs then towards the airplane standing on Budapest airport. They handed the man over to the captain of the plane and came back to the same room.

While the plane was waiting to take off, the airhostess brought him a glass of water

The airhostess brought him a glass of water without his asking for it. She kindly said in English to him to drink water. He looked at her gratefully.  She understood his helplessness and heartrending story from his silence. His silence exposed his unaided vulnerability to her. So she assured him more gently that she’ll take care of all the way during this flight from Budapest to Islamabad.

After a while, the plane speedily took off

He was feeling worn out so he closed his eyes and rested his head against back of his seat.  He didn’t know his destination. His thoughts floated same like the plane in the sky. Memories ran on his mind screen one after the other.

Due to bad weather the plane getting imbalanced bound into an air pocket and within no time alleviated again. With the jerk he also emerged from the unfathomable ocean of thoughts. He looked out of the window but there was nothing except sheer darkness.