"What are you doing sitting here?" Ashish formed the question in his mind again. He couldn’t but go and ask. There were people around. What if one of them was with her?
Ashish was 33 and unemployed. He lived in the suburbs of Bangalore. The best part of his two-month old stay in this city had been the park directly in front of his flat. When he first moved into his new flat, he had seen the park deserted. That had lifted his spirits. He had walked alongside its boundaries to the first interview of the day hoping to come back in the evening and sit for a while. But for the first month, all he could do was to search for jobs. He soon gave up on the various job-offering websites and started searching manually. He scanned his neighbourhood in order to find a suitable job near his house. Again the results were fruitless. His neighbourhood contained schools, petty businesses that couldn’t afford staff and an orphanage. Ashish was compelled to earn his living from the uncertain freelance work he did for a weekly journal situated abroad.
During the second month, most of his time was spent in the park. He was very happy for the first few days, as the entire park was his. But then, lots of kids started visiting. Ashish's best guess was that the children were from the orphanage. There were others as well. Some parents brought their kids to play ball. Some elderly people came in the evening for laughter sessions. Ashish was forced to believe that these people were waiting for someone to come here first.
There was this little girl that had caught Ashish's attention. She was on the exact opposite side. Whilst other children played and enjoyed themselves, this girl only sat on the bench with a few pages spread upon her lap and a pencil in hand. Ashish never saw this girl do anything else. She would sit for an hour or two at a stretch and then walk away. Occasionally, he found her staring at him.
Ashish had made up his mind many times but he couldn’t muster the courage of actually going to her and asking the question. In the end, he saw her leaving and decided to leave himself. He slept that night with a whirlpool of thoughts. He needed a job; he needed to have a life for himself.
He woke up earlier than his daily routine on the next day. Without giving much attention to what he was doing, he prepared himself for the three interviews that were scheduled for the day. He even visited the temple that day. In front of the Idol, however, he ended up praying for something good to happen. It seemed to him, after the interviews, that God had gone deaf for him. He wasn’t hired.
He returned with an empty heart. Instead of going back to his flat, he went to the park. Upon reaching his bench, he saw the mysterious girl occupying his spot. He paused for a moment and then started for the bench that was beside it.
"You can sit with me if you like." She said without lifting her head from her papers.
Ashish didn’t say anything but did as she had told. He craned his neck to see what she was writing but failed.
"What are you writing?" He ended up asking.
"An essay." She said, "Can you help? I saw you writing something many times. Are you a writer? I want to be a writer one day."
"Let me see what you have written. I can surely edit." Ashish said. She handed him the paper. The paper was blank except for the heading of the essay – My Father.
"You have not written anything." Ashish said again.
"I am trying. I am only twelve." She said.
"Since how long have you been trying?"
"This essay? I have been trying to write this one since last one month."
"A month? And all you could come up with is the heading?"
"I told you, I am twelve."
"What is your name?"
"Khushi. And yours?"
"Ashish."
"Can I call you uncle?" She asked with hopeful eyes. Ashish scowled at her and she laughed heartily.
"Where is he, your father?" Ashish asked.
"I don’t know." She replied.
"Your mother?" Ashish asked again.
"I don’t know." She said almost glaring at him.
"Who did you come here with?" Ashish ignored her glare.
"I came by myself. I always come by myself. What about you? Where is your wife?" It was her turn to scowl.
"I haven’t got married." Ashish said.
"You don’t like girls?" She asked.
"Not that. I don’t have a fixed job."
"You will get married after you get a job?"
"Possibly. It depends; I don’t have anyone in the family. Which father will let his daughter marry me?"
"What happened to your family?"
"My mother died last year and my father died even before I was born."
"What happened to her?"
"She was ill."
"What is that? You don’t die because of illness. I have fever many times. I have never died." She said.
"Khushi stop. Tell me about you."
"What about me?"
"Where do you study?"
"I don’t study anymore. I used to go to that school in the neighbourhood. But those teacher's were boring."
"And your parents didn’t tell you anything about not studying."
"They never tell me anything. You know what, I am just a kid and kids are boring. See them for instance. Why don’t you have a job?"
"Well, nobody wants a writer."
"What do you do for food? No job no money, no money no food, right?"
"I write articles for a magazine. They pay me but it is not a frequent job. Sometimes, they tell me my input is not required."
"You will get a job. Don’t worry. And listen I have to go now. I will see you tomorrow." Khushi said, collected her blank papers and left.
Ashish came back home happier than he usually was. He finished the article of the week and emailed it. He had to wait another 24 hours. His employer usually credited the money within a day. He was preparing the dinner when his phone rang.
"Ashish, this is Matthew." His foreign employer was on the other side. Ashish greeted him. Matthew calling meant that his article was not required.
"Ashish, my boss had been discussing this with me for quite some time. We have decided to bring you under payroll. If you wish to accept, we will pay $100 a week and if you decide to come here, we are ready to give you a full-time job and accommodation to you and your family." Matthew said.
Ashish didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know if it was real or a dream. He pinched himself and moaned in pain.
"Ashish, you can take your time to decide. I will call you again tomorrow. And, I saw your article. It is up to the mark. I have credited your $30." Matthew said and disconnected the phone.
Ashish couldn’t believe what had just happened. He was surely going to take the offer. There wasn’t a doubt about that. He called up his friend to ask the process for getting a passport and was glad to hear that he could easily acquire one. He was busy informing his friend the turn of events when he heard a knock on the door.
The milkman stood there with his usual exciting smile.
"What happened saab? You seem happy. I saw you smile for the first time." The old man asked.
"I finally got a job and that too abroad. I am going to USA." Ashish couldn’t control himself.
"Goddess Lakshmi has bestowed her blessings upon you." The milkman said and it suddenly clicked.
"Kaka, do you know Khushi from the neighbourhood. She is 12." Ashish asked.
"There is only one Khushi in this area, she lives in the orphanage." The milkman answered.
"What? But she told me – wait she never said anything about her parents. Kaka, will the orphanage be open to visit right now?"
"Yes. Meet the matron. Her name is Lata Madam. Tell her I sent you and she will let you meet Khushi."
Ashish ran as fast as he could. When he reached the orphanage, he was panting. The Matron, an old lady, was behind the desk, reading a book. Ashish did as the milkman had told him. The Matron, it seemed was a great lady. She listened to what Ashish had to say and sent for Khushi immediately. Khushi arrived.
"Good thing you came." Khushi said, "Nobody generally comes to meet me."
"Khushi, I want to ask you something." Ashish said.
"I want to show you something." Khushi said.
"Khushi, let him finish." The matron interjected.
"It is not a problem. Let her finish first." Ashish said and urged Khushi to go ahead.
"I finished the essay." Khushi said, smiling broadly.
"Show it to me." Ashish said.
Khushi ran back in and returned with her papers. She gave it to Ashish. Tears rolled down Ashish's cheeks when he saw it. She had indeed finished the essay but without adding a single word. Beneath the heading of "My Father" was a wonderful sketch of himself.
"It is you." Khushi said.
Ashish looked at her. If this was what daughters were like, it had to be the best thing in the whole wide world. The matron took the paper and saw it with tearful eyes.
"What were you here for? Ask." Khushi said again. Ashish couldn’t speak.
"Khushi, he came here to ask you if you want to go with him as his daughter. He wants to adopt you."
Khushi didn’t say anything. There was a long pause in which she and Ashish looked at each other and the matron's eyes darted from Khushi to Ashish. Then, she slowly came closer and hugged him. Ashish looked at the matron while he held Khushi in his arms.
"It'll take a month to finish the paperwork. I'll make sure you take her with you. She is a talented child."
Ashish came back home with several plans in his head but the first thing he did was calling Matthew.
"I am ready to come. I will get my passport done within a month." Ashish said.
"Great Ashish. It is settled then. I will arrange for your employment letter and mail it to you first thing tomorrow. You will be coming with your family?" Matthew asked.
"Yes. I will come with my daughter." Ashish said and hung up the phone.