Eleven years scribbled on a paper…

Shobhaa De – A name that strikes everyone. Yes, I’m a huge fan of her. I call her my mentor. Her articles inspire me, her writing motivates me, and her personality amazes me. I envy this woman, yet I truly love her art of work. I’ve read all her articles, also read one of her books: Socialite Evenings! For some reason, in her book I saw my own childhood. Those days when girls used to resent other girls only because they had a fancier pen or had sparkly covers on their books. Days of Dekh Bhai Dekh and their first ever visit to London. Teenagers constantly humming, ‘na jaane mere dil ko kya ho gaya’… Young boys trying to woo us ‘girls’. Ahaa… them days, good ole’ days!

And one day an invitation came from the United States of America stating, “you are welcome in our country’. Life changed dramatically. Rushing through embassies, waiting there and having those extra-large sandwiches. Numerous trips to the photo-stat shop, passport size photos, signature on just about a million documents. Getting a bob-cut, buying those deluxe clothing which I never bought in my entire life. Showing off at school my ticket to Hollywood, but never did I think that we will be going to US, literally.

I land on American soil and I do not like it! Left behind my hometown, my family, my memories, my friends, my childhood, and most importantly myself. It was hard to create individuality in a new-found country. Life had to conform to American customs. A difficult task but not impossible.

Took me four years to get used to this foreign land. Learned a lot in those four years of high school. A girl, who never went outside Delhi, actually flew seven oceans across to a completely unknown place. This unknown place couldn’t even pronounce my name correctly, how pathetic! Ughh…I hate this! Slowly and gradually life seemed easy, taught how to be independent. First ever daughter of ‘Virmani Khandaan’ got her Bachelors degree from US of A. WOW… Now that’s called an accomplishment!!!

And then the time came to apply all that education in the real world. Get a real job, which pays! Oh yeah, that wasn’t an easy task. Right when my batch got their degrees, US government distributed their ‘How to cope with recession?’ brochures. Another WOW…
However, by God’s grace, I was able to find a job. A job which taught me how to get responsible, how to live life on your own terms, how to stand on your own feet.

In this article everything sounds like a fairytale. Notwithstanding the hardship, the struggle, the ups-down, the tears, the slogans of ‘I can’t take this anymore!!!!’, and so on… This is exactly what many teenagers go through while shifting lives from one continent to another. The overall picture isn’t that pretty but at the end ‘alll izzz welll’.