What is the story of your life?
I was born in America. I spent 9 years in there but we
moved to my parents’ original home which is Bombay, India
three years after. My life was good at that time but not until
I turned sixteen that I discovered that mother was sick with a
terrible illness. So we went back to America for treatment
and at the same time for me to go study in a college in
America. But a few years later, she didn’t make it. I struggled
to move on, I felt very emotional that time. So emotional that
my studies are affected and contact with my family is also
affected. During that time my father also had to result in
marrying another woman just to ease the pain. Father tried
to explain it to me but my emotions got in the way too. Eve-
rything is happening so fast all of the sudden. Though feeling
the effects of the loss of my mother, I tried to make contact to
my new mother by spend time with them in the holidays.
Do you hate them?
At that moment when I discovered that my father
had married another woman I was infuriated. I couldn’t ac-
cept the fact that we had to move on. Though my hatred
was diminished during my stay there, the reason is because I
tried to care less due to the emotions I felt. I still couldn’t move
on. The loss of my mother hit me very hard. As for my fa-
ther, I couldn’t accept that fact that he had replaced my
mother in a shallow reason. And the fact the he had thrown
away almost every memento that can remember the
memory of my mother.
How do you describe your Mother and
the woman whom your Father married?
Just as I entered our house I could see the changes
that my step-mother made in it. The modern house that I
used to live when I was a kid was now gone. It was turn into
a traditional home that is similar to our home in Bombay. As
for those pictures with mother, my father hid it somewhere.
From that moment I could see that my step-mother, Chitra
was every different from my mother. My mother is a free
spirited woman who is never afraid to try out new things, this
explains how she has adapted to American Culture. My Step
-mother Chitra however, was a very cautious woman despite
her age. I consider her old woman trapped in a young person.
She is very protective, I could see that because she rarely
goes outside and the windows of the house is always closed.
What do you think about Lily and Rupa? Are
you comfortable with them?
I found out that my new family has a new addition
besides my step-mother. I also discovered that I will also have step-
sisters. An interesting thought came to me. I never experienced being
a big brother to someone. I felt disoriented and I didn’t know what
to say. But out of curiosity, they asked me numerous questions.
Some questions are about me and what I do. Some personal ques-
tions specifically questions about my mother I couldn’t answer so I’d
changed the topic. We had similar fates, my step-sisters and I but
couldn’t just say things to them in such a young age.