Mumbai, Jul 25 (IANS): Shabana Azmi and Jaya Bachchan rarely meet as their busy schedules barely leaves them with any time together. But the two actresses got a chance to bond after they were left stranded at London's Heathrow Airport.

Shabana was to fly back to Mumbai from London when her aircraft was struck by lightning, leaving her stranded.

"Luckily the passengers had not boarded when lightning struck our flight. But it triggered off an interminable delay, which would have been unbearable were it not for the company I unexpectedly found," said Shabana.

Luckily for Shabana, Jaya was also due to travel by the same flight.

"It was just providential. I don't know what I'd have done or how I'd have coped I hadn't found Jaya among the stranded co-passengers," shudders Shabana.

And as they got together, Shabana and Jaya spent the next 24 hours having the most fun time of their lives, until an alternative flight was arranged.

"I just love Jaya's company. She speaks her mind, calls a spade a spade. We spoke about things that we can never discuss in Mumbai. We got the chance to bond, something that we rarely do in Mumbai," Shabana said.

However, Shabana isn't too pleased with the way the London airport handled the crisis.

"We were left unattended for hours. At 11.30 p.m. the counters were closed and at 12 midnight one simply had to leave the airport. It closes down at midnight. Simple," she said.

"It's not an airport crisis that I am likely to forget easily," she added.