Neetika Mahawar’s short story was a long time in the making.
When the time was right, she told the eyebrow-raising tale of her maternal grandmother and submitted it for publication in a recently released book — Opening Doors through Stories: Imagine.
The collection of short stories, released in May by the Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild and the Regina Open Door Society, documents the experiences of new Canadians and provides a forum for their creativity.
In the case of Mahawar — the Roughriders’ Marketing Co-ordinator, Ticketing — the story that appears in the book encompasses her personal journey.
Last November, Mahawar placed a call to India to talk to her father and inform him that the story — titled “The Girl with the Nose Ring” — would be published.
“He told me, ‘There are tears in my eyes. I am so proud of you,’ ” she recalls.
“Unfortunately, it was the last conversation I had with my father.”
A few hours later, Mahendra Kumar unexpectedly became ill. He soon passed away.
Neetika quickly made plans to fly back home to be with her family.
Only three months earlier, she had taken the step of leaving her homeland and moving on her own to Canada.
“It was my father’s dream to move to another country,” a proud daughter says. “My father’s dream was manifested in me.”
The only question, then, was the destination.
“India is a very hot country, so that kind of climate wasn’t my first choice,” Mahawar says with a chuckle. “I always watched the Discovery Channel and the National Geographic Channel and I was intrigued by the glaciers. I told myself, ‘Wherever I’m going, there will be snow.’ ”
It goes without saying that Canada met the criteria.
Nonetheless, the decision to depart was difficult, because it involved leaving behind her father, mother (Rajshri), brother (Kartik) and husband (Amit Kumar).
“I chose Regina because it had a loud sky, which I did not get a chance to look at in Delhi,” Mahawar says. “The first day I got here, I looked up at the sky, and it was so amazing.”
That was on Aug. 13, 2022.
“I did not know a single person,” she says. “The moment I entered the airport, I was trembling. I knew I was taking a huge step and there was no stepping back.”
She also took a huge step moments before departing. While at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, she submitted via email the final draft of the short story.
At that moment, everything came full circle.
“My grandmother’s wish was to fly in an airplane,” Mahawar says. “She said she wanted to see the whole world, and I wanted that to happen for her, but she never got that opportunity.
“And there I was, finishing her story at an airport. I had tears in my eyes, thinking, ‘She never got a chance to fly and here I am flying across the country.’ ”
Mahawar’s maternal grandmother — her Naani — was in her late 60s when, in 2013, she was killed in a train accident.
Two years earlier, Ganga Devi had shared a secret with her granddaughter.
“Would you write a short story about me?” she asked Mahawar.
The story, as described in Devi’s words in the short story, was “a personal journey about my childhood best friend” and what turned out to be “a distorted friendship.”
There was only one condition established by Devi: Her story could not be written, let alone circulated, until after her death.
Devi’s friend, Ruksana, was a teenager when everything changed in her life and in a long-standing friendship.
“In her family traditions, when a girl reached the age of puberty, she was ready for the nose-piercing ceremony,” Mahawar’s grandmother recalled in the short story. “In this ceremony, men from a higher caste or statuses would come to the families like Ruksana’s and perform the nose-piercing ceremony. A man would adorn the girl with a gold nose ring, which signified that the girl now belonged to him.
“By all rights, the girl would now be his property, and she was entitled to live with him. It was up to the man whether he wished to marry her or simply keep the girl with him as a mistress. Many people in society considered this equal to prostitution and disapproved of such families.
“When my family learned that Ruksana belonged to such a family or community, they prohibited me from speaking to her. If I have to be completely honest, I disapproved of this, too! I hated the fact that she was now a keep. We considered this impure.”
There were regrets, for the longest time, but also a happy ending — one that is told with such poignancy in a short story that hits home for Mahawar in so many respects.
“Now you know the story behind the story,” she says of her own remarkable tale.
Even before the first leg of Mahawar’s flight to Canada, she had already ascended to impressive heights.
She is the proud owner of bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English literature from the University of Delhi’s Hansraj College.
After working as a content writer and copywriter in India for five years, Mahawar landed in Regina and was soon hired as digital marketer by a B.C.-based firm. She performed those duties remotely while residing in her new home of Regina.
Not long after that, she heard about an opening in the Roughriders’ organization. An application was promptly and successfully submitted. Her first day with the CFL team was March 22.
While celebrating exciting vocational news, Mahawar was also delighted with developments on the family front.
The paperwork that would enable her husband, a chartered accountant, to move to Canada was nearing completion.
As was the case with Devi and Ruksana, there was a reunification when Mahawar welcomed her husband to Canada — to Regina — on July 29.
“I love it here,” Mahawar says. “Everyone used to call me crazy when I talked about how much I was enjoying the snow.
“I might lose a toe, but I can’t wait for the snow.”
