From Howrah to Brooklyn

Chapter 1

When Neil turned eighteen and had finished off his school, he like many UK students, decided to take a gap year instead of going straight to University.

His plans for the gap year was to move back to Calcutta and just chill but the excuse that he came up for the sake of his parents' approval was that he wanted to learn more about his culture and Bengali traditions. But the truth was that he was coming to Calcutta for a year long holiday where no one would stop him from doing whatever he wants as his parents will be in the UK.

'Ma.. Ma.. Ma... Where are you?' Alia was calling her mother.

'I am up here Aloo. Upstairs. In Neil's room.', Her mother replied.

Alia went up to Neil's room and started helping her mother and she asked, 'Maaa ... why are you tidying up Neil's room?'

'Aloo, don't you remember Neil is coming today and your baba has gone to pick him up from the airport. He should be here soon.'  Her mother replied.

'Soon? I am already here Kaaki Ma', Neil interrupted and threw his bags in one corner and ran to meet Alia's mother.

'Neil .. Kemon Acchan? Ma-Baba everyone doing alright at home?' She hugged Neil and bombarded him with all the questions.

'All bhaalo Kaaki Ma. Ma-Baba have sent you their regards and also their best wishes as you will have to cope up with me for the whole year.', Neil joked.

This joke brought a smile on Alia's face, who giggled and Neil heard it.  

Neil pulled Alia's ponytail and asked her, 'What are you laughing at Aloo? Go down and check what all Kaaki Ma is cooking for me. I am starving. ' Alia rolled her eyes and went down to her room while her parents got busy in settling Neil in.

A Bengali feast was prepared for his welcome, from Maacher - jhol to luchchis to aloo-posto to rasgullas, you name it and it was be there on the table.

It became a daily routine for Neil to eat all his meal at the Mukherjee household. They all loved him and especially Tapur, she just dotted on him. Neil too enjoyed their company. He has practically grown up with them so he was very comfortable with the whole family.

One evening, Neil was leaving the house to meet his friends. He came into the Mukherjee house to inform Alia's parents that he will be having dinner with his friends so they should not wait for him. When Neil was leaving their house, he saw Alia with her books in the courtyard. She looked like she was struggling with something as she kept on writing and then erasing in her notebook. Neil was curious so he went to check on her.

'Busy Alia ?', Neil questioned.

'I am struggling with this problem in trigonometry. Can't seem to solve it.'

'Show me', Neil had a look at the maths problem and solved it in a wiz.

'You solved it? How?', Alia was shocked and she was analysing the problem and was making sense on how Neil was able to  solve it.

'Shall I explain it to you?' Neil asked.

'Yes please.. But weren't you leaving to go out? I hope I am not disturbing any of your plans.'

'Don't be silly Aloo. This won't take long and so what I am a few minutes late. I will  teach you the problem', Neil was very helpful.He taught the maths problem to Alia and she was really thankful to him.

'Thank you so much Neil. By the way, where you are off to?'

'I am going over to Jay's house. We are thinking of forming a band, now that I am here for a year.'

'Nice', Alia said.

Neil said good bye to Alia and made his way to his friend's house.

Earlier whenever Neil would come to India for holidays, he would occasionally jam with his friends as he was a guitarist. But since now he has come to live in Calcutta for a year, they were thinking of taking the casual jamming sessions to a next level and hence they decided to form a band.

In a short span of time after the official formation of the band, it gained quite lot of popularity, with Neil and his friends having gigs pretty much every weekend. It became a routine for Alia to attend all of Neil's weekend gigs. After which they would generally walk home together, followed by a coffee session in their courtyard.

Life was going well. The Mukherjees got pretty used to Neil being around them and sometimes it is hard to believe but the arrival of just one person can bring so much liveliness into the house.