Arjun

Is there a meaning to life?

What is the purpose of us existing in this world?

Is it enjoying to the fullest without any sense of others or is it making yourself resourceful to make up a better world?

Is it to be selfish or selfless?

I have been on this quest for the last 2 months of my life. The only answer I found was that without a purpose you will get lost, and yet you are not born with a purpose in your life.

What I learned was that you have to make your own purpose, find your own gift, stop trying to do something, you don't want to do, stop living up to others' expectations, cancel out all the other voices in your head and just listen to your own.

After suppressing all the other voices, I heard my own voice which said to make my own path, get out of my comfort zone, break the shell I have been living in, and a have driving force that drags me out of the bed every single morning.

So, I realized to make something out of the driving force of my life, my profession, I am a Cardio-Thoracic Surgeon, performing surgeries on people's hearts and chests.

My future job is moderation between selfish and selfless because I will be doing something I love and selfless because I will be working for the Global philanthropic hospital with minimal pay.

"We still have 6 more hours to back out of the decision you made. Please think about it Ajju, don't go. Stay here with us, in this country at least. I promise to not bother you at all." My mom Vasudha grunted at me throwing away all the clothes I packed, out of the carry-on bag.

Trust me when I say this, I have the world's best parents.

They made sure I never had a problem in my life, being the typical Indian parents they are, they were ready to let me pursue football as my career instead of a career in STEM, which is a pretty barrier-breaking thing for us Indians.

"Arjun, listen to your mom this last time. I am completely against you going back to India. We don't have any family back there now and the flight is a min of 16 hours." My dad Harish pitched in to support mom.

"That's the reason I am going there, dad. I want to do something on my own, I want to be financially independent, live life on my own." I stopped my dad before he could add some more fuel to mom's fire

I wanted to get out of my comfort zone and walk the hard path for the first time in my life, and as usual, my loving parents of mine are not ready to let me go.

"All my life, and even now I've been working hard to give you guys a better life, to not face any challenges that I did in my life. What's the purpose of me doing that if my own son doesn't want to enjoy it?" My dad slumped down his whole body into the nearest couch and I could see the pain in his eyes.

For that small moment, I regretted my decision, looking at my parents requesting me to not leave them for the last 2 months. But somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that I had to do it, learn the value of life.

"Mom, Dad! Listen to me." I dragged my mom and made her sit beside my dad.

I kneeled before them and held their hands in mine, while they looked at me with tears pooling in their eyes at the thought of my departure.

"I know how hard you worked for us to be in this position. I know how dad came to an unknown country with just 1000$ in his pocket and how he turned his 1000 dollars into a million dollars. I am really proud of you guys. But the only reason I am doing this is I want a story too, I want to be someone you guys can be proud of and tell the world that my son made his own life. Please..let's try this for 6 months and if at any moment I feel like giving up I will come back." I pleaded with them while my mom patted my head.

The room was filled with numbing silence after my answer to them, my parents looked lost.

"We always gave you the freedom to make your own decisions. If you really want to give this a chance, I am okay with it." Dad said first even though he might not be on the same page with me on the inside.

"Why don't we all go back to India, so that way I don't have to worry about you," Mom said and I fell to the floor in shock at her words.

She wants to move the whole family just because I said that I want to go.

"That defeats the whole purpose of me going there Maa.." I huffed at her, giving up on having a pleasant sendoff.

"Why do you guys keep begging him to stay? You have your favorite son staying with you guys permanently. Let him go and do whatever crap he wants, I will enjoy all the love, attention, and food from Mom and Dad." Said Dhruv, my younger brother leaning onto the door frame easing the room's tension.

Dhruv is almost 4 years younger than me and is the biggest baby in my family, he is the perfect example of the last child syndrome, which means he jumps first and thinks later about the consequences.

He is now settled between mom and dad, wrapping his hands around them showing off that he is going to be with them forever, sticking his tongue at me and I rolled my eyes at him.

"When are you leaving? I am gonna change your room into my personal game room. Just so you know, I am here to take the measurements of the room not for you." He snickered making me throw a pillow on his face.

"Stop hurting my baby!" My mom came to his rescue while this grown-ass brother laid in my mother's arms.

"Dad! Look at him and Mom, she is babying this 24-year-old man. " I complained to my dad and he just laughed me off.

"He is still my baby." Mom said hugging and shielding him from another pillow.

"He acts like one too, just keep pampering him like this, he is gonna be the guy who lives with his parents in his 60s," I commented and got up from the floor not able to take in the drama from Dru and mom, to pack the clothes my mom threw out.

"Dru, I am going to kill you if you make Arjun feel any other emotion than happiness today." My sweetest sister Amaya walked in and pulled Dru's ear making him yelp in pain and got off my mom's lap.

Amaya is my cousin, by relation but she is more than that. She is my best friend, the only person who can turn the world upside down for me and I would do anything for her.

My Aunt and Uncle as in Amaya's parents died in a car crash when Amaya was 3, and Ananya was 7. My parents have been their guardians ever since, and it always felt like we were a family of 6, not 4, and that's what my parents told us from the day we were born.

Ananya is a Radiologist married to Sampath, a neurologist living in California and they have a baby boy named Zeehan.

Amaya is the CTO of United, a tech company, and is married to the world's richest man named Jameson Browne, co-founder of Global, which has its nose in every nook of the world. They have 5 kids Elena, Alex, Danny, Ayan, and Nini.

"He is leaving in a few hours and you guys are gaslighting him emotionally." She eyed mom, dad, and Dhruv angrily, while they bent their heads down in embarrassment.

"Ammu.."Dad raised his voice to defend them but she stopped him with a glare.

And you wanna know how that happened?

That's because she is his favorite child, and he loves Amaya more than anyone, more than his own blood.

I was jealous of that as a child, but later I loved Amaya more than anyone ever could.

"Let's go Arjun, we will have your favorite ice cream one last time. And you Dru, pack his bags by the time we come back." With that, she dragged me out of the house with only 5 more hours to board the flight to India on my quest for a new life.

She started her car and as we were driving, I could see that she was lost in thoughts.

I know what she is feeling, she is scared to send me away but she has a strong face on because she is the one who convinced my parents to send me in the first place, without her support my plan is gonna be in ruins.

"Ammu.." I called her name out only to see the tears in her eyes.

The only thing that hurts me more than anything in the world is my family's tears and it's worse when it's Ammu's because she is one of the strongest souls I've seen in my life.

"Don't cry Ammu! I can't see your tears." I said to her taking my seatbelt off as we parked at Bobby's frozen custard.

"I want to stop you from going Junnu but I promised my Idiot of a husband that I won't." She said brushing her tears off with a smile and gripping the steering wheel tight as we parked out.

And I understood her pain the moment she called me Junnu, instead of Arjun or Ajju like my family calls me.

I got out of the car, went to her side to open the door. We walked to the store and settled on the benches outside.

"I will miss you too Ammu, and I am just going to be a phone call away. Just think that I am going to school and you can come to me whenever you feel like visiting me." I tried to convince her but she just glared at me for my stupid answer.

"What if something happens and I am not there for you? I don't want you to face problems Arjun. Let me call Janu, and get you everything comfortable enough to live." She said pulling her phone out and I snatched it out of her hands before she could dial.

"No Ammu, I already rented an apartment, it's not big but it's comfortable enough to accommodate me," I said and I could see her disagreeing with my words.

"If you and Janu liked each other, all this wouldn't be happening. You both would've been living with me, here!" She huffed and turned away from me.

Janu is Jagati Jagadeesh Dhanraj, the daughter of a Chief Minister in India.

She was Dhruv's T.A, we all met her through him, and she was a literal mess personally when I saw her, but she impressed Jamie with her business skills so much that he hired and trained her.

After 5 years of working for Global, she is now the CEO of Global Asia, and she freaking manages the whole continent.

Ammu tried to set me up with Janu, but luckily she already had a love and now she is happily married to Devansh, and pregnant with a child now.

"Janu loves Dev, and it's super weird Ammu, she is a friend. Stop looking for reasons to be mad at me, come here and give me a hug." I countered her stupid statement and hugged her.

"I promised to standby you in all your decisions, to be your shield like you have been mine all my life. So, go and live away from me. All I hope is you have a really bad time, be miserable there, and come back home soon." Said the really childish sister I know, I laughed at her and kissed her on the head.

"Ammu, I love you so much. Now get out of the worrying sister role and let's enjoy before I leave." With that, I pulled her with me to the counter and ordered our usual, a banana split for me and a sugar free Vanilla Ice-cream cone for her because that lunatic is diabetic.

She gave me a bazillion contacts of her friends and family and a trillion pieces of advice on how to stay away from trouble as we munched on the ice-cream.

We drove to my house and found Jamie(Amaya's Husband) and all the kids, Ananya, and her family in the house including Divya, Andrew, Amar, and Anya.

Andrew Jones is the other founder of Global and he is Jamie's nope, actually Amaya's best friend. And his wife Divya is Amaya's cousin from her father's side and she is a real sweat heart.

"Did she ask you to not go?" Jamie asked me looking at Amaya who was talking to everyone.

"What's that stupid question, Jamie? She would never ask Arjun to do that, and after you made her promise? No way." Andrew came to the rescue of his best friend.

"Stupid ACES cult, Always protecting each other," Divya muttered under her breath making me chuckle.

ACES, That's our group name and I am the co-founder of it along with Amaya. I formed it to make sure Amaya felt like she belonged with us and would never feel alone when I was 8. After her marriage, it got expanded as we added everyone whose name started with an A into it, So as of now the ACES are Amaya, Andrew, Amar, Alex, Ayan, Anya, and me.

"All my promises are down the drain when it comes to him. For her it's Arjun first, then the kids, and I am the last person on her list. She didn't sleep for the last 2 days, talking to all the people she knows in India to be there for Arjun, just in case." Jamie scoffed in jealousy and I felt happy at the love of my sister.

"I have to be her first priority, that's why they say blood is thicker." I smirked at him and he gaped in shock.

"Why are you troubling Jamie? I told you to be nice to him." Came in Divya, glaring at me.

We all talked to each other eating the food made by my mom for me, this feels like the last supper with the dining table filled with dishes, and 15 people eating happily.

I hope I am making a good decision, leaving them all.

And now it was time to go to the airport, we decided to not take the whole crew there. I bid my bye to all the kids, who were in tears especially Lena, Anya, and Nini.

"Guys, promise me that you will take care of my sisters. I am leaving them with you because I trust you the most." I told them and they nodded agreeing with me. But from the look in Alex's eyes I know that he will, that boy puts his mom above everything else in his life.

"We ACES take care of each other and our families, Uncle Arjun. Don't worry." Amar said and I had to hug him at his innocence and the responsibility he is taking over.

I kissed all my nephews and nieces and cried along with them.

It was just my family of 6 in the car, no one spoke a single word out, it was all brain-numbing and heart-clenching silence. Everyone had the same sad and teary look on their face except for Dhruv who was trying to cheer everyone up.

As we got out of the car and completed check-in, it was time for me to go to the airport. If saying to kids bye was hard, this is 1000 times harder than that.

"Okay, guys! No tears, and don't ask me to stop leaving." I sighed and broke the silence between them.

My mom jumped into my arms and started crying and I was in tears looking at her.

Airports see more tears, smiles, and hugs than any other place in the world.

After consoling my mom along with my dad. I know her pain because she made sure she was within an hour's distance from us, she was always there for me and now my decision of leaving is the cause of her pain.

"I love you Maa, you can come once a month to check up on me. Don't cry anymore please.." I begged her, wiping the tears off and she nodded calming down.

"Take care and call me after you land." My dad said trying to look strong and unaffected like any typical Indian father.

"Please don't come back, find a girl, get married, and settle down in India," Dhruv said as I walked to him to wish him good luck as he is working with Jamie at Global.

This jerk doesn't deserve my good luck.

"I hope Jamie fires you next week and you end up on the road selling dictionaries." I snickered at him and I feel everyone around us rolling their eyes at us.

"Guys..stop fighting...Arjun, call me every day and make sure you eat healthily." Ananya came to the rescue and I hugged her ignoring the idiot brother of mine.

And now the last person left to say bye was Amaya. I walked toward her, as she kept looking everywhere but me trying to stop her tears.

"Ammu.." I called her out trying to hide the pain in my voice of giving her a goodbye.

I have so many beautiful memories with my family, but in this moment of despair, all I want is to run back home with his people.

"Letting you go is probably the most difficult thing for me to do, but I know how important this is for you, how hard of a step this is, to get out of the comfort and safe zone. So, good luck and make me proud." She said as the tears dropped out of her eyes miserably failing to hide her pain.

I honestly expected her to ask me, not to leave, make me stay, but her words made me want to hug her and never let her go.

So, I pulled her into a hug, she hugged me back letting go of all the tears that she was holding back. And everyone joined in making it a group hug making me shed a few tears.

Are goodbyes ever easy?

Probably not, because leaving your loved ones means leaving a part of yourself. So, until we meet again there will be a part of me with them and a part of them with me, keeping us connected forever.

Tada! That was the first chapter on Arjun and this book.

I hate airport goodbyes, I can't even cry because of my socially conscious brain.

Arjun and Amaya's relationship makes my heart heavy.

Hope you are intrigued and excited for the upcoming chapters,

Let me know your thoughts and stay tuned for the next update on the Sakhi.

Don't forget to vote and comment.

Love

Sneha