Kal Ho Naa Ho - The Novel

Prologue

Naina

Hey.

I know, you are only a diary, but it only seemed befitting that I said hello.

Let's do this properly then,

Hi, I am Naina Kapoor.

I have been told that writing a diary to vent can be helpful.

And so, here we are.

In case, you are wondering, helpful for what? Let me tell you a little bit more about myself.

I am a brown girl living in New York, my mum was born here to Indian parents, whereas my dad came from India with dreams, some cash and his widowed mother.

He did manage to live up to his dreams with a decent job, and a comfortable house. A happy family though, I am not too sure.

My grandmother didn't get along with my mother. For one, she wasn't Hindu. Second, being born and brought up in States, she was a thorough American. Both of which my old rigid Indian grandmother, couldn't openly accept in her only daughter in law.

Things were okay, as long as dad acted as the balance between both the women in the house.

But things changed when the balance was broken, my dad passed away.

With his passing away, not only was my biggest support system gone but so was the peace and happiness of the house. There would be constant disagreements and tiffs between them. Initially I saw it as their way of dealing with the grief and console my brother Krish with the same, but it became a constant.

Few months after our loss, my mom brought in a 4 year old girl, stating she had adopted her and she would be living with us. Since then, all hell broke loose.

My grandmother, who was constantly pointing out mum's mistake, had found the presence of a constantly present physical being to mock her with. She mocked at her heartlessness to bring in a new member when her son had just passed away. She would argue with, what was the need to add another human to feed, when our ends were difficult to meet.

I never questioned mum, but whenever she was tending to little Gia, she seemed relax. As though all our stress had temporarily left her. She was a healthy distraction to not just mom, but me and Krish too. Gia would sway us with her into the careless world of childhood.

Today, I cannot even remember when Gia wasn't part of us, and that's just long enough since Dad hasn't been with us and that causes my heart to ache. I am mad at him for leaving us.

The teenager me who lost him is convinced that if he was here, everything would be fine. There would be no tiffs at home, no awkward sulky holidays, no financial constraints. It would all be okay, as it used to be.

Only if he hadn't left us. We would be a happy family. Only if.