That night, after we got back home from the emergency room, I sobbed like a child in Aunt Mannie’s arms. ‘It’ll be okay,’ she whispered in my ears as she gently stroked my hair. ‘All change is uncomfortable in the beginning. But in the end, you’ll be able to connect the dots, and it will all add up.’

‘How did you cope with homesickness when you moved here in 1996?’ I asked her.

‘It was hard. When I left my family back in Mumbai, I knew I wouldn’t meet them more than once every few years. I was acutely aware of the fact that even if my parents lived for another twenty years, I would only meet them five or maybe six times. That feeling, that fear is real. Let me normalize it for you, beta. You’re not the only one going through these feelings. Every immigrant experiences this,’ she said with conviction in her eyes.

‘How did you talk to them? Skype didn’t exist back then!’

‘Oh! Don’t even ask. I had to go to a caller booth nearby and call them. It was so expensive to make international calls back then that I could only do it once a month and then too the conversation lasted for less than three minutes. That’s all that we could afford then. Imagine! I had to tell them everything that had happened since the last call and also understand everything they wanted to convey within that time. Things are so much more convenient and easier now.’

‘Things must’ve been so hard for you all … Thank you, Mamiji. You don’t know how much comfort I’ve derived from your presence and your words.’ I had no idea what one had to go through in life to have such clarity and maturity.

‘Comfort and all that is fine. But let me make you laugh a little,’ she insisted. ‘Once, after we got our own landline at home, I was trying to call my parents when I dialled 911 by mistake! The country code for India is 91, and while dialling the number, I incorrectly pressed an extra one. Now, as you already know, 911 is the emergency service number here. The next thing I knew, within eight minutes of my having dialled that wrong number, two rather burly police officers turned up at our door and kept inquiring if everything was fine. They probably thought I was a victim of domestic violence who was too scared to speak up. I caused myself and your mamaji so much embarrassment that day. I can’t explain how scared I was. But today, all I can do is laugh hard!’ she said, her hand pressed against her stomach as she broke into a fit of giggles.

‘We’re bound to make stupid mistakes because life is so different here, I suppose. It’s like being reborn and then trying to understand everything all over again,’ I empathized with her.