Rusi Uncle - how we met

Nilu & I were reminiscing how Rusi Uncle and I came to meet. He had to work in Leyland for six months, and we used to catch the same bus home in the afternoon, me home from junior school, he after work.
He used to talk to me and offer me sweets - Rowntrees fruit gums - so I knew they were all right, but puzzled at my parents' instruction, which I obeyed:

"Never take sweets from strangers."

And I sensed that he was a kind gentleman, knowing also that he missed his own daughter. He missed her and I reminded him of her. When it turned out that she was two years younger than me, at the age of 8, I was even more puzzled; how could I, such a big girl, be like a little girl?

I wanted to show him where I lived. In order to do this, I would get off the bus the stop before my home, then run the 100-150 yards as fast as I could so I could point it out to him as the bus passed , carrying him on to his digs. As I usually couldn't beat the bus, it took me a week of these sprints before I got near enough to point it out.

N tells me the background to RU's emotions at that time. She was convinced that she was going to England with him, and at the airport was saying goodbye to everyone else, not to him, because she was going to go with him. It was only when he walked off without her that she realised. He turned and looked back as she cried. He cried.

When he returned to India, he sent me photos of the family - I think this one must be of Nilufer's Navjote, and a present of India coins, which started my coin collection.

Now talking to Nilufer, watching her with her own daughter, I miss my daughter - there must be some thing in the K and our family that reminds us of ourselves.