Imagine this...
A 18 year old steps out onto the roads in a country where she knows no one, doesn't speak the language, and has never gone so far away from familiar territory. She has had a rough three days of travel and minus a few packs of "Le Snack", she has had nothing to eat.
She has a single address in her possession - and all phone numbers she has tried are either "Engaged", "Disconnected" or "Will be attended to after the Summer Break".
She is extremely worried, but she knows that she has to find her way to her University. She has money in the form of Travellers Cheques - the concept of which is very new to her, like everything else at that moment.
She walks out of the hotel, in search of a railway station. Lugging a 30Kg suitcase and a further 10kgs in hand bags, she finally makes it to "Centrum". She waits outside "Forex" - to convert money and is suddenly very very scared.
The feeling of utter helplessness must have shown on her face, for immediately a kind face looks to her and asks, "India se ho?". The girl nods feebly. The stranger then smiles at her.
It was that smile that kept me going during my time alone in a foreign country. It was that face that made me feel at home in a place that was nothing like home.
I spoke to Parveen - then stranger, now friend, a few days ago. Even as I speak to her now, I am truly overcome with emotion and I think "There must be a GOD somewhere who looks over me".
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