There we were, the husband and I, standing up in a dark movie theater with a huge smile across our face. We had gone to see the movie Slumdog Millionaire and were just about to leave, but when the credits began rolling the Bollywood dancers started to move their bodies in sync. “Wait, I want to see this!” my husband exclaimed as I began to walk up the aisle.
“Really?” I asked, even though I already knew his response would be, yes, really! What I didn’t want to see was my husband doing those same Bollywood dance moves later that night. He can’t help himself. That’s why I love him.
As I stood there watching the dancers perform the “go away” dance move, as my husband calls it, a move that requires one hand to flutter from the front of the face to the back of the head, I immediately flashed back to another time in my life, back to the days when I was single and used to work the New York – San Jose route.
Why would an amazing film like Slumdog Millionaire remind me of a San Jose trip? Because we used to layover in Fremont, California – not San Jose, California. It was cheaper, I guess. Have you ever been to Fremont? Let’s just say I spent many layovers eating wonderful curries, drinking delicious chai tea, and checking out the local video store for a Bollywood movie I once worked on eight years ago called Mehbooba starring Sanjay Dutt, a movie I never did find.
Oh yes, that’s right, yours truly is not only a mother / flight attendant / writer, but also a not so famous ex Bollywood actress. In the movie Mehbooba, a film that was shot in New York City and other amazing places around the world, I’m just an extra. I’m the girl wearing the red dress on the boat, which is actually the same boat that was used in the movie The Mosquito Coast starring Harrison Ford. While I lounged on the wooden deck, Sanjay Dutt actually kissed me on the cheek. I do hope they didn’t cut that part out.
Oh yes, that’s right, yours truly is not only a mother / flight attendant / writer, but also a not so famous ex Bollywood actress. In the movie Mehbooba, a film that was shot in New York City and other amazing places around the world, I’m just an extra. I’m the girl wearing the red dress on the boat, which is actually the same boat that was used in the movie The Mosquito Coast starring Harrison Ford. While I lounged on the wooden deck, Sanjay Dutt actually kissed me on the cheek. I do hope they didn’t cut that part out.
For the record, Mehbooba means my beloved. My husband actually had it engraved on my wedding band. Only he spelled it wrong – Mehabooba. Just a random fact about me.
Another random fact about me, I don’t like Valentine’s Day. There’s just to much pressure to have fun and fall in love and spend too much money doing so – just to be let down in the end.
Heather Poole 
That is such a great story…I hope someone finds that movie for you: )
I’ll have to ask my daughter-in-law if she knows that film… she teaches Bollywood dancing! She worked with them a few years in Mumbai, where she’s originally from.
Hi Heather
I just had a chance to check your blog right before I left for my trip to PIT and picked up 2 of the books you reccommended. I really liked the Marsha Marks book and am in the middle of reading Ask the Pilot. Do you have any other good suggestions for airline related reading material?? Thanks for writing and keep up the good work
Hi Heather
I just had a chance to check your blog right before I left for my trip to PIT and picked up 2 of the books you reccommended. I really liked the Marsha Marks book and am in the middle of reading Ask the Pilot. Do you have any other good suggestions for airline related reading material?? Thanks for writing and keep up the good work