THE STRANGE RELATIONSHIP​​​​​

 

This is a story of a 66-year-old lady who was not having anyone to take care of her. She used to roam around in the markets of Jalandhar and sometimes she walked towards the villages of Jallandhar to find shelter and food to fulfil her basic needs. She could only understand Hindi and not Punjabi. Somehow, she preferred village life to city life as she thought that villagers still have humanity but people living in cities are damn busy in their work and have no feeling for anyone. They are just running to fulfil their greed for money. They want to live a luxurious life and run for a materialistic world. They show the fake side of their character. No relationship matters for them. 

She liked village life as people still have faith in God and humanity. People had money but they live simple life over there. She used to do some household work for them and in return, she used to get food to eat. Life was going on. She was familiar with people over there since she was in that village for the last three months now. There was one family having a big bungalow. One Sikh family lived there. The owner named Jaswant Singh was a businessman. In his family, there was his wife Charanpreet Kaur and two daughters. The elder daughter was studying in twelfth standard and the younger was in eighth class. The family was very nice, down-to-earth and caring. Sometimes she offered food to that lady while going towards Gurdwara in the morning. No one knew that lady’s name and where she had come from. One day Channi, the short name of Charanpreet was passing by the fields along with her husband, she saw an old lady resting under a tree. Jaswant felt very bad seeing her condition. He approached her and asked her if she needed anything. The lady replied that she needed shelter and in return, she could look after the household chores. Though the lady was 66 years old but she was fair, short and still quite active. Jaswant looked at his wife for a nod. Channi nodded immediately as they thought that whenever they went out, there was no one to take care of their daughters. Now at least that lady will be there. They took her to their house and gave her one small room to her. They introduced her to their daughters. That was the night that the lady slept peacefully.

The next morning the lady got up and made tea for the husband and wife. She gave milk to the children. Jaswant appreciated her act. After that, she checked all the details of kitchen work and cleanliness. Channi requested her to take care of the kitchen only as another lady used to come there twice for cleaning work. Most of the relatives of Jaswant lived abroad mostly in Germany and Canada. He visited them but he loved his country. The lady gained their trust and they left everything upon her to take care of the house. The lady was happy as she got shelter. Sometimes she visited their farms and plucked fresh vegetables from there for lunch. The family also treated her well like one of their family members. They bought her new clothes etc. The elder daughter used to go to the tuition centre as she had to appear for board exams. The tuition centre was a bit far from their house. She used to go there along with her friends. The tuition centre was having co-education. One day it was raining and Baby, the elder daughter did not turn back due to heavy rain. The lady was sent with an umbrella to fetch her back as it was getting dark and her father was not at home at that time. She immediately rushed and reached the centre. She found many students waiting there for their parents to pick them up. The teacher was teaching English subject. The lady noticed that one boy was staring at Baby and she was also responding with a smile. Being a good observer, she kept mum and came back home with her. Sometimes after that, the lady got opportunities to go to the tuition centre. She used to reach ten minutes early and paid attention on the teachings of the teacher. Somehow, she was not impressed by him. One day one student asked him a question but he gave the wrong answer and made the child quiet. The lady requested the teacher to give a satisfactory answer to the student but the teacher got angry and asked her to sit outside and treated her rudely. The lady ignored this. 

One day, both parents had gone out for a family function along with the younger daughter. Baby was alone studying at home and the lady was in her room. Suddenly the bell rang and before she could get up, Baby opened the door. There was standing the same boy of the tuition centre. Baby took him to her room and told the lady that they are preparing for exams together hence she should not be disturbed. The lady gave them cold drinks and snacks and went back to her room. The lady was alert and for one or another work she used to cross their room and tried to listen as to what they are talking about. After half an hour when she went inside the room to pick up the plates, she found that both were holding each other’s hand. On seeing the lady Baby told the boy to sit calm in English so that the lady could not understand. The lady picked the plates and told Baby that she is going to sleep for an hour. Baby asked her to close the door. The lady closed the door in such a way that it was half inch opened. Both of them got happy as they had one hour with them for having fun. They assumed that the lady has gone to sleep but they were not aware of the fact that she was keeping an eye on them. When she noticed that both of them are planning to go far, she entered the room and rudely told the boy to go out and to come when her parents are at home. The boy left. At night when the parents returned, Baby cooked up the story against the lady so that they should ask her to leave. But her father was not convinced by her judgements. He called the lady and asked her politely about what had happened. The lady showed them the video recording of both of them kissing each other. All of them got shocked as to how she got the phone and made a video. Before they asked the lady, the lady told them that she is not a poor lady. She is a retired HOD OF English and retired PGT. She had written story books and she also has a YouTube channel of English. She left her house as she wanted to enjoy village life. She had to do all this drama just to gain sympathy and a place to live. She showed them her channel. Jaswant and Channi had their jaw dropped. They did not know what to say. The lady told Jaswant to take her daughter out from the tuition centre and requested him to give her a room outside where she could open a tuition centre and teach board students and EILETS classes. This way she would enjoy her stay in the village and could do work for them. On this, Jaswant got pleased as he never wanted the lady to go away. She had saved his daughter. He slapped Baby and asked her to say sorry to the lady. The lady intervened and stopped Jaswant not to scold the daughter. The next very day the new Tuition centre opened and around thirty-two students joined there when they came to know about the lady. The tuition centre was named after their younger daughter “Lovleen Tuition Centre”. Jaswant requested the lady to stay with them not as a help but as his elder sister. The lady told them that she is also Punjabi and could speak many languages. She made a video call and introduced them to her own family. This is how the stranger became family.