New day, new start, new country. The feel of fresh air of Thailand filled her lungs with nostalgia, memories and happiness. Her flight just landed in the new city but she feels like she belongs here already, as if this was the missing piece in her puzzle of life, as if this is going to be the purpose of her existence- to live in Thailand. It's 3:30 in the morning, local time, what is universally concluded to be "night time" but she has never felt more awake and excited in her life ever. She has set out of live her ultimate dream- to travel alone and live abroad- but the dead stare her parents gave her shook her soul when she asked them the first time and she was sure that there isn't going to be a second time. Her parents were initially thrilled by the idea of sending their only daughter off to a foreign land because they thought living alone in an foreign country would make her more responsible and independent as she has always been at the comfort of her home and friends. The idea of Riddhi moving away from her comfort zone where no friends or family could help her immediately, where she has to think for solutions on her own felt like the perfect way to mold their precious little princess for adulthood, thought her parents. What changed their Indian minds, you ask? Amma and Appa gave her the chance of surfing for the best university to pursue her dream in fashion designing.
"I saw an article, it said that its good to study fashion in Milan, or Paris, or London, perhaps" said Amma
"Where ever she wants to go" said her dad grinning softly and patting on Riddhi's head, just to regret those words immediately as Riddhi uttered the words that built her parents' nightmare
"Bangkok" Riddhi uttered the word, her parents went blue
Reflex reply "no" said her dad and walked away. It is highly uncommon for a Indian kid to pursue a full time degree in Fashion, let alone in Thailand. Thailand is like the first choice of every Indian parent when planning a first international trip for being the shortest on-air duration, the currency exchange, the similarities in spirituality and culture, amazing food. But a parent's worst nightmare is to let their kid travel alone to Bangkok and let her live by herself for four years.
Later that night, Riddhi's parents sat down to brainstorm why on earth would their daughter would want to study in Bangkok when they are ready to let her study fashion in the fashion capital of the world. Riddhi has always dropped subtle hints since she was 12 that if she ever was allowed to pursue fashion as a career, she would wanna study in IFA. IFA has three main campus, Paris, Istanbul and Shanghai. If they know their daughter any good, they would know she would definitely choose Paris. The culture, the art, the fashion, the hot chocolate, the books, who in the right mind would pass the opportunity of living in that paradise. But the discussion went in vain because they couldn't come up with a single reason why their precious little ambitious, stubborn daughter wants to study in Thailand except for the fact that that is the only country she has travelled to before, alone.
5 years ago, Riddhi entered an contest conducted by the Rotary club of Chennai. She had to, every single year, every single exams because her school compels her and a few other students to actively participate in all such nerdy exams which has no value to the certificates, just for the sake of school's popularity and also because her father is the Vice president of the club, it would come out bad if the vice president's daughter herself isn't participating. She had zero interest in it, she hates everything about the club, let alone these so-called scholarship exams, because the club is full of pretentious snubs, she knows. The club leader pestered her dad into making Riddhi participate just to have a high participation rate but never actually plays a fair game with the exams correction. She knows as a topper of her school, she could crack every single exam here, but never has once she has been qualified in one of these test. In the middle school, her class bully got placed second and won an cash prize while she had to sit in the audience and clap, acting enthusiastically. She knows her answer sheet has never even got into correction. She believes they do it on purpose so that they could use her as a bait just to show high count of participation. Just like always, just because her father asked her to, whose words she never goes against, she gave the exam a try. Little did she know that this was a legit deal, an exam conducted by the Government of India in alliance with the Government of Thailand and she scored the second rank and was offered a scholarship to study one academic year in Bangkok at the International school along with two other kids from different schools who got placed in first and third place. She was 14 at that time and her father couldn't say no for the sake of the club and agreed to send his little princess to Bangkok for a full year.
14 year old Riddhi weeped and begged her parents to not send her away to a foreign land all alone, she protested by skipping meals, not packing for the stay, not going to school.
"Who would feed Caesar, he can't live without me unlike you" Riddhi took a shot on her parents with her pet dog. "We take care of you, Caesar will be much easier to take care of" her mother shot back.
"One year abroad under the guidance of the school and the government, I can guarantee you that she will be well taken care of, she will still be associated with us and we will not let anything happen to her. We already talked to the board in Thailand and they are thrilled to have a student like Riddhi on board with them" said her principal to her parents. Riddhi spending a year in Bangkok will be a great deal for the school's name and Riddhi's teachers brainwashed her parents well enough to a point where they were highly convinced that there might not be a better opportunity to let their princess learn some responsibilities. Before she could realize, she was at the airport, waving sad goodbyes to her parents and friends. 5 years later, she was still weeping and begging her parents but this time it is to let her MOVE to the same land she asked her parents not to send her to. Life is a mystery, ah? One day you don't want something, the next day it is be something that you can't live without. Time can change a lot of things. Sitting on the porch, as the moonlight blanketed the floor like a velvet quilt, Mrs. and Mr. Kumar thought that maybe their little girl was still searching for a comfort zone away from home. They concluded that little Dhi is scared to leave her parents and she wants to go to a place that is acquainted to her. Acquainted Place or person, who knows? They might be right, they might be. But the real reason is surreptitious to her and her only.
As she entered the queue of immigration line, she turns her phone on and connects it to the airport wifi. She gets a call the very second.
"I am hereeee" said Riddhi in the highest pitch possible, the girl behind her flinched
"You kept your promise na khrub" said the voice from the other side
"I am taking a cab to the hotel, lets go on a campus tour tomorrow, make yourself free"
"5 years later you still boss me around, ha? No "how are you?" No "I missed you" Why am I friends with you"
"Cuz you love me, and yeah I missed you, that comes without saying, now meet me tomorrow, i wanna see you asap" she hangs up and proceeds to the immigration counter
Dizzy from staring at the baggage claim belt for half an hour, she been waiting for only one freaking more Tommy Hilfiger Duffel. The belt slowly takes another round to reveal the red bag with blue strips that she has been waiting for for the past half hour. All the luggage are stalked and set in the trolley as she rolls to the exit. Each step closer to the exit of the airport, she hears her heart pounding extra. She is here, she is back, this is her home for next four years. A chill flows down her spine, not sure it's the overwhelming feel of living her dream or the exit air vent that is blowing right over her face. The chill is accompanied with an unhealthy amount of heart pounding when she lays her eye on him, waiting for her at the airport at 4:30 in the morning, holding a board that reads "Miss. Torture". Tears well up her eyes as she rushes to his arms leaving the luggage orphan. For mere few seconds he hugs her tight and then pushes her away placing both hands on her shoulders "you have become too clingy"
"You are waiting for me at the airport, that's more cheesy" she chuckled
Touching his baby face, she continued "I can't believe it, you haven't changed a bit, saraleo"
"You.. you have changed a lot" he says eyeing her head to toe, his eyes sparkled in surprise
"Changed how?" She smirked in confusion
"You look…. Suay" he replied
The blood rushed to her face giving her a natural blush as shock and shyness filled her. Hiding her expression she said, "Ohhhh switching from glasses to contact lens is all it takes to turn the evil Isuan into a cutie, if only i had known back then"
Out loud laughs and shy full smiles covered the air along with the sounds of happening Bangkok night life.
"You called home? Informed them?"
"Shia!" Her Thai kicked in for the first time with a swear word. She grabbed the phone to call her parents to inform that she landed safe while Isuan pulls up the trolley to the car. Her throat was filled with excitement and happiness, she wanted tell them that she was feeling most contended than she has ever felt in life because Isuan was here but refrained from telling it because she didn't want them to feel like she felt happy to be away from them. Half an hour of explaining every single detail from the minute she boarded the plane till the very minute, she filled them in the details.
"I cannot believe you did it though" Kuea spills out
Riddhi leaves a laugh "It wasn't easy, not even a little bit, but I did it" she screams in joy
The whole ride to the hotel was filled with nonstop catching up with five years worth of gossips and happenings. Five years, it didn't feel like five years have past since the last time they met. Its like they continued from where they left off. The cooling mist from the air conditioner put her to sleep in the middle of the heated conversation of which friends from FRIENDS would win a fist fight. Isuan gently stroke her hand to wake her up and helped her unload the luggage from the car.
"Text me when are we leaving to campus and make it after 12 pm, I am going to sleep" said Riddhi followed by a long yawn
"Sleep, my ass. 1000 baht says you will be watching the show just to spoil it for me" he yelled back
"I promise, we are watching it together this weekend. Okay? Bye and… Khop khun na" and she walked to the lobby smiling to herself like an idiot. I left home to come home, she thought to herself. The receptionist greeted her with the most beautiful smile and asked Riddhi to fill in some forms.
"I am staying for one day, I will be moving to my dorm tomorrow. I just landed here, I haven't eaten anything. can I get anything to eat in here?" asked Riddhi. She has been hungry since she landed but didn't wanna bother Kuea at that hour. Leaving home at that hour to pick her up would have been difficult enough for him, Riddhi thought to herself.
The beautiful Thai lady with the most beautiful smile guaranteed Riddhi some Thai green curry and rice to be delivered at her door within 10 mins while handing over the key "Sawadee ka, have a pleasant stay and and if you need anything at all, I am here" that reminded her of her mother who always says " I am here for you no matter what da kutti" almost constantly minus the Thai accent.
The room was messy in few minutes while she was trying to find a T-shirt to change into. The smell of Thai green curry waved around the room, this is heaven, she thought to herself. Time in India is two hours behind Thailand and still she didn't hesitate to FaceTime her dad, her best friends from India, her cousin who lives in Vietnam who pesters her to visit her soon and finally her sponsor in Thailand because of whom the next four years of life became possible. The curtain danced in the wind and drenched the room with warm sunlight. As the city was waking up to this beautiful day, Riddhi pulled in the quilt and tucked herself into the bed. She eyed her tiny unicorn bag that her dad gpresented her as a parting gift out of which a photo frame that was poking through. A photo that was taken on her previous visit to Thailand featuring herself, a senior from school who is also her sponsor now, few of her then classmates Tay, Ohm and Sky, and Of course Isuan in the corner staring at Riddhi.
They started middle school together five years ago, and they are about to go to university together. But neither of those moments are even remotely similar. Two peas in a pod, that is what their principal used to call them as a reference to their surprisingly similar personality. But that's not his full saying, "two peas in a pod, but they will kill each other if they were ever in a same pod" Five years ago, the whole school's primary job was to keep Isuan and Riddhi from pulling their hairs out and today, one of them waited for the other at the airport to pick her up. Time changes situations, time changes people, but what exactly changed between these two will always be like an umbrella in a sunny afternoon.