Meet Anu Chahar
I remember getting on a plane with my brother – with my adopted dad’s brother – and leaving India for good. My brother and I were on the same plane with him from New Delhi to Switzerland, from Switzerland to Washington DC, DC to Tulsa, Oklahoma. The last leg from DC to Tulsa, my adopted dad’s brother had to leave us to go to Indiana. So from DC to Tulsa it was just me and my brother – coming from India to the United States – and we didn’t have anyone we knew on the plane. The only instructions that the stewardess received were to watch these kids. We had no supervision, we didn’t speak any English. We were 6 and 8 on a three hour plane ride - having just been on two flights to move out of India.
In New Delhi, we were living in a one bedroom apartment and there were 11 of us. Couches, floors, sleeping bags. I remember every night I would go to bed with my grandpa who I would call Baba. And I do not have one bad memory of Baba. But we would sleep with him in a hammock in a back room. He would have me in one arm, and my brother in another – and that is how we slept. The 11 people living in this small apartment were aunts, uncles, cousins, and Baba.
I remember the first time my adopted mom came to visit me in India. She came to visit me with my adopted Dad. She was born in Lafayette, Louisiana, but she grew up in Houston, TX, and my adopted dad – who is my real dad’s first cousin – was already living in the States working for ConocoPhillips. When I saw her for the first time, I thought she was an angel from Heaven or something. That was the first time they had ever seen me and my brother before. The only reason that they had heard about our story was because they heard these kids weren’t in a good scenario. They were like, there’s some weird stuff going on with these kids in their home life, and at this point both of my real parents had already passed away.
I remember my adopted mom showing up at my door, and not knowing what was going on. I remember her giving me a stick of gum, and I never remember having a stick of gum before. I remember that as being the first time because she had to explain to me, okay, you chew this, but you don’t swallow it. And I was maybe six years old at this time in India – and I thought this was the coolest thing in the world. I remember the green packaging, and it was a pack with 5 pieces in it, super skinny, and one of those that you get at the airport. When she handed me the piece, I remember the other kids just took it out of my hands as soon as they left – and they all gloated to me about how awesome it was!
After their visit, they went back to the United States – but my brother and I stayed India. My adopted parents then decided that they wanted to go ahead with the adoption paperwork – which is really expensive to adopt a kid from India, especially. My adopted dad is actually my cousin, and he was trying to take two kids out of the streets. We literally would get up every day – we didn’t even have sandals – and we would walk out barefoot into the streets. When I go back to India, I look around at all the kids in the streets, and every time I think, that is absolutely where I would be – zero doubt. The first time I had that realization, I had so much gratitude, because I understood that one person’s decision at one point in time can change a life forever. Now in my life, 12 years younger than the age of my adopted dad when he adopted me, I can’t believe he would be willing to do that.
