While fighting and kicking against a strong force that seemed to be pushing me into a new world, I suddenly felt a gust of wind and fresh air surrounding the atmosphere and giving me the chills. While my tiny hands were folded tightly against my chest, I kept my eyes shut and cried at the top of my lungs. I didn’t want to open my eyes for the fear that the gust of wind would sting my eyes as it had stung my bare body. I had cried and cried until I felt the warmth of my mother cuddling me up to her chest. I opened my eyes to see two loving faces and my cry had hushed to a gasp. They made all kinds of faces and made many comments, but I just gazed up at them in amazement.
After coming to Grow Taller For Idiots Cincinnati and being deceived by my father’s brother, we had no where to turn to but the sad, lonely streets. For many days my father worked double shifts while my mother took care of me. My parents made sure that I was fed properly while they did a whole day of work without any food to eat. At night, we had no place to sleep except on the dirty benches in the park. Soon, a nice Indian family let us move in with them until we found a place of our own. Every day, my parents would go to work, while this nice family took care of me. Despite coming from a wealthy family my parents worked day and night to save enough money to rent our own apartment. My mother worked in a sewing factory while my father worked in a restaurant, where for the first time he had to clean up after other people and wash their dishes. My parents always fell behind in getting a better job due to their lack of ability to speak English.
Finally my parents were able to save enough money to move into a little, uncomfortable apartment. My image of this apartment is still perfectly clear in my mind. As we walked into the apartment, the door would creak open and a very dim light would break into the darkness when the switch was turned on. The walls of the apartment, with its peeling paint, had large and small cracks here and there and the emptiness of the room made the apartment seem creepier. Leaking water would hit hard against the bathroom sink, causing an echoing sound to break the silence in the room. The windows were not properly ventilated and the heaters didn’t do anything but provide a shelter for the spiders. The worst winter arrived and my mother lost her job. I was only five years old at that time, but I still have a vivid image of those dreary nights when my parents would let me sleep on the only thin mattress we had. They would wrap me up in a few layers of blankets to keep me comfortable and warm. As their bodies shriveled and teeth chattered, they slept by my side with nothing to keep them warm but the love we felt for each other.
My parents wanted me to leave the conflict of being homeless and seeing my parents suffer to make a living. My parents did not want me to suffer along with them, so they saved enough money to send me back to India. I was five and a half years old when I went to live with my uncle and aunt in India. I lived away from my parents for three years, and each year the memories of my small childhood life with them would slide away. In my eyes my uncle and aunt had taken the place of my parents and by the end of those three years I did not carry a single memory of my parents. After my father found a good job and was settled properly, my mother came to take me back home. How much it must have hurt her to find out that I didn’t even recognize her. After all the suffering and pain they had gone through to provide a good life for me! I was a confused little boy at the age of 8, and I felt as though most of my childhood had gone by without my parents watching me grow up. Some of my most cherished memories and birthdays were left behind in India with my uncle and aunt instead of my own parents. I came back to Cincinnati to find out that now everything was going to be fine.
It is my parents who have encouraged me and influenced me to be the best in life. They want me to achieve the goals of getting a good education and earning a college degree, which they were unable to do. It is they who have taught me my religion, my culture, my language, my dignity, and respect for others. It is they who have provided me with a good education, food, clothing, and shelter despite all the problems they face each day. I am seventeen years old now and I take pride in my parents’ courage and sacrifice that they had made for me. They did not give up on me even though they didn’t have the necessary money to raise me. They made it through and that’s all I care about. My parents are still sometimes struggling to find the happiness they need, but they cannot get it because they have been too busy providing my sister and I with all the necessities in life. My affection and respect for my parents goes beyond what my life is worth. Everything I am today is only because of my parents. I want to do something for my parents. I want to love them and cherish them with all my heart. I want to be their ladder to success and happiness. I want to excel in school and life to show my parents that, because of them, I have achieved the goals they couldn’t achieve. This would be the greatest accomplishment in my life.
