Galan Karye (trans: let's talk)

Before I could say anything, Katie squealed and threw herself at Jack. Laughing he caught her and hugged her, twirling her around.


Stunned I watched them and when he finally put her down, they started talked excitedly. Realizing that they seemed to have forgotten about me I said “uh hello?”

They stopped and looking at me started laughing.

“Sorry” Katie said still giggling “I totally forgot you were there in the shock of seeing Jack again”

Smiling, I said “thanks. I see how important I am”

They just laughed and I said “and how do you two know each other?”

They looked at each other and Jack nodded at Katie and she said “Well Jack and I met almost 2 years ago at Camp Shadow”

Camp Shadow was children’s camp that Jack and I had both attended when we were younger and one where we had both worked at counselors in the last few years. Just the name of the place brought a smile to all out faces and I waited for her to continue.

“It was the first time I had worked as a counselor and I was hopelessly overwhelmed by day 2. Jack was the senior counselor for the boy’s cabin that was teemed with my girl’s cabin and he calmed me down. By the time we met for the first co-ed team activity, I was close to falling apart. After we got the kids started on the activity, we both left the junior counselors in charge and moved a bit away and started talking. Before we realized it we were talking and laughing in Punjabi and we realized that we had a ton of things in common. Over the course of the summer, we became really good friends and he actually told me a lot of things about you” she finished

We all started talking about the camp and on whether we planned on working there that summer and before we realized it almost an hour had passed and we had to rush to get dressed and get to the Gurdawara on time. Katie and I went upstairs and I showed her where I kept my salwar kameez’s and she quickly choose one and went to change.

When we got to the Gurdawara it was packed which is somewhat unusual for that time of the year. After saying our prayers we quickly found some space and sat down.

(Translation/explanation – In Sikhism, after you go up to the Guru Granth Sahib (holy book) and kneel down and pray, you go and sit down on the floor. Men and women also sit on different sides/places in or around the room)

After about an hour when it was all over and we were getting ready for the langar (Trans: Langar is the free-kitchen. In Sikhism, our guru’s have taught us to give freely and to give food to anyone who needs it. The Langar is open to anyone who would like to join and no one is turned away). I felt a tap on my shoulder. I glanced up and then laughing in surprise, jumped up and hugged Aryan, a friend that I’ve known for a long time.

“What are you doing here?” I said “I thought you were supposed to be in India until the end of the term”

“The term in India ends earlier than our term here so instead of sticking around there for another month, I decided to come home. Besides after spending almost a year studying there, I’m a little sick of India” he said smiling

I laughed “Shut up. I’m so jealous that you got to go to India for so long. I would kill to get a chance to spend that much time there”

I saw Katie standing there and introduced them and we all sat down and started talking. After we had all eaten and we heading outside, Aryan and I lagged behind Katie and Jack a little.

“Soo... How’s the thing with Kevin going” he asked

My good mood immediately vanished and I stopped. Aryan stopped as well and looked at me “what’s wrong” he asked

When I didn’t say anything, he grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him. “What’s wrong” he asked softly

Before I could stop myself the whole story started pouring out of me. Aryan stopped me long enough to tell Jack and Katie that we were going to go get some coffee and that he would drop me off at the house later. Before I realized what had happened and where we were going, we arrived at his parents’ house and Aryan let me in through the basement door into what had unofficially become his apartment for the moment.

Aryan just held me as I talked and cried. He let me talk it all out and then just held me until I finally stopped shaking. When I finally looked up at him, he seemed to debating whether to say something or not.

When he finally did say something, he surprised me by starting to talk about India. At first I was confused but when I found myself relaxing, I realized that Aryan knew exactly what I needed at the moment and that was to think about something else.

After a while, we both lapsed into silence but it wasn’t an uncomfortable one. It was just one of those times when you can be totally comfortable with someone that you don’t need to fill up the space with chatter.

As the silence continued, I became aware that Aryan was still holding me in his arms and had been drawing little doodles on my arms. Suddenly I felt a little flutter in my stomach. I was confused and then shocked when I realized exactly what I was feeling.

Suddenly uncomfortable, I glanced up at Aryan’s face and found him staring intently at me. Our eyes met and held and I could see something flare in his eyes.

Ever so slowly, Aryan’s face started closing in on my mine and after what seemed like forever, I felt his lips brush mine softly.

He pulled back to see my reaction and…


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Sorry guys I know this post is really long but I'm desprately trying to catch up. The next one will be shorter then this but still longer than usual, if that makes any sense, lol.

Fenhu - A salwar Kemeez is a typle of indian dress. It is usally a top (salwar) an bottom (kemeez) and a scarf (called the chuni or dupatta). The picture below is a example. When we go to the Gurdawara, we generally wear just a plain cotton one but they can be really embrodeired  and over the top.

And I love getting questions from you all so please don't hestitate to ask whether its blog related, questions about India or a random question in general.