Argh!! I am feeling nauseous. I walked out of the plane by the jetway to the airport's terminal gate. I am a little dizzy because the change in air pressure causes my ear to pop.

My mom and dad are habitual to these types of things as per me. I am familiar with these things but not habitual. Thank God I don't have serious flight sickness.

I dragged my lazy arse to the baggage claim area to the baggage carousel and squinted my eyes open to watch out for my stuff. We have a lot of stuff to carry. I am glad that my parents know how to handle things here, unlike me, it's not their first time visiting here.

"Sweetie, come with me, your dad will pick up the luggage." And just like that, she dragged me to god knows where. I was gaining my consciousness back as I realized we were in the restroom.

"Sweetie, just wash your face because you are looking like a dead banshee, also all people were gazing at you." mom said but I lost it at the moment when she said dead banshee.

"Mom, the banshee was a dead woman, so you don't have to mention that specifically."

"But, you are not dead." I should never try to outdo her.

"Okay! Not saying anything anymore" I rolled my eyes as I knew there would be no use in arguing with her.

I washed my face and looked in the mirror.

"Ahhh!!" I yelled

"What happened?" My mom rushed up to me.

"MY FACE! My whole make got ruined." I seriously have to stop drooling and rubbing out my face.

"Thank God, no one is here or you would be the laughing stock of the airport. Now take this." Mom sighed and gave me the wet wipe which she always carried with her. I cleaned off my messed-up mascara and eyeliner as it was rubbed all over my eyes.

I take my phone out to check the time. I know that India is 9 hrs 30 minutes forward than Miami, but I have taken an 18 hrs 15 mins flight to India, and it was 7 am there when the plane took off from New York. I am not gonna trust my mathematical skills and will directly see the time, as I have already set my phone according to India's time, back in Miami.

"Mom it's currently 10:50 am here on Tuesday morning and 1:20 am in Miami. "

"I know it, Sweetie, now let's go" I nodded after disposing of the used wipe. As we walked out, I observed that dad was already standing there with all our luggage, but he wasn't alone. He was chatting with someone. We walked up to them.

"Uhh...Mr. Ahuja, this is my wife Katherine Buffett as you already know, and my beloved daughter Katie Buffett."

"Hello Mrs. Buffett, it's so nice to meet you again," He shakes hands with my mom and turns towards me.

"And hello Katie, I am Karthik Ahuja, your dad's company's ambassador in India." He shakes hands with me in a very professional manner that I feel like I am the boss here. Now that explains why he is here.

"Hello Mr. Ahuja" I greeted and then the realization hit me. I am in India, more specifically in New Delhi and all people are foreign to me and they will see me as a different species or worse as an alien. 

Omg, now anxiety is kicking in my veins. Mom noticed my behavior had changed, so she kept her hand on my back and rubbed it. It soothes my nerves down.

"Excuse me and my daughter for some minutes." Dad nodded while talking to Mr. Ahuja. Mom dragged me away from them.

"Mom, what are you doing?" I asked as I started getting irritated because coming here is the biggest mistake of my life.

"Want to show you something." I watched our surroundings. People were rushing in, some of them waiting and then some people were in their world. There were people from all over the world. Next, I watched the interiors of the airport.

There was a Buddha statue if you ask me it's pretty fascinating.

"Do you know what's this?" Mom pointed at the Buddha statue.

"umm...It's just a Buddha statue." I answered

"No, it's not just a Buddha statue. It's a Gautama Buddha statue who was also known as the sun god and it's bronze." Mom explained and I hummed in response to tell her I was understanding.  

Then there was a statue of two elephants one of them is a baby elephant. I wonder why it is there?

"Mom why is there a statue of two elephants there?" I voiced my thoughts.

"This is my second favorite here. This is a Majestic Elephant Sculpture of mother elephant accompany baby elephant, representing animal love and compassion."

"Wow! All these sculptures are sophisticated. Hey, you said it's your second favorite what's the first one?"

"You will see it yourself and as for sculptures, I know, all of them are just great." 

We walked forward watching all around. There was a sky bridge where different statues of people were standing in different poses. Wait! I have seen these poses. Are they sun salutation movements? Yeah! they are. Omg! Why is it here?

"Mom, why are the sun salutation movements presented here?" I asked confusedly.

"You know the sun salutation is usually called Surya Namaskar here and people who are into yoga and exercise usually do that daily. There are lots of benefits to it. "

I looked around and saw there were paintings hanging on different walls. I was just going to get a closer look at one of the things, but as I reached a certain point there was this thing that stopped me from doing that.

"Mom, wait! Is it this, you were talking about?" Mom was already watching the wall and that made my assumption come true.

"Yeah! One and only Hasta Mudras' wall."

"What's this mom?" I asked as curiosity piqued in me.

"These are called Mudras." I understand the language Hindi but just the general words here and there.

All thanks to my parents, who forced me to learn different languages. I like to watch every type of movie. I know English, Spanish, French, and Hindi. The problem is I am just fluent in French, Spanish, and I am in India so not that much convenient for me. Huh! I knew I was cool, no need to praise me.

As if anyone is listening to your rant.

I ignore Catie and focus on the beauty in front of me called, hand sculpture AKA mudras. Wow! It's so different to pronounce.

Muda... Mudra... Mudras

Hehehe...It's funny, but wait what do they signify?

"What do they signify?"

"How do you know it signifies something, Katie?"

"Of course, it had to be important mom, otherwise why have they put some weird hands positioned like that out here?" I reasoned.

"Point taken! Like all human gestures, these hasta-mudras are primarily meant for communication. Each one has a meaning and a way of usage." Mom explained.

"Whoa! Impressive. Is it something like an Indian culture or a sign language?"

"The language of mudras was once understood by all Indians; but unfortunately, it has now become an esoteric piece of knowledge, understood only by specialists."

"So you know the meaning of all of them?" I asked while curiosity piqued in me.

"I don't know the meaning of all of them as every symbol has more than one meaning and there are so many, but I remember the meaning of this first one."

"Enlighten me, milady. You know it looks like you are my tourist guide." I gestured the royal's bowing move.

"This symbol is called Tripataka. Pataka means Flag so..."

"Tripataka means flag with 3 fingers" I cut her off by giving a guess and started laughing.

"Bingo! How do you know it?" Okay, seriously, what I just said is true. What a coincidence

"Um... It was just a wild guess as tri means three so the words automatically drop out of my mouth."

"Wow! I am impressed."

"By the way how do you know about these things and if you know about all of them why didn't you ever tell me about all of these earlier?"

"Well, the first time I visited India, I learned about all these things. I never told you because maybe you wouldn't have an interest in knowing all these things. You know what the best thing about India is?" Mom asked later by answering my queries. 

"I have googled it, they said it was the food, culture, diversity, and many more things."

"Let me tell you one thing, based on my personal experience. People here are friendly, supportive, even with strangers. They welcomed us wholeheartedly, but the one thing you should remember is don't mess with anyone who is Indian, let it be human or animal."

"What do you mean by welcoming? Are you talking about Mr. Ahuja? If you are, it's just the same as we greet people there, and what? What can animals do?"

"Sweetie you will see what I am talking about. I know it will be hard for you here but trust me people are here so supportive. They will not judge you and unless you weren't on their bad side and trust me you don't want to be on that side as they can be a little harsh."

"It looks like you are saying that from experience and what exactly are you trying to do? Motivating me or scaring me away?"

"Just warning you to be kind. You know, usually, when you go abroad you have to sacrifice things for settling in, but here it's the opposite, people will sacrifice their comfort to make you comfortable. That's the thing, you will exclusively find in Asian countries."

"Well, it's for me to judge," I responded

"We want you to experience the cultural and diverse life here. To know people here and it's a wholly different situation from Miami. I know how much you love the ocean and love to listen to the waves for calming yourself down, but sometimes a change is for good."

"What's good about this whole thing?" I said in a monotone. The anger was rising inside every cell of my body. It's different here, no more ocean, no more the mixture of sweetness and sourness in the aroma around me which I was familiar with, just a foreign feeling heart which is freezing my inner self. I don't think so that it can ever melt and I can start feeling the warmth in there until I can go back and most especially no Lex.

"Sweetie, think of it as if you were forced to go somewhere in the future because of some emergency or a necessity which needs to be fulfilled, so you will not be inexperienced and new to all these things, instead of reacting feeble-minded at that time, you can be responsible and trustworthy. This time we are here for supporting you, but you never know what life will throw at you and if then you have to face it alone, I can proudly admit that you can." She contemplated.

 As if I wasn't forced to come here and she is here supporting me, huh! Trust me they will be out of the house the whole time doing work and that's worrying me the most. I will be on my own in this whole new world.

"You know Katie, that we will be out for work and then you have to take care of you on your own," See, I told you so.

"Mom, that's what scared me the most, that you guys are leaving me to face it all alone," I admit.

"Sweetie, you and I both know that your parents can't be this dumb."

"I know you won't risk things like that when it comes up to me."

"Yeah, and you will see how you won't feel lonely at all."

"Mom, you are being so mysterious."

"Am I?" she asked while blinking her eyes continuously.

"Yeah and stop with that look."

"Which one? Are you talking about this one?" here she goes again.

"Oh, where is dad though?"

"Well, he was asking about the arrangements of the apartment."

"What? We are going to live in apartments? Why not the house you guys usually live in, when you visit here?"

"Because it will be more suitable as you are going to be alone so you need people around and your dad had especially furnished the flat for you. You will be going to be so happy after seeing it." I am intrigued now.

"Show me the photos, you must have it." I insist

"No one can do. You have to wait, sweetie." Mom sang the words in her high-pitched voice.

"Let's go!" I was going to argue but Dad interrupted me.

"But I haven't checked the airport completely and I have to take photos of all these things and then also send them to Lexi."

"We will get ample time when we return to Miami to do things." Dad said, more like ordered. I wish that time arrived as soon as possible.

"But dad can I just click some photos with these Mudras?"

"Ok, we will be putting the luggage in the car, so you should be ready by that time."

"Okay, okay, and mom you help me." I pushed my dad to go and load the luggage in the car. I phished out my phone from my jeans pocket and handed it over to mom. I started giving poses and made the hand design with my hands.

"Okay, done. Now let's take a selfie together." Mom chirped

"Sure." We clicked a lot of selfies and after that, I clicked some photos of mom.

"Let's go unless you want us to die here." Mom and I ran towards the exit. I take a long breath when we reach outside, taking the aroma of this world which will be going to be my home for the next year. trust me, a big mistake. I nearly choked. Oh god! It's eerie.

It's the last days of August here so it's also warm here but the sun rays are just vibrant as Miami. Although that familiarity no longer exists in my senses, my soul was oddly satisfied. Maybe, just maybe I can face this whole thing and it will be worth it, after all, how hard all of this can be.

India! Here I come.

***

Omg!! Finally, Katie is in India and ready to face everything but little did she know that it would not be at all easy at first.

Q: How many people already know about these sculptures? 

A: I was shocked to read that these mudras have meaning and about the other sculptures.

K: I really enjoyed seeing them. Just looking forward to what this chapter of my life will be all about.

People:?
                           ***

I wanna say thank you to
Roxydog05 BobRyan874 & Bunny1996x
They all helped me a lot to know about the basic information about American high schools and livelihoods.

I am very grateful to them and all of them are supportive and kind people who take out time of their days to just help me out.

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