It was his second week in America, and Suresh Razdan was bewildered, lonely and longing for somebody to connect. He felt his stomach rumbling and making weird noises and realized it was way past lunchtime. In spite of bringing his lunch of chapatis and vegetables in his tin lunch box, he felt ashamed to open it and eat it in the cafeteria. Two days ago when he had done just that and ate with his fingers, a loud raucous laughter greeted him. He timidly looked in the direction of the laughter, and saw teenagers who looked Indian but acted very different. They seemed to be very hostile and spat out a new word "FOB" with utter contempt. He cringed as he thought about it and sought the shades of an isolated tree with huge roots that reminded him of home.

He was about to finish his lunch, when a pretty teenager with bouncing hair and smiling eyes stooped down and asked hesitantly, "May I... ?"

"Sure, if you want," he said with a little derision assuming that she was one of those who had mocked him.

She sat down and said, "Don't mind that group. They are quite harmless. I was one of them not too long ago. But now I have an identity, or rather I know where I come from and where I want to go."

He looked at her skeptically and thought, 'Now, here is another problem. I don't know what she's up to.' Then aloud he said, "Good, good. I've got to go now."

She laughed shrilly. He looked upset and got up to leave.

"Wait," she said, and held out her hand, "My name is Bina." Her manner was friendly and she appeared kind. He relaxed.

Last update : 19-10-2009 17:54

Keywords : The Lonely Kashmiri, Aneeta Chakrabarty

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