A house in the woods

I had rebelled against my strict upbringing and here I was now in a foreign country on my own.

This was something that was not done : an Asian girl travelling on her own without a male relative to look after her. 

But I was not a normal girl. 

I liked to play with the boys. 

I liked how rough they played and how dirty they could become doing all sorts of mischief. 

I also heard a lot if naughty things. 

I was a tomboy. Rough and ready as they say. 

I was intelligent and did far much better than anyone in my class boys or girls. 

The number of girls reduced as they were married off one by one. 

My mother pleaded with me. We have such good matches for you. Every time they brought a good match I refused. I was always nice but refused. 

My father loved me.. 

He had been born to a poorer branch of the family tree. He had dreamt of being better than running a shop, he dreamt if stars and rocket ships. But life had other plans. 

My mother, a distant cousin had been the only daughter to a fairly well of family and to rescue my father from his dreams and poverty they said marry my mother and inherit the businesses we have. 

So he had but to accept. So my mother always had control over everyone including my dad. 

My mother threatened to send me to the village so that I would be forgotten.. 

Though I was a tomboy... I could not escape my looks.  My green hazel eyes and dark long hair. My caramel skin complexion like I was burnt by the sun...was not much valued here as beauty here was considered a milky white skin. However, regardless men had sense enough to see this beauty in me. It was a burden for me. I cut my hair, I coloured my hair all sorts of colours so that people would think I was less attractive.

I won a scholarship to study.. I didn't tell my parents. I arranged everything in secret. 

For the airfare I borrowed from a very close friend who had married. 

She understood me and accepted I was different. 

She sold some of the gold she received as a wedding gift from her husband. 

I promised I would pay back twice as much in value..

PART2

I arrived at Heathrow airport in London at about 5am. Our flight was 15 minutes early.

As you can imagine, though curious and adventurous by nature, this was a shock to my system. In my country, I was considered the progressive one and the 'most modern'. But I had not expected to see this much advancement. 

I realised I came from a rather backward nation and this intimidated me. I was nervous and envious of the confident people who moved about freely with no concerns whatsoever. A lady, smartly dressed

They flew a lot I could see. 

As I stood in line to clear the immigration and customs I was all nerves: what would they ask me? What if for some reason I am turned back? The British can be cold and cruel so I have heard and this thought struck my mind. 

Nothing I imagined vaguely came to pass. The man was pleasant wished me all the success. 

Getting outside I was used to the idea of a huge number of relatives waiting anxiously for other relatives coming from overseas to visit. 

I did not anticipate a small welcoming party.

I saw the joy as people greeted each other with shouts of  excitement and tears of joy. Timidly I pulled my bag through the arrivals and searched for the signs pointing to trains or buses to central London.

Weeks before I travelled I had studied all the detailed instructions on how to get to Preston, where my university would be. 

I had £100 on me, several gold chains and a ruby ring my father had given me as gifts over the years. It was my insurance policy, if I lost the money, I sold those things. 

So now I needed to catch the underground train. It was called the Piccadilly line and I was supposed to travel in the east bound direction. Get to Piccadilly circus and change for the Victoria line...would I manage. 

I followed people going towards the direction I was going and sure enough I saw the ticket office and with much confusion bought a single ticket to zone 1 as the person at the window had told me. 

"Excuse me sir," I said as I approached what looked like someone working for the London underground.

"Yes, my dear. How can I help you?" Said this man, pink faced, slightly chubby but with a kind face.

'I need to get the east bound train going to central London, please?' In a heavily accented voice. I was self conscious in the face of this beautiful English accent. .'oh this is how to speak proper English,' I thought.

'Well my dear lady which train you catch will take you to central London. You see this is the last stop and the trains turnaround and go back.'

'Where is it you want to go exactly?'

I responded my final stop was Victoria station.

OK get on this train and when you get to Piccadilly circus, get of the train. Follow the signs that say Victoria line. Northbound. Remember north bound. Take that train and in two stops you are Victoria. OK my dear'

' Thank you so much sir' I said as I rushed with my language onto the train. 

My first journey on the London underground was a journey of observation. Through the Heathrow terminal stops it was a mish mash of tourists, mainly white faces, business people, a lot of bags and chit chat. I saw brown faces but going in the opposite direction. They must work at the airport I thought. 

The more it went into central London, the more colourful it got, the busier it became as people where going to work. I saw a mixture of colours and nationalities. It was a culture shock; these black faces, the Chinese faces, these mixed faces, these white faces, Oriental and south Asian faces. All there in this train that goes under the earth. 

I tend not to get lost easily and I got to Victoria station in one piece. I found my way to the coach station and picked up the ticket I had paid for online earlier. Went and found bus stand 32 - M6 coach Manchester. National express. It was due to depart at  10:30. Now was 09:50am. I had time. 

I Bought a little snack and drink. I wondered how strange, most of these little shops in the heart of London are operated by Indians? What happened to the English?

By the time the bus was about to leave, it was partially full and a nice girl came to sit next to me. 

Blonde, long hair and suntanned. She wore glasses but they suited her well. 

Settled in she said "hie" and I responded 'hello'

So how is it going she proceeded to ask. I was shy but happy that someone talked to me. 

She asked me where I was going and I told her Preston. And she was I am stopping one stop before you.

" I just want to pass by and see my boyfriend before I head back to Germany. 

I have spent six months travelling in Asia, mainly Indonesia ( Borneo and Sumatra and a bit of west Java), I have also been to Thailand, Vietnam and Laos. It was an amazing experience "

"Oh that's nice. It is my first time travelling really. I am here as a student. I am hoping to study government, politics and law' 

" Oh that's good. Sorry.. I have not introduced myself, my name is Brigitte and you are? "

"My name is Farzana Ali." I said 

Brigitte asked me ' so where you from its hard to tell from your accent?'

'Pakistan.'

"Really!" Said Brigitte, " I once had a boyfriend from Pakistan.  The most good looking guy I have come across..but we were so different.  Our relationship didn't work!'