Under Control.

3. we never left

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"Avni is going to Damlin college, such a poor institute, that mushroom school. One day it's here, there next it's a saloon... good riddance! Vishaylin is at Witwatersrand University, very good university but still not good enough. Uncle Rajesh was so jealous when I told him that you're in New York! Everyone was jealous dear, Alisha gave birth to a little boy. Why kids rush so much to do adult things! Seventeen year old girl no Matric nothing."

Karishma smiled, nervously hearing her mother talk over their WhatsApp video call. Looking to her left she saw her roommate, with a pillow over her head; groaning.

"Mommy, I will talk to you later. I have to go now."

Frowning, she nodded. "Alright dear take care now. Work hard, to get scholarship because we already take lots of loans at Absa. If we don't pay they take house, car everything! We miss you nunus. I would have made mutton curry for you. You must miss bunny chow. I hope you're eating well dear, you need all the energy you can get to study hard mhm?"

"Yes, Mommy..."

Karishma wanted to let her mother no that she would have been happy at any university in South Africa. Cape Town University had accepted her but no, they pushed for her to come here. Something that was out of their budget. Something that they knew they couldn't afford. All for the sake of standards. It was nice to tell the neighbors, relatives and everyone that their daughter was at... they never bothered with the name Hofstra University. They told everyone New York University to add more emphasis. The photos of them bidding her good bye at OR Tambo Airport were both her parents Facebook profile pictures. Constantly asking her to take pictures and send them so they could post on their WhatsApp status. It was odd for Karishma, people who never spoke to her in high school or minded her were suddenly following her and sending her messages. 'When will you also take us lol' it was hard. They had given her these sudden big expectations to fulfill. In South Africa she achieved the biggest achievement and in New York she was a nobody. Not special, nothing new.

"Uncle Rajesh's daughter stays in Texas you should visit her when you get lonely."

"Mommy, Texas is not close."

"Not even for an hour?"

"No mommy, Johannesburg to Cape Town is the same distance as New York and Texas. Besides, I have loads of work."

"Mhm, Alright nunu. Call me later when daddy is here alright?"

"Yes, Mommy!"

"Good!" With that she could finally end the call. Something that was meant to relax her and put her at ease, it worsened her anxiety. Work hard, work hard, work hard. They made it sound easy.

"Bruh if your mother doesn't shut the hell up—"

"Sorry, I can only call her at 7am because it's in the afternoon that side and my mom has trouble with using the phone when my brother is not there—"

"Okay, okay... damn you didn't have to give me a whole essay. Just how old is your mother not knowing how to operate a phone..." Sofia chortled. "My granny is seventy-two and she FaceTimes me constantly."

"My mom is fifty-six." Karishma replied, not finding anything funny. "She has an Android, we can't FaceTime. She knows how to use a phone, it's just video calling is complicated."

"If you can afford to come all the way from Africa and be able to pay Hofstra fees with no aid then I'd assume your parents can at-least afford an iPhone 6."

"It's not that simple." She added somberly getting out of bed. Sofia and Karishma were not exactly on good terms. Sofia had initially planned to share the dorm with her bestfriend, Imani but it didn't go as planned. She took it out on Karishma. She had even went as far as forcing Karishma to ask to move out that way Imani could move in. It didn't work that way. That wasn't the way dorms were grouped unfortunately.

Imani would show up at their dorm anytime she felt like. Fortunately Imani was nice, as time went by. Out of pity, Karishma was new to everything and knew nothing about how New York City worked. The two started to include her in their daily routines. They introduced her to new food, they constantly made fun of her accent and said she smelt like curry. Regardless of Sofia's attempts to be mean at her, it was just hard. The girl was naive and clueless. Imani and Sofia made fun of her but never allowed anyone else to make fun of Karishma.

Sometime later that week. Her professor had asked her to stay behind. When he read out her name in the lecture hall and said good work. She was taken aback. She had never minded him but he was one of her only Professors who did not have a pot belly, he was presentable. She thought nothing of him as a person nothing sexual or inappropriate. She respected him.

"You must be Karishma!" He extended his hand for a handshake as everyone was leaving, the lecture room. He had this pleasant comforting smile but he was still intimidating.

"Y-yes, sir!" She smiled nervously. Shaking his hand quickly, she felt embarrassed thinking about how sweaty she had become through out the last twenty-minutes when he announced wanting to have a word with her after class.

"You know so much about South Africa. I'm quite impressed." He added.

She grinned. "I'm South African."

"Oh!"

"Yes... eh you see my ancestors were brought from India to work in mines in South Africa with the native black people. From the 1800s till present we never left. That's how history."

Hunter was intrigued, even though she stuttered and stammered on her words. She was different something he had never seen before. Dressed in jeans, the Hofstra Uni patriot T-shirt and flip flops. Her hair tied in a ponytail. She looked as simple as could be except she had a satchel as if she was a first grader.

"I reckon the flip flops are a South African thing?"

She giggled, he thought it was cute.

"An African thing. It's really hot over there." Karishma added. "My dorm is close by so there really was no need to dress up."

"Understandable, well nice meeting you Karishma. An A+ well deserved, keep it up."

"Thank you so much sir, I really really appreciate this."

"Ofcourse, looking forward to seeing more of your work. Perhaps you will let us in on your South African history."

"Yes yes, I'm from Durban. Most Indians are from Durban, it's close to the harbor... like I said we never left..." she was nervous and kept blabbering. Mr Clifford only shook his head, she was certainly a character.

"Alright Karishma."

"Thank you again Mr Clifford."

"No problem." He dismissed.

"Okay..." she giggled, clearly too happy.

"Okay, Karishma.." He replied subtly telling her to leave.