Neela tried very hard to accept and adapt. She fought with her mind and started studying Zoology at the university. Every morning, her father drove her to the station himself, and in the evening, when she got off the train, she saw her father standing on the platform. Neela was out of breath. Her friends made fun of her and made fun of her. Her ego was hurt. One evening, she cried and told her father, “You don’t have to come and pick me up every day! No one comes to pick up any of my friends from home. I have turned eighteen, now let me be a little more independent! I can go home with them.”
Although her father agreed, he went to pick her up again two days later. This time Neela felt ashamed. Her father said, “Reach home before eight, and if I go to pick her up, it will be nine at night if I come by rickshaw or taxi. When will you eat, when will you rest, when will you study?”
Neela sighed and thought, she couldn’t bear it anymore. One way or another, she had to get a scholarship. Then she can’t stay here anymore. She will go abroad instead of staying at home. She wants to be free from this extra care and the pain of love.
Neela keeps checking the post office every day. Finally, the desired day comes. A letter arrives from a good university in Canada. She has received a scholarship to study journalism. The tuition fee is completely free, she only has to pay for her accommodation and food. But she is hesitant about whether to tell her father. She always tells her father every happy news in her life. But this good news may not be happy for her father. He can turn everything upside down! Neela keeps thinking about it all night long. The next day, she wakes up in the morning and sees her father walking in front of the door.
Her father says in a worried voice, “You missed the morning train! Shall I take you by car?”
Neela slowly says, “Father, I don’t want to go anymore. I will go abroad to study this time, no matter what you say.”
Her father says in a serious voice, “What if you decide alone?”
Neela said clearly, “Yes, father, this is my lifelong dream. I have never said anything against you to please you, but now I can’t. I don’t want to study with those snakes and frogs. And university studies? Where lab uncles are paid to draw pictures in practical notebooks, and questions are given in advance in batches—all this will not happen to me. You have taught me principles all my life, I cannot do wrong. I want to see the education system of a developed country, and one day I will return to my country. Father, please let me go.”
Father listened to everything silently. He didn’t say anything, he just went to his room and lay down with his hand on his forehead.
Everyone in the house became worried. There was no anger, scolding, or shouting from her father—rather, a silent atmosphere. It was as if a thick black cloud had covered the entire house.
Neela went to the kitchen and stood silently. Usually, her mother asked her what she wanted to eat, but today she said nothing. Neela said to her helper, Rushi, “Give me a cup of tea and a paratha.”
Rushi said enthusiastically, “Apu, shall I fry an egg?”
Neela got annoyed and said, “Do what I said. You don’t have to be so scholarly.”
Mother now said angrily, “There’s no need to pester her so much! And besides, Rushi won’t go to Canada with you. From today on, you will do all your own work. Don’t call Rushi by name. Make your own breakfast.”
Neela was happy with her mother’s words. It meant that her father had accepted her decision to go abroad! Mother also knew! She was overwhelmed with joy. She couldn’t sleep all night before because of sadness, but today she couldn’t sleep because of happiness. She is in a daze and dreams of moving abroad.
As soon as her father finishes watching the news, she takes the TV remote and starts watching a Hollywood movie. She starts imagining herself in the place of the movie character. She doesn’t realize when she falls asleep. Suddenly, her elder brother comes and takes the remote away.
Neela shouts, “I was in the middle of a movie! Did someone take the remote away at such a time?”
Her brother gets annoyed and says, “There’s no news about studying, there’s no need to go to university, just watch English movies and you’ll become Vidyasagar?”
Neela knows that she can’t win by arguing with her brother. She goes home annoyed.
Then her most trusted friend comes and closes the door, widens her eyes and whispers, “Apa, your marriage will be fixed very soon! Amma and aunt are watching the movie!”
It’s as if the sky is falling on Neela’s head! What is she hearing? So will her dream of independence remain elusive? From her father’s house to her husband’s house? From the tiger’s cage to the lion’s cage? He just wanted to enjoy life with a little freedom!
Scarborough, Canada
