A girl stood outside the airport controlling her tears not wishing to go now. A man and woman stood in front of her, both holding back their tears as well wishing for their daughter’s safety and security in the unknown city and unknown country. Well, the girl was going for her further studies to the University of London in Organizational Psychology, that too with a 60% scholarship.
“Chachu chachi chhodo na, wapas ghar chalte hai, main kaise rahungi aap dono ke bina? Main idhar India mein hi MSc karke idhar hi job kar lungi. Aap dono bhi mere bina kaise rahoge?” The girl said emotionally to the man and woman who were her uncle and aunt.
(“Uncle aunt leave it, let’s go back home, how will I live without both of you? I’ll complete my MSc here in India and do a job here only. How will you two also live without me?”)
“Shaant bacche. Ye tumhare parents ka sapna tha. Woh chahte the ki unke bacche London University mein padhe, ek beti toh unke saath hi chali gayi, par tu toh idhar hai, apne mare hue maa baba ki khwaish puri nahi karegi?” Her uncle, Adarsh Arora said, stroking her head comforting her.
(“Calm down child. This was parent’s dream. They wanted that their children study in University of London, one daughter died with them, but you are here, won’t you fulfill your dead parent’s wish?”)
“Han Piya, tumhare chachu bilkul sahi bol rahe hai, you have to go, apne maa baba ka sapna pura karne ke liye tumhe jaana padega. Aur hum dono toh idhar hi hai na, hum bhi aajate tumhare saath but VISA milna aasan thodi hota hai? Aur na hi hum itna afford kar sakte hai. Isiliye bacche, tum jao, khub mehnat karo, padhai karo aur apne maa baba ka naam roshan karo.” Her aunt, Mehar Arora explained her further, making her realise she has to go for her parents.
(“Yes Piya, your uncle is totally right, you have to go, you have to go to fulfill your parent’s dream. And both of us are here only, even we would have come with you but it isn’t that easy to get a VISA, is it? And nor can we actually afford that much. That’s why child, you go, make lots of effort, study hard and make your parent’s name shine.”)
“Han, main un dono ka sapna pura karke hi wapas India aaungi. Agli baar India mein University of London ke degree ke saath hi aaungi.” The girl, named Piya Arora, said to her aunt and uncle with determination. She bent down to take their blessings and hugged them goodbye, and walked into the airport to begin her new life in London.
(“Yes, I will fulfill their dream and come back to India. Next time, I will step on India’s land when I get the degree of University of London.”)
24th October, 2022 – London, UK
Piya Arora stood in front of the University of London ready to conquer the upcoming challenges coming her way. She made her way to the reception wanting to get signed up in the dormitory first since she can’t roam around the campus with her luggage in hand.
“Hi! My name is Piya Arora. And I had signed up for the dorm online, could I know the further procedure?” She asked the receptionist who checked the system for the details.
“Ma’am I am so sorry but the senior who was living in the dorm assigned to you has extended her stay for almost a month. So we can’t provide you with a dorm room right now, you will have to arrange your living yourself for 1 month.” the receptionist informed apologetically.
Piya was left shocked hearing this. She didn’t know where she would go now, it was obvious she couldn’t live in a hotel for 1 month since it would be way too expensive for her. She didn’t even want to inform and make her uncle aunt stressed about this.
“Hi!! I couldn’t help but overhear, I am guessing you have dormitory issue?” A girl came to her and asked sweetly.
“Uhh… yeah! A senior extended her stay for a month, so now I have no place to live. So yeah! Bhai ye kaha fas gayi main!” Piya said to the girl, whispering the last line to herself.
“Umm.. you are from India?” The girl asked Piya, making her nod her head with a smile.
“If you want, you can live at my house.” The girl proposed, making Piya shocked.
“Right, sorry let me at least introduce myself. I am Sunaina Sharma, an Indian as well but my Hindi is very bad since I have been born and brought up in London itself. And same with my cousin brother because of which our family is fed up with us. They really wanted their children to know Indian culture but they got us. So you know, if you go live with us for just 1 month, they will be happy. So it would be a win – win situation.” Sunaina said to her in one go, making her think about it.
Piya was of course hesitant since she was someone Piya was meeting for the first time. However, she knew the girl was kind hearted and was just trying to help even though she gave an excuse of her family, knowing she didn’t exactly have a choice, Piya agreed to Sunaina but told her she will have to ask her uncle aunt after meeting Sunaina’s family.
After some time, at Sunaina’s house
Sunaina rang the doorbell of her mansion waiting for someone to open the door. Soon enough her mother opened the door. “What is this Sunaina? Why are you here? What about college?” Her mom blabbered without noticing Piya standing at a little distance from Sunaina, shocked to see such a big mansion. “Mom, forget that! Meet her, she is Piya Arora, from India. And she is going to live with us for the next month.” Sunaina said pointing towards Piya making her mother notice Piya, a small smile gracing her lips seeing Piya in traditional attire.
“Aao beta andar aao na.” Sunaina’s mother welcomed Piya into the house cheerfully, making Piya happy about her decision to come here. She met the entire family and was escalated to meet them all. The entire family was too escalated to meet her, and they welcomed her into the house wholeheartedly.
They all talked and you could say Piya and Sunaina became best friends. Piya also got to know that they used to live in India but before Sunaina’s elder cousin brother, Lavya Sharma, was born Sunaina’s father and Lavya’s father received amazing job offer her, therefore they shifted here with the entire family and ever since then, they haven’t gone back to India.
Piya found all the family members to be sweet and polite. It felt as though she got another family here. She got a very homely feel here, even though she had met them all for the first time. It felt as though she had a connection with them all but didn’t know what? She had met everyone except for Lavya and Lavya’s mother who were apparently out shopping.
Another shocker that came to her was Lavya’s father was her uncle’s childhood friend, but after his father shifted to London, they lost contact with each other. Piya felt as though this was the reason why she felt such homely feels at the house. Her uncle advised her to stay at their house only, instead of the dorm, not just for one month but for the entire 3 years of the course duration.
When everyone was convincing her, Lavya and Lavya’s mom walked into the living room making his mom confused on who was the unknown girl. However, Lavya was blown away with her beauty and simplicity. He couldn’t take his eyes off her, all the noise of the family convincing her faded in the background. All he could do was stare at her and hearing her angelic voice, he was blown away. He couldn’t see or hear anyone else in the background, only her and her voice.
His trance broke when his mother hit him on the bicep and asked “Who is that girl, do you know?”
“Your future daughter-in-law.” He answered still in haze, shocking his mother to her core. Realising what he blabbed, he said “How will I know who she is? Go and ask everyone. Come on, let’s go.”
Her mother was surely shocked seeing her son acting this way but seeing the way her family was treating the girl, she was sure she is someone sweet and might be perfect for her son. From here started his mother’s effort to make sure her son and Piya would be close and hopefully fall in love with each other.
