"Jaipur meri jaan, I missed youuuuuuuuuuu!" Nandini screamed excitedly after her flight landed on Jaipur airport causing her friends Navya and Alya who were sleeping peacefully beside her to jump in fright.
"Nandu" Navya glared "have you lost it?"
"Oops!" Nandini bit her lower lip when she felt everybody's gaze on her. Apparently her enthusiastic outburst had done the job of head air hostess and had woken up all the passengers from their deep slumber. Aiyyoo, was there any need for the staff to give her such weird looks as if she was some mental patient? Come on, she just hadn't been able to contain her excitement. In fact, on second thoughts, the passengers should be thankful to her. Her way of waking them up was a fresh change from those boring announcements the air hostesses made in more than one language in their fake accent. Rather than waking her up, they always made her feel more sleepy.
"Sholly" she held her ears and smiled at her friends sheepishly who shook their heads at her in exasperation.
"Koi nahi kahega ki tum MBA graduate ho" Alya chuckled as she took out a mirror from her handbag and began to comb her hair.
"Apne ghar mein har koi bachcha ban jaata hai" Nandini whispered dreamily and a bright smile lit up her face as she stared out of the plane's window. The airport was just like any other normal airport but for her, it was special. Because it was a part of her home. Gosh! How much she had missed it.
Nandini had to restrain herself hard from dancing as she waited for her luggage and completed all the necessary formalities. She was returning from London after three long years and couldn't wait to get a feel of her city once again. Her love for her country, craziness about its heritage, the passion with which she spoke about the culture and the never ending praises for Jaipur had always set her apart from those Indian students who went to study abroad with the hope of making a place for themselves amongst all those videsis and by all means earn the NRI tag for themselves.
How easily they joined those discussions which rebuked India, as if their country meant nothing and leaving it behind was no big deal for them. Funny how they stood straight whenever their national anthem Jana Gana Mana and national song Vande Maatram were sung and at the same time hurled all the abuses at their country since it was still struggling from the issues of overpopulation, poverty and unemployment. She hated their double standard mentality and had had a tough time in stopping herself from giving each and every student a hard shake until their teeth rattled to remind those morons that they were not abusing India but rather their motherland.
As a result, she had been outcast from most of the social groups but she hadn't given a damn. Her motto of 'Ye mera India! I love my India!' had remained strong nonetheless and she had taken pride in being an Indian citizen. Still, she had found firm friends in Navya and Alya who strangely despite being NRIs had accepted her boisterous energy with smiling faces and an open mind. They had let her rant about her nation for hours and had taken a genuine interest in knowing about the country which though they had never visited but still wanted to know about since it had their family roots.
Nandini's on and on praising had won her the affection of Navya's mother who missed her country every day. So when Nandini had requested aunty to let Navya come to India for sometime after they finished their one year internship she had given permission right away. She regretted keeping her daughter away from the magical culture of a beautiful country and was confident that Navya would get a first class taste of it in Nandini's presence. As for Alya, she was a film making student and had met Nandini in a movie workshop which Nandini had attended just for fun. They had gelled up instantly and Nandini's historic tales of Rajasthan had fascinated Alya to no end. So it had gone without saying that Alya would be visiting India with them as well. Besides, she had a film making assignment that required her to make a film on a unique subject and unfortunately, she couldn't come up with anything. Believing on Nandini's promise to get a perfect subject in India, Alya had packed her bags and off they were to explore the land of riches that had once been called a golden bird.
