The KIA Chronicles

Chapter 5: Diwali a la Dilli

-/AN/- Sooooooooo.... it is a bit after Thursday..... but here it is! -/AN/-

Now, I know what you're thinking;

"Gee golly gosh, Drake! I wanna live in Chandni Chowk too!"

Hahahahahahahahahahaha, no. You, my innocent reader, wouldn't last 2 days.

But if you insist....

How to live in Chandni Chowk 101:

Do not hit or yell at or even touch the cows, not only do the locals worship them, but the cows kick hard(take it from me).

Do not go anywhere in a motor rickshaw, they drive like there's no tomorrow

Watch out for cow poop

Don't bargain if you do not know Hindi

Etc;

Yeah, yeah, it sounds easy. But, it's hard, okay!

Oh! Also:

6. Always listen to Alia. ALWAYS.

That last one is probably the most important. Alia has been in Chandni Chowk since she was 7, so you can consider her a bit of an authority here.

Anyway, Diwali in Chandni Chowk is amazing. You think this place is colorful and busy everyday? Multiply that by, like, 50. Yup, Diwali.

All the people in Aasha tower were super excited for CCP( which by the way is Diwali {which is why we need new clothes}).

Sammy slaved over our outfits for a whole 2 weeks, and I gotta say; the dress he made for Alia was AMAZING considering he made it from scratch, in under a week. It was like a sari, but more westernized. It was a deep purple and it fell over her shoulders in a shower of silver and blue, so it matched her hijab perfectly. And, yes. I did feel extremely shabby in my simple blue kurta. Sammy had made a dress for Janice too, who was currently hanging out us, due to the fact that Jennifer was teasing her for something. But, Janice ( for some reason) still wanted to be her friend. Girls are weird. It's not sexist, it's true. Janice was twinning with Alia, and they were pretty much inseparable until we left the dorms.

"Guys!" Alia stormed into the common room, and let me tell you she is extremely scary when she wants to be.

"Where is my hijab?"

I hadn't noticed her hijab was missing. She didn't have to wear it all the time in the dorm, because she considered us family, but she was going to wear it at CCP.

"Have you checked the pillow fort?" Sammy offered.

"Yep, I thought maybe, Bilal or Nisreen had it, but no..." Alia seemed a bit stressed out. After all, the scarf that she used as a hijab was her dad's, so she was super attached to it.

"Chillax Alia," I said. "Maybe it fell off in class, I'll go check with Mr.Collins."

"Thanks, Drake. We'll look in here, in the couch area..."

I opened the door of our dorm and stepped in the hallway. My thoughts about how our dorm was in the best place possible we're cut off, as I noticed something a bit out the ordinary hanging over the door of the dorm.

"A-Alia! Sammy! You might wanna check this out..."

Alia stepped out the door looking relieved until she saw where I was looking.

Sammy nearly choked when he saw what is was.

Hanging over the entrance to Aasha tower, was Alia's hijab, hung like a banner, torn and reading: Home of the Terrorists,  in red as if it were blood. As Janice came out she looked like she was gonna pass out. But, she didn't. Alia took care of that for her. I barely managed to catch her before she hit the ground. Bilal went white when we carried her back in. 11 year old Aisha screamed when she saw her sister, and Ahmed was practically in tears. Janice just sat in a corner crying with Nisreen's arm around her. Soon, everyone in Aasha tower had come down to the common room, and was sitting in silence with us, trying to revive Alia.