Chapter 2

  FLY

  My luggage was so heavy that even my father alone could not load it into the car with ease. He gave me a look that actually proved his point that when it comes to packing luggage, I always take the unnecessary and unwanted stuffs.

  I always looked up to my father because of his dedication to everything he does and his disciplined life. Seeing your parents growing old is one of the most hurtful scenes in your life. Those pictures of them will make you want to strive so hard to give them a life they wanted. I can feel the emotions running through my father's head, but he is maintaining his composure so hard that he doesn’t want to break down in front of me.

  The three-hour journey to the airport was silent. As usual, my mother started to sleep as soon as we left our house. She didn’t even care the loud music being played in the car to help my father not fall asleep. I was in the backseat of my car with thousands of thoughts running through my head. When I was passing each of the golden street lights of the highway, I was telling myself just like these street lamps passing away quickly, each chapter of my life will be turning quickly even before I could realize.

  Suddenly I started to miss my school days, and I realized I could never go to a phase again like that. With all these thoughts going on in my mind, I took a deep breath, then I looked at my father and he told me something that brought me to ease. He told me “That everyone will take time to adjust to a new place. Sometimes not all the places are welcoming, some places are unwelcoming too. But whatever be the situation, our approach will change the quotation of any situation.”

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  I nodded my head and looked at him. Then he continued,

  “I know it hurts, but sometimes the best medicine is to tuck yourself in like your mother used to and let the comfort of sleep wash over you. When you wake up, a favourite meal might make things feel a little brighter.”

  Papa knew that I was worried about starting everything new. He started to say about Delhi. He said “even people say the capital of India is highly air polluted but once you go there you will feel like sacrificing your lungs for that place. You will fall in love with that place. Each corner of Delhi speaks different, and it shows you different and teaches you different. Sometime the rickshaw Wala, sometime the migrant workers, sometimes the chowkidar, or sometime the hardworking students. Each face will have a different story.”

  We reached the airport after a three-hour journey, and my Amma woke up by then. My father was parking the car. My mother was tired and I can clearly see she wants to sleep more but somewhere I felt that the sleepiness is hiding her sadness. When my papa took out the luggage, I can feel my heart on the throat. I could not talk, nor I was looking into their eyes. We started to walk to the terminal gate. My papa said “if u feel you can’t be anymore strong, don’t think twice, come back home”.

  When I heard his words, my eyes couldn’t stop holding the tears back. I started to cry. I hugged both of them, gave them kisses, and walked straight to the gate. When I passed the security guard, I know that I will miss my parents a lot, but I wanted to go because that’s life and you can’t be always under your parent’s wings. You must fly away from them to discover your own destiny.