CHAPTER I – Me and Myself
6: am. The alarm rings. Wake up. Have breakfast and bath .Get ready. Same old routine. I guess I didn’t introduce myself. I am Sia. I am so depressed. Sitting in my room thinking about nothing, actually everything.
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The other day I was in my school bus...................................... sitting next to Carly. It was so irritating and frustrating. There were no more seats, so I had so sit next to her. I dread to think what she would do to me next. ‘Hey you,’ I turned my head to face Carly ‘Throw this’ was what she said as I saw her remove the piece of gum from her mouth.. I ignored her. She repeated it. I plainly said ‘No’. She then stuck it on my uniform. I screamed and removed it from my skirt and threw it on the floor and shook my hand. I then looked at her and seethed in anger as I saw her laugh. It is no use telling the teachers. If Carly and her gang are even told to stop it, they will corner me and ask me ‘You won’t have the guts to do that anymore as I am going to remove your guts’. It has always been like that.
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School is just as bad. As I am the only Indian in my class I am ill-treated by both teachers and students. If I raise my hand to answer a question my teacher chooses another person to answer the question. If I and anyone tie in a competition the medal is given to another person.
If I ask the teacher the reason she says I was late by a second. I always roll my eyes when I listen to this.
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Home. Mom. Busy. Dad. Busy. Too busy to listen to me. I can not blame them. After all there is a recession and they have the fear of being kicked out. And no talk of changing schools in front of them. ‘The school is good enough for you. Now go to bed’ is mom’s answer always. ‘Right’ is dad’s. The only one to give me company at home is Daisy. She is my cat. She is grey in color and she is so energetic and is the most amazing animal. But still I do not like America. I was so excited when I was 5 and I heard I was coming to America. Now I am 15 and I hate it.
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CHAPTER II – Enter Maya
The next day in school was fine until the teacher announced that we were going to have a new girl in the class. I groaned as the thought of a bully came into my mind .The teacher gave me one of the looks. I was shocked when I came to know that she was an Indian. She had just come from Coimbatore. Her name is Maya. You know that feeling we get when we see a person of our age. We immediately start thinking that we will get along well in the future. That is what happened. As soon as I saw her the first thought that slipped into my mind was that we will get along well together. But she looked upset and looked as if she was crying. This surprised me but I knew she must be having a reason. The teacher introduced her and added ‘Maya has a little problem. She will get over it. Now you go and sittt……………………………………………… (was searching for a place for her to sit) next to Sia’. My heart skipped a heart beat or two. She came and sat down next to me. I immediately asked her ‘Do you like how much you have seen of America’. She looked at me helplessly and turned her head. I was really surprised this time.
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In the recess I went and sat next to her and said ‘What’s wrong? You look like you have been crying .Why are you not talking?’ She shook her head and signalled for me to wait. After sometime she came back with a paper with something scribbled on it. It read :
If you want to know why I am not talking, it is because I have laryngitis. That makes talking painful and difficult because of an infection. That explains my crying, me not talking. But wait till I get better and see how much I talk.
I immediately started asking her questions like ‘Do you like this school? Does your throat hurt? Are you going to be fine?’ To which she nodded. I then started telling her all my problems. I know just what she must have been thinking - ‘Can a person really have so many problems?’
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After a few days Maya was looking very excited as she entered the class she came to me and bursted out ‘Sia I can talk again. I don’t have laryngitis anymore.’ I couldn’t believe my ears. I told her ‘Really! That means you can talk now!’. She nodded. I added ‘Stop nodding and talk! I want to hear your voice’. She just laughed. And started talking. And talking. And talking. I have to tell you how much she talks. She did not stop until we had to board our buses. It does not surprise me... Afterall if you can not talk for a month, when you are just through with laryngitis you feel like just going on and on and on.
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CHAPTER III – Daisy is sick!
In our vacations we usually go to places like Mexico, Paris, and other cities in America but this time it was going to be India. I am so very excited about this. I was informed about it when I reached home.
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‘I think you will be disappointed’ said Maya the next day ‘If I tell you that India is actually boring. India is also just a place like America. There is nothing special. That is from my point of view, of course, because we don’t have many relatives there.’ I then said ‘But I have cousins there. Do you think I will enjoy It.? ’ ‘No idea’. She said with a bored expression.
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I just couldn’t wait for the month to pass after I heard that we would be going to India on April-26. It is still April-13. At home I started bugging my parents with questions like ‘Which plane are we going to take to and back from India?’ ‘Whose house are we going to stay? In Arjun mama’s or Anita auntie’s?’ ‘What places are we going to visit?’ For the first two or three questions they answered properly then they got irritated and gave me a shouting.
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It was planned that we would take Daisy (our cat) to India with us. I was so excited that she could travel with us. If we couldn’t I and my family could have never traveled. But 2 days before we were supposed to go to India, Daisy was looking a little weak and was whining. I told my mum and dad. The part I like most about them is that they look into everything I say. They too felt something was wrong. After an hour we got ready and left for the vet.
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At the vets we went to meet Dr. Rosella. She was a very sweet person. When she saw daisy, she first patted her and asked her name. I said ‘Daisy.’ She then checked Daisy’s temperature. She told us that daisy was sick and could recover in a week.
..... To be continued
