A story that begins with: "Sudha was the odd one out ........"
Sudha was the odd one out, among all the girls in her class; the reason was that she had no friends at all. Recently she had moved to Mumbai, from her hometown Chennai. due to her father's job. At first she was happy and excited that she was finally going to Mumbai. Sudha always wanted to see the big skyscrapers, The Gateway of India and The Arabian Sea at Mumbai. After arriving at Mumbai, it proved entirely different from Chennai. They did not have any relatives nor friends in Mumbai. It made them difficult to converse with the people, Sudha could manage only a broken words in Hindi, her mother Mrs.Kavya Ranjit, could only talk in English, that too not so well. Mr. Ranjit talked only in Tamil whenever someone spoke to him in either Hindi or Marathi. Sudha was made to join in Green Cottage Girls High School ( NAME DOES NOT EXIST). It was a normal school. She had managed to get an admission in that school. At that the first day at school, she wore her new dress excitedly, she had made up in her mind to make up lots of new friends.
She reached her school in time, as she entered her class, VIII A , a teacher said her to come in. Sudha was walking nervously inside as the girls were saying, 'Who's she?' 'No idea, maybe a new student'. Days passed no one ever talked to her, even though she went near them and asked whether she could join with them. She quickly became aware that they selected friends, all the girls were North Indians, and she was only a South Indian, even when she talked to them sweetly, they ignored her. She cried many times when she was alone in the classroom. At playtimes it was the worst, all the girls played, while she was alone playing with a small ball or sitting on the benches watching the other girls play basketball and hearing them speaking rapid Hindi. One day, she was fed up, she returned late to home, around six o' clock, she saw her mother, busy packing clothes. 'Where are we going?' asked Sudha.
'To Chennai,' her mother replied.
'Chennai!' exclaimed Sudha.
' Yes'.
'Why aren't we staying here in Mumbai?'
Her mother chuckled, 'It has been over a month that we are living in Mumbai, due to what......'
'Due to father's job'.
'No, it is due to bussiness trip'.
'What?!'
'Yes, your father wanted us to come with him to Mumbai, as I didn't want you fall in your studies, we decided to join you in a good school. And now we are going back to Chennai tomorrow, we had got your transferred certificate last week, now go and pack all your things.'
Sudha 's joy knew no bounds. She skipped with joy and packed all her things. The next day they took a morning flight to Chennai, and reached there in time. Sudha once again went to her old school and talked about her adventure in Mumbai. She must have not realized that 'Old is Gold'.