'YOU' TO 'US'

CHAPTER 1

'Beta, ye utha do mere liye', (translate 'Can you please pick this up for me ,son) said Mrs.Patil to his son who seems to be quite lost in his own world.

Mrs.Patil,short,plump,wheatish lady in her mid 40s but looked much younger than her age.They have recently shifted to canada from India .Considering the orthodox society and lack of personal space ,Mr.rajendra Patil decided to move to canada to get stable financially as well as mentally.

Mr.Patil stroked Rajeev on his head,to get him out of his daydream.

'Ouch,that hurts dad' said rajeev turning to his dad who was quite mad at him.

'You were so busy,not listening to your mom, what am I supposed to do' yelled Mr.Patil.

Rajeev,18 year old boy who was quite lean,thin as if skin was just glued to his bones. Black thick hair, wheatish complexion with a mark on his forehead he looked quite young for his age.

' Sorry dad, i m gonna help her' said rajeev moving to pick one of the luggage
Kept aside.

     A basement home which they had bought before landing in canada was something which mesmerized rajeev.He had always dreamt of living and studying abroad.His friends and relatives always spoke of snow,rains ,autumn,foreign people which made rajeev jealous and a little bit sad as well.But,finally his dream of living abroad has come true.

Vandana (Mrs.patil) went inside hustling and managing to find something .After about 5 mins ,she came out with the thaali ( plate with a burning candle,turmeric,rice and
Vermillion) .In India, before doing any auspicious activity its a must to do have Aarti done with a thaali . She made both raajeev and rajendra stand in front of the door and did Aarti and sprinkled some rice over them.

'Mom, we are canadian now,stop these rituals' teased rajeev ,putting a wicked smile to his mother.

' shut up, what if we are in canada, don't forget we are Indians by heart. Now come inside both of you' said vandana.

  It was pretty much a big house for three of them. A hall,kitchen two bedrooms with closet and quite a good ventilation. Everything about that house made rajeev go in trance .He was much happy than ever in his life. It was already evening and they were quite tired because of the 22 hours flight.The jetlag had totally disturbed their internal biological clock.
Rajendra had bought some theplas (mixed spices flatbread usually had as a snack) to have something when they landed from an Indian grocery store on the way to their house.

They had only started to have their snack that the doorbell rang.

' I will look for it mom,you have your snack' said rajeev moving towards the door. He opened the door to find a tall, 6ft inch fair,well built man in his late 20s smiling at rajeev.

' Hi, i am sankalp, im your neighbour,mom told me you people have just shifted so she told me to give you these snacks.Take these ' said sankalp looking towards rajeev.

Rajeev was perplexed by the unusual hospitality but yet delighted to see some Indian faces in a foreign land.

' Whose it beta , asked vandana moving towards the front door.

Rajeev was just about to answer her question till then vandana had arrived.

'Namaste chachiji (Hello aunty) , I am sankalp from the next door . we saw you people shifting so mom was concerned that you wont have anything to eat so she has given you some snacks to eat' said sankalp handing the packet towards vandana with a wide smile.

'That's so sweet of you ,beta thanks a lot for these ,mummy ko mera dhanyawad zarur bolna ( tell your mom that i thanked her for these) said vandana quite shocked but also proud of Indian traditions.

'And yeah aunty mom has also invited you for dinner tonight. Please be there by 9pm . we will be waiting for you' said sankalp with footsteps turning towards his house.

' There's no need beta,but still we will join you by 9pm' said vandana waving a bye to sankalp as he dismissed in the bushes back to his house.

Rajeev and vandana both headed to the hallway with the packet. Honestly ,both of them were super hungry and the packet made them water their mouth and also blessed to find something to eat instead of theplas.

'Who was it'? Asked rajendra grabbing on pieces of his theplas.

' Our neighbours ,raj(short for rajendra) ,see they gave us some snacks .so sweet ,isn't it honey' said vandana with a glowing face as if she got some gold.

' See rajeev, these is called Indian tradition, how they helped us' vandana pointed to rajeev unpacking the packet.

Vandana unpacked with aromas floating around the room and rajeev was excited to find samosa (stuffed potato peas mixture in flour wrapping).

'OMG, samosa in canada' exclaimed rajeev.He was happy to find hot samosas ,a spicy delicacy .

They all  ate samosas and missed the taste of Indian samosas.They were exactly how they were served on Indian streets.

' I miss you india' said rajeev in his mind while relishing samosas.

All three of them slept on the floor due to the travel .

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