The city that gave me everything (part 1)

 Million little thoughts pulled me in million little directions....................

My unwavering determination and adamant nature drove me from North to South. The girl who wasn't allowed to step out of the house after the clock stuck 7 in the evening was now going to settle in some unknown alien city for straight 6 months. I never stepped out of my place after 7 pm. Even if I had to then either my mother used to accompany me or my father or someone elder from the family would act like a shadow.

As a child I used to cherish that one day I will be at some fancy place away from home and every fence where I can freely earn and learn things in my own way but I wasn't aware that I'll be blessed like this!! To me it felt like, a kid requesting god to get selected in 50 metre long jump race but god being god surprised him with a ticket of bungee jumping. I was enthralled about the new discoveries but I was scared of the decisions and risk I was about to take. Obviously I had my own set of worries,fears and doubts and dragons that whether I will be able to survive or not at a place where nobody knows me, where my family doesn't have any extended relatives,where the language,food, people and temperature were striking opposite from the place and city I have been living in. 

I prepared for the job, passed the interview, got the offer letter, now what? Everyone in my family glared at me with those questioning eyes which were loud enough to ask,"What do want now? Will you be able to do this?And in case if you are thinking to say "Yes" to this letter then you will be going out on your own responsibility. You will not have the right to blame us if anything goes down rather you will be the one who will be answerable for everything.

Lemme think about this, I said as I studied their intense look.

I always wanted to go to some place away from my circumference but who knew life would throw me this far. No one from family has ever visited this place and things don't come easy when you are a girl and you belong from a middle class Indian family which has its own challenges and rule book because its not about your family alone but your relatives and their relatives and society as well. It's like setting up a parliamentary discussion where everyone will voice up their thoughts except you because according to your family, you hardly got any brains about how this world is all about, even if you crack the interview of the Google, you will still be treated like a person who has the least knowledge about the materialistic world. You don't know anything at all,so shut up was the basic approach at my place.

So in that parliamentary discussion all the pros and cons would be weighed, your past behavior with the guest, relatives and siblings would be judged, warnings would be re-defined and the of course the very strict rule book would be revised before they could say "YES" to you.

The struggle was real and so was my dream. I re constructed every line into a decent paragraph that I had read by now to my parents and put everything at stake to convince them and my own self that I will manage things without messing up.

I was ready for my biggest gamble that I was about to play. My parents knew I was way too stubborn for the things I want so they gradually gave up with a remark,"let's see what happens".

It was my second day in the train and thoughts like these crossed my mind like the train crossed the tracks as they go. Million little thoughts pulled me in million little directions. I looked at my parents, their face holds a perturbed and bewildered look. None of us exchanged the words but mere glances with an affirmation that things will settle for good. The same tornado of thoughts was building at both ends. 15 days back, the offer letter that popped up on my phone at 2 am in the night was not just a letter to me but a ticket to my "Freedom"!! I was delighted to paint the canvas of my dreams with the choice of my own colors and with those aspiring eyes which had been waiting since childhood. 

My train of thoughts was disturbed​ by an abrupt jerk of the train and before I could actually say something, I realized that we have reached our destination.

When I stepped out of the train with my heavy overloaded luggage,the anxiety on my face vanished completely by the view I encountered!! The women were draped in either cotton or silk sari, their neck were adorned with long,heavy shiny gold chains segregating them from rest of  the outsiders like us. Their jet black curly hair were embellished with the beautiful white "Gajra" which further complimented the crisp white "Lungi" of the men!!
The aroma of the fresh jasmine flowers rejuvenated my brain and its ability to think more clearly and consistently.

I filled my lungs with the aroma and shouted --"Taxi"!!!