She was a girl caught in the hands of fate; Never understood never respected. Her fragile soul was in dire need of a new beginning; A beginning that would change her haunted life forever. I like to call her Concrete Angel.
Her name was Nataliya Khan. She and her family were migrants from India. She lived an ordinary life up till the age of eight. She stayed in a small town near the Scotland border. Her family was not well off and there were also times when money was nowhere being sufficient for the four members of the family. Her father Asad Khan worked as a border control officer and her mother Iman was a simple housewife who wanted her children to grow up to be the best they could be. Nataliya's brother Amaar was two years older than her and already at the age of ten was showing signs of being a 'difficult kid'. Nataliya, on the other hand, was a beautiful girl with the most striking features imaginable who had wild dreams and a will to do anything to make them come true. She wanted the world to stop hating and start believing. She wanted to make the world a better place for everyone to live in. It was a passion that lived with her through the rest of her life.
Everything changed the day she found out she was moving to the city of London. Her father had just received an early retirement and wanted the family to get a taste of living a life in the city. Nataliya was somewhat shattered but looked towards the move as a change in her life. It was to be a change, hopefully, for the better. Opposite Nataliya was her brother Amaar who did not really care whatsever happened as long as he was left alone by everyone. It was from the beginning that Nataliya and Amaar did not share a strong bond of closeness. They were always kept out of each others lives and sometimes Nataliya really wished it could have been different with the two of them
Nataliya soon started school. School was one thing that she adored the most. She was always achieving outstanding grades and was one of the brightest in class back home. Nataliya was both eager and nervous on her first day of school. Because of having lived in a less populated town she knew nothing of schools of the city. As it was her first day she did not know what to expect. Her first step into her new school and she knew she did not like it at all. She imagined all the students to be kind and gentle but they were all far from it. The first girl she met refused to talk to her because she was wearing a dress that, she claimed, was not from her era. But when Nataliya tried to explain that the outer appearance of a person should not be taken into account and that it should be all about of what is on the inside the girl cave her a look of deepest disgust and denied to even look at her. Nataliya's first day at school was one of the most awful days of her life. She was mock all day and was made fun of being an immigrant, her name, her skin color and, most of all, her religion. The only thing that she was not teased about was language as she already spoke fluent English. At that age Nataliya did not understand everything that was happening to her and kept her feelings curled up into a little ball inside of her. She did not understand that she was being racially abused.
With the passage of time, Nataliya started dealing with a lot if issues both at home and at school. Her brother was getting involved with bad crowds and was getting into the habit of using drugs. This made the entire family fear for his life. At school, things were getting worn by the day. The only people that stood by her side were Fatima and Jessica; Her two best friends. Without them Nataliya had no idea how she would cope with all the problems. The racial comments were getting worse with the passing of each day. Nataliya had no one to turn to her two best friends. She started asking herself because she was so different from the rest. She believed that just because she was poor and was Asian, it did not give people the right to hurl insults at her like the way the students did. But not once did she complain and told herself that she is beautiful no matter what they say and that plain words will never be able to bring her down. She still knew that she was living a better life than many people in the world.
As a way of dealing with all of the difficult situations that she turned to the only thing she knew that could help her get out of the mess and that was education. Soon, she started shunning out all of the comments and insults and even picked up a new hobby along the way: meditation. She would go home everyday after school and practice meditation as a way of relieving all of the stress and to just be on a plane of a totally different dimension for a while. As a result, she started taking every test and was gradually rising to the top of her class. Nataliya really started to feel inner peace and felt as if nothing could go wrong anymore. She was actually starting to be appreciated by many and actually thought that the worse of the worst days were over. She believed that now she would actually be able to live a life she deserved and that of peace and happiness.
Days started to go by which were followed my months. Nataliya's life essentially did seem as if it was taking a complete turn-around. The racial remarks slowly started to subside and she began making new friends and was starting to get the life she always dreamed of. The only thing that was weighing down Nataliya was her brother Amaar. Nataliya was always told that people normally went from bad to good and tried to amend the things they had done wrong but Amaar, it seemed, was doing the exact opposite. He was going from bad to worse. Mr. And Mrs. Khan tried everything possible to rid Amaar of his doings but nothing seemed to be working. The more he was forbidden the more illegal activities he got himself involved in. It gave the impression that Amaar had completely let go of himself and later and did not care whatever happened to him from there on in. There would be times when Amaar would lock himself up in his room and would not show his face for days. Mr. And Mrs. Khan had had just about enough. They believed that they were entitled to interfere with their son's life and called for desperate measures. They were going to get Amaar professional help.
The day Mr. And Mrs. Khan were going to tell Amaar the news, Nataliya could remember it all too clearly. She had been up in her room when she heard her mother yelling but could not comprehend. She later found out that Amaar's room was found empty with a note telling the family to forget about him and not to try to find him. Nataliya was speechless. It was the very thing she had been dreading. However, the worst was still yet to come. It was around midday when the Khans received the phone call that would shatter their world. The news was that Amaar had been found on the side of the pavement breathing his last breaths. By the time he arrived at the hospital he was pronounced dead. The cause of death was multiple overdoses of banned substances. This information was seemed to eat Nataliya whole. Even though she and Amaar were not as close as she would have liked, she still loved him dearly and would never want anything fatal to happen to him. But she had to accept the fact that Amaar was no more. All she could do was pray that he was in a better place; Happy and serene.
Sometimes Nataliya surprised if Amaar's death was if not all then partly her fault. She accused herself for not even trying to understand her brother from the very beginning. If she had then things might have turned out differently and Amaar might still be with the family instead of being in some far off place. But what happened had happened and there was no altering anything. It was time to face reality and move on. Once again she turned towards the only option she had and that was school. Nataliya was now in her final year and she was determined to contribute herself to a noble cause. She was not certain what that cause was but she knew she would make her story known and make it be heard.
After graduating with honors, Nataliya received a full scholarship for Cambridge University. She dedicated the next years of her life to her education. She always knew that something good and something worth having would cross her path. It was her never giving up character that got her through all the hardships she had endured during the past couple of years. After graduation Nataliya dedicated her time to finding out what to do with the rest of her life. She knew that her past was something that she would never be able to forget and therefore keeping that in mind, Nataliya started and organization to help fight racism and to help troubled children who were in a great deal need of help. By running the organization she knew that she was helping millions of children who were going through similar situations that she and her brother had gone through. Also, keeping the past family financial circumstances in mind, Nataliya chose to help the unprivileged children or even adults free of charge.
With time, her growing organization began to spread through the country and millions were helped each year. Nataliya was finally living the life she deserved. She had everything she had ever wanted: recognition, honor and, most of all, happiness.