Subsequent to that incident all my confidence of continuing had been demolished so I decided to return home, while I was walking home I could not stop wishing that Babuji had not found out yet. With the feeling that Sharan-jeet would tell Babuji any minute now about all my previous plans and that I had run away, I ran as fast as I could not worrying about anything else but as I reached home I realised that Babuji had already found out as I saw him throwing all my belongings, clothes and pictures out of the house, while swearing at me uncontrollably with mother trying her best to stop him.
Once I saw and heard how much Babuji hated me, I hastily became enraged whilst being emotionally fragile. I ran off towards the bus stop increasing my confidence all the way while being haunted by the images of Babuji throwing my belongings away, enforcing tears to flow down my face. While still being upset, I reached the bus stop and got on the bus to Mumbai while wiping the tears off my face. As usual the bus became packed at the next stop, hardly having any space to breathe I tried to keep my mind away from what Babuji did, even though being squashed at the back of the bus I still could not stop thinking about it. Soon a conductor arrived and got on at the front of the bus. He stated asking for tickets, very slowly pushing his way through the crowd, making me panic as I had no money. Unfortunately after many stops, he reached me and asked for my ticket, I looked around pretending I did not hear, but from that he knew I had no ticket. Like a strike of lightning he clutched my collar, lifted me up and pushed through the crowd and took me to the door, whilst blowing a ferocious whistle to stop the bus. Just as the bus stopped he threw me out of the bus with all his strength. I was in extreme pain, I still had my courage and I decided to continue towards Mumbai by foot.
After many gruelling hours I reached Mumbai, each day I went to different movie studios asking for a role in a movie but many times I was thrown out by security or told to get lost, you’re too young and there are no roles for you. Due to this I never earned any money and I starved each and every day in the unforgiving heat, feeling death coming closer each day, while sitting in the same spot all day losing energy and seeing the amount of garbage and dirt mounting. Each night became hell when each Bollywood movie came to life as I watched people getting their brains shot out and the numerous gang wars, barely surviving each one.
Virtually dead I was found by probably the last surviving kind-hearted person, who helped me return from the clutches death by caring for me like a son. As soon as I recovered I started to work with him as a chai-wala (someone that gives tea) for local movie studios.
Months passed by doing the same things each day again and again, but fortunately one day on my way to a studio, lonely and depressed, slowly walking remembering mother, and being worried by her whilst being disturbed by the terrifying memories of Babuji, when a Natak (theatre) audition poster caught my eye, remembering my past dreams and hoping for the best I entered. As I stood waiting in the stretched queue waiting my turn, I developed new dreams of becoming the SRK (Shahrukh Khan) of theatre. “Next” as I was called in I started to become nervous but I still entered and performed. Although I gave a magnificent performance I still only got the role of an extra, even though I was happy to be selected the role was a bit too small.
Years passed and I slowly made my way up the ladder from an extra to the lead role. After 2 years of hard work and dedication I finally became what I wanted the SRK of theatre.
After many shows we decided to do a Mumbai tour of 8 shows. While on the Mumbai tour I was approached by the god of movie makers Yash Raj Chopra and offered a role in his latest movie, obviously I said yes while thinking of my family and how I was mocked when I said I wanted to be a movie star. Once I got signed for the movie and fulfilled my dreams, I decided to return home.
Again I walked through the ghostly streets of my ‘pind’ on my way home, whilst being followed by those disturbing memories, and being held back so I did not retuning, but this could not stop me as I am not that foolish anymore. As I continued childhood memories came back, with the rocky sand seeping into my shoes and the mist collecting with the laughter of children in the distance as I entered my house. The whole house looked exactly the same as when I left. Not even one thing had changed, while remembering all the good times I searched the whole house for mother, Sharan-jeet and Babuji, as I could not find then so asked around and found out that Sharan-jeet had got married 6 months ago, which broke my heart because I was not their for her special day and she would never forgive me for that, but tears started to flow when I found out that Babuji had passed away 3 months ago and mother 2 weeks later due to shock. After the bad news I was shattered and emotionally unstable, but I made the decision to continue my life as before because I would be hurting their souls if I stayed like this, so I continued with my movie career with them always in my heart.
