An Author and A Young Woman - Chapter 2: Divya Virk
Chapter 2: Divya Virk
Diva got up late and took shower; today was Saturday, so she did not have to go to work. She had no previous engagement, so she was free all day long. She had minor hangover, so she took out a bottle of Aspirin from the shelf in the bathroom, took two pills, popped them into her month, went to the kitchen, opened fridge, took out a bottle of orange juice, poured it in a glass and drank it to swallow pills. She then went back to her bedroom and lied down on her bed with her bathrobe on. She thought about what she was going to do today and she decided to go take a long walk. She’d just think about things as she turned 25; she also liked taking a long walk in the city, so that sounded like a good plan. She got dressed casually; she wore lime color sweater and blue jeans. She only spent 5 minutes for makeup and wore a black leather half coat; she took black boots, same boots that she wore last night and went out of the door. She walked to the nearest train station, 46th Street – Bliss Street in Sunnyside and waited for 7 Train to get to the city. As she waited for her train, she started thinking about how she got where she was today.
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Divya Virk was born in the suburb of Delhi; she was the second child of Ameet Virk and Preeya Virk. They had a 2 years old son when Divya was born. Ameet Virk owned several hotels and he also invested in other assets and properties; he was a very wealthy man in Indian standard. Even compared to those who lived in countries like US and UK, he had a good income. He took his children’s education seriously; he believed that they ought to have good education and they should be able to earn their living on their own instead of just inheriting what he had. He was fond of reading and learning new things, and he believed that learning was an essential part of one’s life. He also spent a fair amount of time tutoring Diva when she was young, even though he was a very busy man. His effort paid off, and by the time she reached 10th grade, she was one of top students in NCT, National Capital Territory of Delhi. She kept up with her schoolwork, and she did well in 11th and 12th grades. While he took his daughter’s education very seriously, he was very liberal politically. He was much more conservative than Europeans, but he was clearly one of the most liberal people among those he was acquainted with in India. He traveled to many countries on business, and he believed that his country would follow the liberal trend like many European countries though it could take many decades for culture and politics in the country to be transformed. It was his firm belief that he should raise his children accordingly; he believed that they ought to be prepared for the inevitable future.
When she was in 12th grade, she took SAT and TOEFL; these tests were for students in US, but she convinced her parents that she wanted to take these tests in order to see where she was compared to students outside of India. Ameet Virk, her father, was actually also curious to see how she would perform, so he let her take these tests. She did well; she marked a good enough score to get into top universities in US on SAT and she marked a score above which most universities required foreign students on TOEFL. She then convinced him to allow her to apply to universities in US; she told him that she’d just want to see how universities in US would evaluate her schoolwork. He felt rather hesitant as he thought about where this would lead to, but he wanted to see whether she’d be accepted to universities in US. He allowed her to apply to five universities, UC (University of California) Berkeley, UCLA, UC Davis, US Santa Cruz and UC Santa Barbara; he thought about a small possibility of his daughter’s going to a university in US at this point, though he did not tell her about it. He only allowed her to apply to universities in California because California was closer to India than most states; as far as a person in India was concerned, there was not much difference between California and New York, but he somehow felt that California was like a country next to India, while New York was like a far away country. He did not want her daughter to go to a university far away from Delhi, but according to his principle of raising his children to be able to adapt to the 21st century culture, politics and economy, he could not say no if she told him that she wanted to go to a university in US. He would also feel a little guilty if he were to force her to stay in India. He was very fond of reading books written by Americans and Europeans and watching American and Europeans movies. He picked books and movies carefully and let her read and watch; she grew to enjoy reading books and watching movies in English, and he could see that her mindset was departing from that of other teenagers in India. He was concerned about her going way, but at this point, she was not going anywhere and she was just sending out applications, so he just let her do what she wanted.
4 months later, she received answers from all 5 universities. UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Davis and US Santa Cruz all rejected her, but UC Santa Barbara accepted her. As if she planned all along, she methodically tried to convince her parents to send her to California; she applied for scholarships already and she already got her one scholarship, and thus, there would not be a big financial burden. Preeya Virk, her mother, hated the idea, and she blamed her husband for Divya’s wishing to go to US. Ameet Virk had mixed feeling; his heart said no, but his reason said yes. Also he felt that it would be hypocritical for him to convince his daughter to stay home and go to a university in Delhi because he did not educate her that way. After weeks of agony, he allowed Divya to go to the university in US; he had very difficult time convincing his wife, but he managed to stop her from going hysteric.
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” That was the beginning,” said Diva to herself. Her train came; she got on it and left for the city.
