First Impressions

Chapter twenty one

Minnesota,
United states of America

When Paavni arrived at her home in Minnesota from a few hours flight journey from New York, she was welcomed with the sight of her grandparents who were ever so eagerly, patiently waiting to see their grandchild.
"Ah, my poor Paavni, staying so far from home, do you even eat well? Just look at you, you are no less than a toothpick. Girls your age are all plump, rosy faced. It's all your fault, you shouldn't have sent her away from home." grandma said glancing at Mrs Kale.

Toothpick. Really? Granny must be blind , Paavni thought to herself.
If she was a toothpick, she wondered what granny would speak when she saw some of her friends who were really skinny.

"Granny, don't say like that! I have seen those black and white pictures of your youth. You were skinnier"

"Aye, you couldn't see properly. Those pictures weren't clear." Her granny always had excuses to defend herself.

They had lunch together, after ages. She had missed the homemade food so much.
For dinner, they had planned to go to a nearby Indian restaurant.
After lunch, they all sat in the living room, talking. Her grandfather asked her about her studies and her plans ahead.
Both of them thought Paavni and her parents would be returning to India after she completed her studies. They expected her to have a decent job in India and then wished to marry her off. But when the topic came of returning to India, she glanced at her parents, for that was not what they intended to do.
Mr Kale as of yet had no plans of returning to their homeland, not for atleast the next ten good years. His business was running good(and good meant it was flourishing like a green birch tree) and even Paavni wanted to stay here as well.
She had her life all planned out. And the plan didn't involve returning to India anytime soon.

But none of them spoke against it when grandpa continued on.
"Ramakant was saying his daughter didn't want to come back to India at all. It was later that we learnt that she married off an Australian. His parents didn't even object. How could he do that? ."
Paavni was least bothered as to what Ramakant had to say.

Paavni was standing near her window when she saw a truck next to her house through the british structured windows. Burnt Umber coloured boxes were being unloaded by two or three workmen who carried them all the way from the truck to inside the house.

There were new neighbours?

Her mom came her to show her the family photograph they had taken earlier. That was when Paavni couldn't resist asking, "I guess we have a new neighbour over there."

"Oh yeah. Remember the Japanese family that owned the house?"

"The ones that  never came to live here?"
She asked, jogging up her memory .

"Heard their house is in ruins post the floods in their city. Only the woman and her son survived. They decided to shift here"

"That's..tragic." Paavni said.

She went on to the other side of the room where there was another window opposite to which the neighbours' house could be seen. The curtain was drawn now and she couldn't see inside.

The next day, Paavni went on a walk with her grandmother.
They were talking about everyone back in India and how they all missed them when her grandmother took her by surprise by bringing up the matter of returning to India.

"Paavni, I know you love it here and that you don't plan to return back right now."

Not now, not ever; Paavni thought to herself.

"You should stay here as long as you wish." Her granny said.
Paavni looked at her astonished. Did she just say she should stay here?

Granny gave a nod of approval.