Justin Solanki.
Justin Solanki was a 17 years old boy from the Solanki family of Karanpur, India. Justin was lucky to get the chance of studying in high school, and he was looking forward to attending college for higher learning.
His whole family had a lot of expectations from him. The family wished that, Justin study business and get to inherit the family business that has been passed on for generations since seven decades before him. They also wished that, if he didn't study business then maybe he could study law to play part in making sure the whole business that the family has in Karanpur does not go to waste by stupid and simple things which could be handled professionally.
He had been having good grades throughout his twelve years of studying, and the whole family had faith in the boy that they were ready to do anything to make sure he became a very successful person. A successful famous person. A successful famous person from the Solanki household of Karanpur. But the same family which was ready to squeeze and crunch everything for their son's education didn't even know what the son wanted or what he wished to pursue with his education.
Justin had graduated from high school that year. A teenager who had a lot of passions but couldn't go their way. A 17 years old boy who couldn't have a girlfriend to make sure he followed his family's idea of what a good son is. The same boy who was not allowed to study with his friends after sunset to save him from evil eyes that may be cast upon him by the neighbors and people of Karanpur who wish no good to their family, at least that's what his family believed.
A boy who was dreaming of being a doctor, a neurosurgeon to be specific, but couldn't even utter his dream to himself due to his family perspective and expectations of his elders. Justin found himself in a very hard situation that couldn't be adjusted or tuned by any means and was afraid to seek help from anyone near him for the fear of being exposed to his family and the wrath of the whole family being dropped on his poor being. The jeopardy that was going on in his head was enough to create a very strong nuclear weapon that can destroy a lot of people but he tried to hold on.
During his studies and all that he has been through for all his twelve years of studying, he has made very few friends in India and one in America. The boy he has befriended from America was named Julian. They had been penpals for like three years and they were luckily the same age.
Julian was the only soul on earth that knew what was going on in Justin's mind and life. Julian was the only best friend that Justin has ever had since he started attending school. And Julian was the only human who knew that Justin was crushing for the headmaster's daughter.
'Dear Julian,
It has been ages since I last wrote to you. I am fine the type of trying to survive this madness that surrounds me but I'm sick and tired of all this shit. I know what you told me about being positive and stick to the mature way of dealing with this thing, but I'm fed up and wish for nothing of that sort at all. Hope you are fine.
Either way, that was not the point of this letter to the tinniest. I wanted to write an introduction worth creating an essay from. I have recently received some speculations from my mole that, the elders have planned to send me to Amity University for the first degree of business and management. She said it wasn't to the term of agreements but that is the longest they have got with their discussion. She wished me the best nonetheless.
If you have any way out of this please just help me or if not, then I will commence with my earlier plan that I have told you about. I'll be waiting for your answer for me to react. Hope it reaches you sooner and I won't have to suffer longer.
Yours frankly,
Justin.'
That was the last letter that Justin sent to his friend. It had been a week already and Julian's reply hadn't arrived. Always, it took 50 hours for the letter to reach America and a week was enough amount of time for the other side to have also sent the reply if the letter was written two days after it was received.
That left Justin in more critical condition as he had more than two things revolving around in his mind. He first thought that Julian was fed up being a mastermind of things he was doing and left him alone on that. And then, he thought maybe he was fed up with that relationship and wanted nothing to do with him because the whole relationship was about solving his ass problems. Thirdly, maybe the letter hadn't reached him yet and that was why the response was yet to arrive. And before he could think of other negative things, he chose to give himself three days, and then he was going to go with his plan of eight months old but useful per his jurisdiction.
It was Friday, the first day of the three that Justin chose to wait for Julian's reply, and luckily it was letter delivery day. The delivery was usually done at 10 am every delivery day. It was 8:30 am and Justin was already at their big living room waiting for the bell to ding anytime. Saying he was curious was an understatement if one kept a closer look at him and his features. Nobody noticed that and paid no attention to his state of mind on that particular day. Well, nobody except for his aunt, the twin sister of his father.
"Is anything off? You don't seem your normal self this whole week."
"It's nothing aunt, just a little bit stressed," Justin replied trying to make himself relax as best as he could.
"I knew it. I told your mother to advise them not to tell you until the reply comes back, but they would never listen. What a stupid bunch of elders."
To say Justin was shocked wouldn't satisfy the need of the statement. He thought all the times that he had been writing to Julian, they knew and just played with his mind. If they knew what he wanted, why didn't they make it easier for him? He was busted!
"Aah... The reply... Letter..." Words were not forming in his mouth. He was not able to force them since he had got a hint that it was all over.
"Yes, the letter they sent to the university. They didn't want you to go to a very far university and that's why they sent it to the university in the nearby town. They also want to forge a license and get you a car so you won't be disturbed to wait for a bus and get late for your studies. Everybody is wishing you a good head-start and get your degree. You will be a very good businessman." Well, that was a load of information for Justin who knew nothing that was going on at their mansion of a home.
"Aunt... who wrote the letter, everybody in here doesn't know quite the English to write such application letter for college?" That was what he got to make sure he didn't spill the beans any longer.
"The old lawyer did that. Wait, didn't you know all these? Then, what are you waiting for, here?"
Damn it. I am not as tricky as I thought I would be. Justin said that in his mind and lied to his aunt.
"Aah, I didn't know it was about university. I just heard dad saying about an important letter that will be coming."
"Gosh! So I'm the one who broke the egg to you. Guess you don't stink already."
"Don't worry nobody will know that."
As they laughed and high-fived, Justin's granny appeared from the kitchen with a huge grin on her face.
"Yes, nobody will know. I knew that somebody who can't keep her mouth shut must be from my stomach." She said in a little bitterness toward her daughter as it was strictly and so highly prohibited for a woman to eavesdrop on the meetings men sit to. And having the whole thing discussed at those meetings being poured out as a wedding invitation, was far more a great mistake and a very huge disrespect for the men and their decisions.
Yes. There was extreme gender discrimination in their village. And his grandfather being the village head, then it was more intense at their house. Women weren't considered as good for anything but stupid to be taken along in those gatherings.
"Mom ..." His aunt never got to finish her pleading as the granny cut her off. Not a chance.
"Daughter." She said that part in a mocking way mimicking her daughter's voice. "Maybe that is the reason my son-in-law left so early. He couldn't face up to this shame. And from where do you get all this information when only men get to talk about them?"
"I don't think there is a need of bringing this whole Anand thing in this conversation. And I may have heard of them from anyone who couldn't keep the excitement a secret. Why are you being so hard at me and my life for things that are the moon and back to be related?"
"Says who? The woman who wasn't there when her husband was dying due to bad food. Do you hear yourself? You have shamed me and all my teachings. You have left me naked for the whole world to know that am worthless."
"Granny, maybe you should try to let it pass. Uncle Anand is not going to come back even if you mention his name at every second you have. And aunt Shania, can you please not snap at your mother? Yes, you have been through a very tough time which got you to make hard decisions for your life and your children as well, but if you be polite to all the people whether they revive the wounds or comfort them, you will be a superwoman.
"Honestly, you are my two favorite women after my mom. Your bickering and fighting every time you catch a glance at each other does me no good at all it kills me from within."
Shania had never been her mother's favorite for a very long time. She was never the one to get along with her since she was 15 and the death of her husband just added firewood to the well-lit fire and made it inextinguishable.
**Shania's recap**
When Shania was 12, she would always ask her mother to be in school just like her twin brother and other girls of their village but her mother would never agree. She used to lecture her as to why a woman shouldn't go to school and instead accompany other elder women to the chores which made them full women and ready for their marriages. Even if you use a guitar of six strings with an expert guitarist, a goat won't even budge for the tune than trying to sing for it. The goat understands nothing that's not the voice of another similar creature.
Shania tried hard to sneak away from home at the times when she would be free and go to school. She made quite a relationship with a teacher who was named Riteish Singh.
Riteish took the risk of covering up for Shania and taught her how to read and write in Hindi. And when things got tense, he would always invite her over on weekends to teach her what could progress to her studies. He always took her as her child because he had a child of the nearly same age as Shania and his child would help him on making sure Shania got what was planned for the day whenever he was entangled with things and that's where they grew close. The child of Mr. Singh was a boy who was three years older than Shania. And to be precise and avoiding the U-turn, the boy was Anand.
Shania grew fond of him and she would always try to get his attention and affection. Being uneducated and so carried away by Anand, Shania failed to hide her feelings when she was 15 and made her family get suspicious over the number of times that she left the house, a thing which she had frequented. Her mother planned a marriage for her so she could settle down and not bring chaos to her family or ruin their reputation.
She was prepared to meet the suitor's family on a certain Friday. When the suitor and his family arrived, she was told to make tea for them. She made it a normal and a good one as per her usual. When she settled the tea down in front of all the guests, she welcomed them without any bitterness and maintained her cool the whole time until she heard what the mother said.
"We like her already. Our son will be having a great wife, or what do you say?" The woman spoke.
"Yes, mom. She is nice and beautiful." The son replied a little bit uninterested.
"How old are you?" The question was unexpected and seeing the person who asked it was the bride to be, shocked the whole room.
Normally, in Indian traditions, a bride is not allowed to speak when the suitor's family arrives at theirs until she was spoken to.
"I am 27."
"Do you have any siblings?"
The silence that rose in the room was extraordinary. The suitor directed a glance at his mother before looking back at Shania. Shania's mother was trying to signal to her daughter to shut up.
"Yes, I have four siblings."
"How old are they?"
"Shania..." Her mom was then angry for what her daughter had been portraying to the guests but she couldn't finish what she intended as she was cut off by the same daughter who had put her in shame on that day.
"I'm just trying to know my future so-called husband."
"Language my daughter. And you could have asked for a room to do so and not ..."
"Don't worry mom. What I'm trying to know is crucial for you as well if it's serious you are making a relationship with them." And then she turned back to her suitor and said "So?"
"The one after me is 24, and the second is 20, the third is 18 and the last is 16."
"Impressive! Shabash! You want to marry a girl who is younger than your last sibling. How creative of you."
"Younger? But I was told you are 18. And you look so."
"They lied to you. You were fooled by ..." She never got to finish her sentence as she was down hand on her cheek.
It didn't take a genius to realize that the furious standing father who had his hand stretched was the one who had just given that death slap to the rambling Shania.
"I am tired of all this. Get your shitty presence out of my eyes." Her father shouted at her before he turned to the suitor's family. "I'm sorry but there can't be a wedding here."
Well, they couldn't stay after what they saw. Without even telling them off, they would have left even if their boy was head over heels to the girl in millions percent.
What happened to her after that incident was beatings, starving nights, cut off on budgets, and later on for the best of both sides, hers and her family's, she was told to bring the man she needed to be married to. It was for the first time that the family had broken their rules since they weren't ready to tarnish their image in society and that's when she was married off at the age of 17.
Many people questioned her about her late marriage but she kept the privilege of her family by just telling them that whatever happened was none of their business. It was her life, not theirs.
Being happily married to the man of her choice and being free from all that shit that her family had been throwing her way, was great but one thing was off. She always missed the sarcasm and bad mouths of her family. Anand understood that as he was into psychology and made efforts to bring them back together and get the usual woman who he willingly took as a wife.
Efforts of an educated man usually never go to waste. He used every possible way that his psychology knowledge allowed him and luckily, through a business negotiation, he managed to secure them a great deal which had their family raise in the whole business thing.
They lived to give birth to Dhamini, Shreya, and Karan. Their lives were happily ever after type and everybody was happy and both families were on good terms thanks to Anand and that's the reason why it became obvious that they liked him more than their daughter. But Shania cared less since she had her family back. That was one less problem to her side.
The day that Anand died was the day that the children wanted to visit their grandparents and other family members. Anand wholeheartedly agreed for them to see their family and even provided a rickshaw ride for them.
While they were at the family mansion, Anand tried to make a surprise recipe for them. It was a recipe that he just came across and found it hard to get out of his mind. He knew if he told his wife like that, he would be in a great misunderstanding on that case and hence he opted for trying it out himself and trick his wife into making it for him often.
He made it as per the instructions he had been given and was ready to taste it to see if it was off nearly quality as the one he'd had. He couldn't contain the taste of what he made and that's when he started vomiting all over the place and at a span of five minutes he was lying flat on the floor. He ended himself at the early age of 34.
**end of recap**
"See! Men are wise no matter their age. It's my grandson now that is advising you and is trying to save this whole thing. He will be such a successful man like Anand was."
"Granmaaaa..."
"Haa, it's true. This pig over here is just trying to spoil the fum." She said in clear bitterness in her words.
Wait, fum?
What was that even supposed to mean?
"Fum?" Shania started to giggle before she broke into a very clear serious laughter that Justin had to suppress.
"What? You think I don't know Engilish? She is not FUMMY." Seriously, Justin couldn't hold it any longer and supported his aunt for the umpteenth time that day.
"Granny, I guess you meant 'fun' and 'funny'. Fum is something else that I don't have time now to explain to you."
"But they are the same. Just one comes before the other."
"Yes, like you and aunt Shania."
"Young man, what have you said?"
"I said it's better if you stick with your Hindi because English is a little bit tough for you." With that, he paused as he was standing up and continued after he had stretched himself to his satisfaction. "And if you will excuse me, I have a garden to visit."
He made a run for the main door before listening to what their comment would be. As he was getting out he heard a faint 'See, he is so polite...'
Visiting the garden wasn't really in the books but he had no way out than using that excuse. The flowers and trees were healthy and so alive with the green that held many colors along with it. He was happy for the flowers that they had found their peace and be able to blossom to what color and state they've wanted. And that's when it hit him like a pang if only he could be a flower. He could do what he wanted. He could be free to blossom the way he wanted.
"Letter delivery. Letter delivery. Letters for the great Solanki family."
The train of his thoughts was cut short by those few words. He'd been too high on waiting for that letter to come. The skin on his palms started to do Summersaults and that's when he realized that they were sweating. His palms were sweating, no! Not just his palms even his forehead.
"I'll have those Mr. Sanghvi, thank you." The maid who just opened the door responded.
"No, Rushda. Continue with your works. I'll take care of them."
He had to face it that he was scared and heavenly afraid. But it wasn't in his blood to go coward on such things which weren't a matter of life and death. He was rambling in his head as he approached the delivery man.
"Namaste Mr. Sanghvi."
"Namaste, young master. How are you?"
"Nice as the day goes on. So, what do you have for us?"
"Many letters today. Almost seven." He shuffled through the envelope he had and brought out seven letters. "Here they are. Three from Bombay, one from New Delhi, one from Grass Brown university, and two from ... eh ... America I guess."
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
His heart skipped a beat.
America.
Finally.
But he snapped back to the present and thought maybe he shouldn't get his hopes up high. They may be some business letters from America and not Julian's reply.
"Thank you. I'll take it from here. Have a good day."
"Actually, sir, ..." The delivery man was cut off by Justin who was trying to perfect his fake smile and made it seem real so he could hide what was deep inside him.
"No formalities. Justin is enough."
"O-kay, young ... sorry I mean Justin right? I would like you to give this message to the Master. Tell him some of his letters are coming on Sunday because we couldn't secure them earlier this day. We are very sorry but early Sunday morning, I will bring them."
He seemed devastated and fighting to keep his cool. Justin couldn't make out the wave of emotions displaying themselves on the man's face but one thing was for sure. The man was afraid. FEAR had taken the best of him and reduced him to so very desperate human. It was clear he was in dire need of being understood.
"Don't worry, I can talk to him. He will understand me."
"Thank you, Justin. Have a wonderful day."
With that, he waved goodbye and proceeded to the gates like his life depended on it, and disappeared out of sight in no time.
Justin sighed and went inside to his room and made sure the door was locked before starting to go through the letters.
They were all normal ones except for the two with a white envelope. The letters with a white envelope only came from nobles and rich families. He hesitated to take them hoping they would wear down his hopes but through the shuffling, he was making, he found a very familiar name typed on the front side of the letters. The white letters.
Justin Solanki,
Karanpur 189,India.
How was it possible and so many more questions passed through his mind, 'it may be a dream ' being one of them.
He hurriedly tried to open it but remembered that he had other letters which weren't his and they would distract him from savoring that great moment. And wisely enough of him, he chose to deliver the rest of the letters at his grandfather's office.
A faint 'come in' was heard at the other side of the door a few seconds after Justin knocked. He glanced at the big envelope he had in his hands before opening the door to the office.
Glancing inside, there were no many changes since the last time he had been in there a few weeks before. It was months before and not weeks.
What?! You can't blame him. He was trying to express obvious hate by staying away from anything related to offices and business. And he had been at the hospital for not more than 10 days.
The dark orange color stood firmly at the walls making them glamour with richness. The shelves at the far end of the room and a table with chairs around it, clearly for meetings as there were almost 16 chairs but he didn't give a damn of losing more of his time by counting them, at the near end. And right there at the middle stood the overpriced and over-polished table with three cushions seats. Two of them being occupied by his grandfather and one man who turned around and happened to be his father.
"Ooh Justin, come in."
His grandfather cut short the trail of thoughts he'd been having and invited him in.
"Thank you. I, uh, can I sit?"
"Is there a need to ask? This is your office, my son." His grandfather answered him as he took a seat at the only chair left and swallowed hard.
He raised his head to drop the bombshell that took him there in the first place, to see both men glancing at him. One with a wide grin and the other with a smirk that made him more terrified than ever.
"Mmh, what brought you here boss?" His grandfather being the cunning one, he teased right ahead to add to his embarrassment and made him blush.
"I, uh, these -" he brought the envelope at the table as he tried to find words to save himself from being a complete idiot. "- I brought these letters. The letterman said there are more but they couldn't get them. They are very sorry and on Sunday morning they will be here as early as possible."
Hope I sounded confident. That's what crossed his mind after saying those words calmly.
"That can't be serious at all. We have to get all the letters before the end of this week. This immature laziness cannot be tolerated."
"No, dad!" He snapped before regaining his cool and proceeded. "It seemed like he tried his level best but couldn't make it work. He was at the edge of breaking down. He was terrified. That is an attitude of a man who cherishes and loves what he is doing and also a man who respects his seniors. Please don't do anything bad to him. He is not like he has lost them or something, it's just failure on picking them up and they will be here nonetheless."
Both men eyed him with blank faces. It was like a deer caught in headlights. He couldn't process what they were up to. And only then, he took a mental note to have a look at psychology several times before deciding something like this one.
"I guess there is no more point of challenging him to prove that he is worth it. My son is a pure leader and sees things in a very bright future." His father rose from his seat and attacked him with a very strong hug and one full of love and pride.
"No worries. He was destined to be so either way." His grandfather added as he was released from that hug.
"I think... I should go to my room... There are some things I should ... ahh study... I don't want ... to forget important things."
"There is no need of being afraid. Take your time and you should visit the office more often. It's going to be yours soon enough." Justin freaked out and just mumbled a slow thank you as he got up and ran for his room.
That was awkward AF. He hoped the letters would give him some wonderful news. He locked the door and went to his bed and to have a brief read at his letters from the nobles. It must be crazy, right? But it was true and there was no room to think of it as too good to be true.
At the backside where he wanted to open the letter through, was the address of the sender. Upon seeing it, he was about to drop the letter but opened it either way.
The senate,
Jacksonville, Florida,
The United States of America.
It was getting a more nightmare look than reality to him. How could such a respectable and so graceful honor befall on him? He was going pale for every single second he sat there on his bed. Hell, he was even trembling not knowing what to do with his letter. Being so much time wasted, he chose to man up and open it.
A golden khaki-colored paper stood in the envelope with a beautiful aroma of something like berries. He took it and started to go through it.
Dear Justin,
I know the formality and nobility are not normal between us but since you are going to be one of us, this should be clear.
I'm Julian Patrick Desai. The son of the senator of Florida.
I'm sorry that I thought so low of you at first. Just pen pals were it but you have a pure soul and you are so real. I guess this is where we get to know each other and shit like that but I have to save it for the news that I'm going to drop at you right this moment. Don't freak out, okay Just!
I consulted my father about your situation and he gave me wonderful ideas that I could never think of. Anyway, he should be more intelligent than I because he is older than me and for freaking God's sake he is a senator! Okay, so here is the thing. *Clearing throat and eye rolls*
Justin chuckled at that point. Yes, his friend was crazy AF. His sense of humor had got him warm up to Julian very early and easy. He continued then:
He thinks telling them off is so rude when you haven't even told 'em what you wanna do.PS: I'm listening to Michael Jackson right now so excuse my language. He has found six scholarships for you and I told him that you don't like favors. Being so understanding, he has taken application forms so you would do exams and score them yourself. The exams are due next week, Friday. I'm sorry for such short notice but you have to board the plane named Air India that will be coming to America this Monday. I've sent the ticket in a separate envelope to this one. Prepare your passport.
You'll be staying with us for all that time before you decide you want to move on. It's a lot to take in but yeah that's it.
Hope you are keeping up pretty well.
Love,
Julian.
Finally, a breeze of relief washed through him and it was then the chance to make everything happen and confront his family to allow him to go to America. And even arranging his visa and passport for his trip to the dream world.
He took a look at the second envelope and the ticket was there smiling at him. Justin Raichand Solanki was well written on the ticket and it then, just then that it started to feel real. All of it felt real.
He wrote back to him with excitement and so much love.
Dear best friend,
I'm cool and happy right now because of your news and I would like to thank you for what you have done so far and I really appreciate it.
I'll be on the plane on that day, you better drag your filthy punk of pattotties to the airport to come and receive me. And a note to keep in mind, I know how to read airplane tickets, don't make me a granny.
And I'm fine by the way.
Yours lovely,
Justin.
He ran to the post office immediately after finishing his reply letter. He put a sticker on the envelope and gave it to the receptionist behind the desk. He had no more time to waste on that as he stormed back to their house.
As he reached the front door of the house, he heard the nanny announcing to the whole family.
"Family meeting! Sudden family meeting! Serious family meeting! Important family meeting!"
He knew where family meetings were conducted, so, he reluctantly proceeded to the hall at the back of the house near the yard and the garden. Upon reaching there, he found the whole Solanki squad taking their seats as they wait for him. He was nervous and excited at the same time.
"Justin, take a seat. It was about time to go and search for you." Grandfather teased again.
"Thanks. The pot which swallowed me couldn't hide me as it thought it could."
Everyone broke into laughter and the meeting started. Grandfather stood up from his seat and opened the meeting.
"Good morning family. I think everybody is here already and we are ready to start our meeting." He looked at every person who was there to confirm that for himself before he continued. "As you all know, Justin has finished school and soon he is going to university. It's a very tough thing but he managed to pull it off with a strand of hair. A great loud of applause to him."
Everybody clapped their hands and some of them whistled to show their utter satisfaction. Even Justin clapped for himself.
"So, he is expected to start university, isn't it right?!" A chorus of 'YES' and 'YEAHS' was heard in the room. "And that's why we have prepared his future and we thus want him to complete his task of studying so well without any distraction."
"A question-" Shania said. Everybody groaned because it was pretty clear that whenever she spoke or contributes to anything, things turn awry. "-so, you have planned everything without asking him, don't you think it's a little bit out of order?"
"And speaking without being given the chance to is in order? Especially to a meeting that you weren't invited to?" Granma spoke.
"My bad. And mind you, this was supposed to be a family meeting. Am I not in the family?" Shania challenged her mother.
"Aunt please don't make it harder than it already is. I beg you please just retreat on this one. I'll inform you on how it goes, please." Justin spoke up at last.
"Why begging when she was supposed to be told off?" His father said furiously and it was clear that he was boiling with anger. It didn't need a genius mind to know that with only a spark he could beat the hell out of his sister. "Shania, I'm done listening to your shit. This is the last time I'm going to look at you as if nothing happened but next time you'll regret putting your word in anything you've heard. And I'm doing this because of the sisterly respect I have for you. You better go before anything filthy happens."
She was about to oppose again but upon seeing the puppy pleading eyes of Justin, she opted otherwise and stood up with a pout to go.
"Justin-" Grandpa spoke up with a calm, relaxed, fixated and so determined voice. "Can you tell me what do you mean when you say this situation is hard?"
That was it. He never thought that his grandfather could pick up on such small detail on their conversation but it was about time to tell them what he was about nonetheless.
"Yes, the situation is hard. Because I'm about to object to what you have planned for me."
"What?"