A Journey of Emotion

A boy, Yashwa, was considered a gift to the world. There was nothing he couldn’t do: he was a fast and intelligent learner, he was a handsome, kind and brilliant boy in his school. Other children would flock to him and want to sit with him. He had five siblings and he was the youngest. His mother Sara was a housewife and his father Robin worked in a train station. Yashwa was the closest to his mother but everyone loved him so much because he had so much potential and he kept his promises so everyone relied on him.

        His childhood was as sweet and nice as him.

        As the time went by, the small innocent Yashwa became a ‘big boy’ sitting his exams. He finds himself worrying, feeling anxious for the tests that awaited him in a few months’ time.

        Next morning, he was getting ready for school, everything was fine as normal. Until that morning, when he was called out of lesson and his teacher told him the terrible news that his mother is no more, that she had a heart attack. In that moment, the air around him is ice cold. There are no sounds. He can barely catch his breath. To Yashwa the world had stopped. His eyes were full of tears and his heart felt like it could also stop at any time.

As Yashwa went home everyone was crying and sad. He couldn’t look at them because they seemed like they were broken from head to toe. But Yashwa didn’t cry, he swallowed all the pain. He had to support his family and take care of his siblings after his mother’s death.

Some months later, Yashwa left his education in the middle of his studies, because he sacrificed his career for his family. Now, his siblings were studying but Yashwa was looking for a job because they had financial issues and his father’s income wasn’t enough to cover the household.

Yashwa would have done anything to stabilise their finances. He’d tried the best he could do but he couldn’t find a good job because Kasur was a small city.

Eventually, his father threw him out from the house because he couldn’t find a job. Because of this slowly, slowly everyone started to dislike him because he was unemployed.

But his cousin helped him in his difficult times and took him into his house.

He took his bag and decided to stay in his cousin’s house which was near to his own house.

He still saw his father every day and decided to speak to him. But his father didn’t even want to talk to him.

So, then Yashwa decided to leave his house and go to a big city where he could find a good job and where he wouldn’t be a burden on anyone. He set out to Lahore, a big city in Pakistan, and stayed with another of his cousins, Suleman.

But the harsh circumstances and difficulties were not over yet. He decided to stay but this time God did not agree, so, as the time went by, Yashwa had to listen to many bad things from Suleman’s mother. She always teased him and called him a ‘useless burden’. He didn’t know anyone else in the new city but he decided enough’s enough and he could not survive in that house.

Yashwa did not know then how much worse he would have to survive through. He didn’t have anywhere to sleep. He had no shelter and sometimes no food. He slept in parks.  Luckily enough he got a job in a restaurant as a waiter. It was enough for him; they didn’t pay a good salary but it was still enough.

Sometime later, he made many friends there, they actually did fun things and he even rented a flat. Yashwa thought his life was going to change, though he had no idea what would happen in the future.

Sadly, he got fired from his job and he didn’t know what to do about it. He ran out of money to pay the rent. He now had no rent, no shelter, so he slept in parks and sometimes he didn’t even have anything to eat. He went to sleep hungry. No one helped him but his friend Nasir. Nasir gave him blankets and food to survive.

Yashwa felt alone and homeless, he felt like he had no one, but Nasir did help him a lot. They had breakfasts together often. Yashwa sometimes went to his house but he didn’t know what would come of it. Eventually Yashwa learnt how to cook from everything he saw in Nasir’s home.

Nasir’s small sister liked Yashwa a lot but sadly Yashwa didn’t know. Her name was Sehrish and she was the most beautiful girl in the family. She was also studying in college. Everyone in the Nasir family liked Yashwa but he never looked at Sehrish that way, she was almost a sister to him.

After some time Nasir’s mother became ill. She told Nasir and Yashwa to look for a proposal for Sehrish. For Sehrish, whenever she saw Yashwa, the wind blows, everything stops and she hears music. Sometimes Sehrish, as an Asian girl, hesitated to talk to her father about it. She can’t talk to her mother since, like Yashwa, she soon died from her illness. But she finally decided to tell her father about her love for Yashwa.

After this, Sehrish’s father decided to talk with Yashwa. ‘Do you want to marry my daughter?’

As he said this Yashwa was shocked and confused. He felt so shocked it was as if a snake just bit him. But inside he was so happy and just said, ‘Yessssssss….’

But Nasir’s father had also invited Yashwa’s family to agree to the proposal. And so Yashwa had to make the arrangements with them himself. He didn’t have much money but, whatever he could do, he did.

Yashwa’s family was so mean and selfish, he was not like them at all. His family treated Sehrish very badly.

Sehrish didn’t have any gahsh, the money or gifts usually given to the groom’s family in an Asian wedding but Yashwa didn’t need this, he was more than happy with what he had.

Suddenly Yashwa was kicked out again from his job. Meanwhile Sehrish fell ill and he didn’t have the money to take her to the doctors because he had spent it all on their marriage. Luckily Yashwa quickly got a new job, though this was in Lahore. He moved in again to Nasir’s home but Yashwa stayed with her in-laws in Kasur. Whilst there, Yashwa’s family physically abused her so Sehrish also had to travel to Lahore to her brother’s house.

Sometime later, when Yashwa had got a new job, Sehrish and Yashwa were able to rent their own home.

After two years of marriage, they still didn’t have a child. They prayed to God with a full heart that he’d bless them with a child. They certainly couldn’t afford good fertility treatment. They couldn’t go to the doctor, they could only pray to God. They prayed night and day for a child.

After another year they were finally blessed with a daughter. They were really happy. Their daughter was beautiful, like a little angel. The first of two daughters.

They didn’t complain or ask God for anymore, they were happy with what they had. They had strong faith that God had heard their prayers.

Yashwa didn’t, however, receive a good pay from his salary. That’s why they didn’t have a good life style. Sometimes they didn’t have money to eat. Sometimes Yashwa didn’t even have the money to get to his job. So he had to take lifts from others or walk the long journey to work.

One day, Yashwa met a man who came from America. He was going to open a restaurant in London and needed workers. He’d already talked to some boys to work in these restaurants and they all said, ‘Yes!’ Since Yashwa had become a masterchef, one of these boys asked him if he wanted to work in this new restaurant in London. The boys told Yashwa to go on a work placement. Though he didn’t say anything, inside Yashwa was really happy and excited. Now, you tell me who’d refuse to go to London and miss this golden chance?

Yashwa went home and talked to Sehrish about this. Sehrish worried that they didn’t have the money. Who would even get them to London? Yashwa told her we only need to buy tickets; all the other arrangements would be taken care of.

        Yashwa’s daughter was only 1 month old when he had this opportunity. Sehrish and Yashwa had to sell all their belongings to gain some money. They didn’t have enough but Nasir gave them the rest of the money for one ticket and Yashwa made the journey to the UK.

Even Yashwa’s family were happy about this, calling him to ask after Nasir and wish him good health. Yashwa was shocked; they’d never cared before. But soon enough Yashwa’s family was demanding money. Yashwa had forgetten all their bad treatment of him because he was so kind.

Yashwa didn’t tell Sehrish that he was sending money instead to his family. He had always fulfilled their demands. Yet this wasn’t enough to make them love him, his wife or his daughter.

Soon Yashwa’s father was crying down the phone, demanding that he do something for his brother-in-law Riyaz so that he could also migrate to London.

Yashwa spoke to his boss and, since his boss was so kind and since he was so impressed by Yashwa’s honesty and his work, he agreed. Yashwa went shopping for Riyaz, bought him expensive clothes for his journey to London. He thought that Riyaz making it to London would make it easier for all the family to travel over.

However, after 3 or 4 months, Riyaz showed his true colours. Seeing the respect everyone was giving to Yashwa slowly built jealousy in him.

Riyaz was clever and used this cleverness on his boss. Though no one really knows exactly what he said. Whatever he said, it caused them to fight all day at work. Everyone was fighting and for no reason. Before Riyaz, everyone had respect for each other. Soon though his boss took a disliking towards Yashwa and the work environment took a dramatic turn for the worse.

Yashwa eventually decided he had to quit this job.

Luckily Yashwa now had UK citizenship but that didn’t mean it was easy to find a job, or to keep sending money to his family. He went through many difficulties to find a job. If he did get one, the boss wasn’t good or they were made to do more work than they were paid for or they weren’t even paid properly at all. Yashwa started to become desperate because he needed paperwork for his family to come to London.

After 3 long years, Riyaz’s family came to London but Yashwa’s were still in Pakistan. He was so tense and anxious but always kept praying to God.

After 14 years Yashwa’s eldest daughter was now a young woman but she was still in Pakistan. None of them knew what the lord wanted for them.

Yashwa became sick and depressed over what to do. The doctors told Yashwa to return to Pakistan if there was no one to take care of him. The doctors asked him if he had anyone here. He told them that his sister was in London. One doctor then called this sister so she could care for him. Yashwa prayed and prayed. God listened to him and gave him a new life…

Finally, he got a good job with a nice boss who helped him sort his papers. Thanks to God his family made it to London. But they couldn’t have known what would would happen next…

After four months Sehrish herself fell ill, partly because they were in so much debt and, on the 1st September 2019, she had a heart attack. With his daughters asleep, Yashwa found Sehrish frozen and turning blue and quickly called for an ambulance to take her to hospital.

In the morning their daughters were scared because there was no one at home. They called their father and were shocked to hear their mum had a heart attack. Their aunt was called to look after the girls. Once evening came, Yashwa returned and they hugged him, crying.

Every night the three of them couldn’t sleep. Every ambulance going passed they would think was for their mum.

After a month, the doctors had still not operated on her and said she would have to wait for a few months. Once January came there was still no operation because Sehrish was allergic to something.

Luckily their daughters were now going to school. But, as they came home, they returned to an empty house with nothing to eat but cold and hard chapattis

Fortunately, everyone was really nice in the hospital and, after Sehrish began to feel better, she was sent home. Everyone was so happy.

There were more fights in the family but now they are friends again. Sehrish was still in pain but the daughters have returned to school.

The moral of the story? Never give up. Try like my parents: Yashwa and Sehrish. Always work hard. This is life so face up to your circumstances.