A Walk Through The Park and Those Pakistani Friends!

In the UK, I was at Luton; well it was a workman's place; beautiful in parts and sometimes not. The most depressing part was the English weather. Everything was damp, moss on trees, unwelcoming biting cold breeze and unstopping downpour. It added to how much more lonely I felt.

Every evening I walked from university to my house, through a park.. nobody walked through it at that hour, the houses at the other end of the park were abandoned and usually angry looking boys and girls hung out there and stared as I passed by. I never made eye contact with them, I acknowledged them with a grim smile and a nod, looking straight ahead. 

I chose to live alone in a very non-Indian neighborhood so I could truly mingle with the locals and not confine myself to the Indian student community. The first couple of months felt very lonely... I missed home.. I missed someone.. whom? I just missed...

and so I wrote:

Walking through this cold lonely night

          I hear your voice call me out

I turn around to see you

          But you are not in sight

I felt you disappear into the silence of the night

Now, when I walk alone

I never look back!!

And when I hear your voice

Whisper to me…

…I know you are right with me... within me

Walk with me my dear…

          …with me forever…

And then a few week later I found a job at a local studio selling family portrait packages, I loved what I did there; it was tough.. nobody wanted to buy those in the era when people started buying digital cameras. I learnt by the end of my first day at work, not many men took that job up, in fact on my floor I was the only man (not intentional, I wanted a job, this is the one I got). They took care of me really well, I was given most healthy leads and the longest rope to come up the learning curve. 

That is when I learnt Pakistanis were great people just as nice as us Indians! Everyone in that room was a Pakistani or British Pakistani and they went out of their way to make me feel included. The day I made my first sale, everyone cheered and I got a hamper of chocolates. In fact, when I was closing my first sale everyone in the room just stopped and watched and there was this big hurrah moment, pats on the back, smiles and hi-fives.  I looked forward to that four hours at work every evening after University.

Life was good once again.. I was busy as a bee!