Mixed emotions ran through Aditya as he set foot in Tokyo, Japan. He was far away from home. Although Aditya was very excited to join the head office of the IT firm he worked for, he was nervous about adapting to a new country, food, people, language and society.
A few months had passed since Aditya started working there. But even by then, he had managed to learn only a few words in Japanese, the importance of which he only realised after meeting his new colleague Niko, who had joined the company a few weeks after his arrival. Aditya developed a liking for her from day one. He wanted to talk to her but lacked courage. And on days when courage wasn’t an issue, the language barrier certainly was.
Niko hailed from a small village but harboured big dreams that brought her to Tokyo. She didn’t speak English. If she did, she would have loved to talk to that foreigner who always smiles at her but never says anything. She didn’t know that his name was Aditya, let alone how he felt. But every morning, whenever he smiled, she smiled back.
One evening while taking a walk in the office garden during a break, Aditya saw, Niko sitting on a park bench. Despite his initial hesitation, he walked up to her and sat next to her. He pulled out his phone and typed “Hi, I am Aditya” on Google Translate. And then he bowed. At first, she looked at him with puzzled eyes. But after hearing the translation, she smiled, said her name and bowed back.
What followed was a long-overdue conversation encompassing a wide range of topics such as work, their likes and dislikes, favourite food, movies among others. Thanks to technology, two people who didn’t understand each other’s language had found a way to connect.
And connect they did. Their occasional chit-chats soon turned into dinner dates and sightseeing excursions. And just like that, a year already passed. By now, he had fallen in love with the culture, food, and people, especially Niko. His Japanese had improved as well. Things happened so quickly that Aditya didn’t even realise that it was time for him to head back home after the duration of his project came to an end.
As Aditya headed to the airport, Niko came to bid him goodbye, not knowing when they will meet again. It was 4 am. She didn’t utter a word but stared blankly at Aditya with a sombre look in her eyes. Seeing Niko in that state, Aditya asked her if she knew the meaning of her name. She nodded and said “daylight” in Japanese. Then he asked if she knew the meaning of Aditya. She didn’t.
“Somethings are inseparable, Niko. Don’t worry, we will meet again,” Aditya said in Japanese. He hugged her and waved her goodbye as he entered the airport.
Niko took a cab back home. Her heart echoed with the memories of Aditya. While she was lost in her thoughts, she suddenly remembered what he had asked her. “The meaning of his name,” she wondered. She quickly Googled ‘Aditya’ and a broad smile returned to her face.
“The sun,” she whispered.
She looked out her window and saw the sun rising above the clouds, illuminating the sky with its radiant light, which signaled the dawn of a new day.
At that moment, Niko understood what Aditya meant by inseparable.