Dear Daughter ....

Here's one of my favourite stories that gives meaning to the life of an immigrant. Guru Nanak Dev Ji used to travel a lot with his friend Mardana. Once, the two of them reached a village. Mardana started talking to some villagers, expecting they would offer them food and shelter. "We do not know you, nor have we heard of your friend Baba Nanak. Why should we offer you food and bed? Just lay down on one side, eat what any beggar would and leave tomorrow!" he was told by the people in the village. Even if they were not known faces, that reaction was very rude for the times. Anyhow, Baba Nanak and friend Mardana spent the night on their humble torn mats at the side of a street. Passers-by saw them but no-one offered any help. Next morning, like every other day Guru Nanak Dev got up before dawn, got ready and started singing his hymns. Within a few minutes, people in the village started shouting at him. “Keep Quiet ! We are still sleeping! You don't have a...

“Dad, what’s a one way ticket? “. It came up while reading a book and you asked me casually. I explained the concept of the ticket itself and also how it generally meant a person leaving home to live somewhere else.  "Why can't they come back home?" you asked.  "Well they can, but by then they already have a home at the new place so really they aren't coming back home now" I tried to explain.  “ So you would have bought 3 one way tickets when you came to England from India, right ?” you reflected. “It wasn’t like that” I said, “I came alone initially and didn’t even realise that I was going to stay here forever.” “Did you marry Mumma after you came here?” you jumped onto the next  series of questions.  "No we were married before I came here" "You mean at the airport?" was your puzzled query. "Of course not ! We were married a few years before I came" I responded and  promised to answer all fu...