Samantha Kochharr's Arribada: The Arrival Is An Extension Of Her Spiritual Journey

Joy and Ollie. Two souls from different worlds who don’t speak each other’s language. The Universe brings them together to embark on an unusual, unforgettable journey. Sometimes together, sometimes apart.

From living in London with a high-powered job and a lovely family to losing everything and becoming a handyman in a small Maasai village in Africa, Joy wades through happiness, grief, loss and despair; while Ollie swims in the slow lane of life. When truth, as they perceive it, begins to collapse around them, it exposes their brokenness, shatters their beliefs and reveals their worst fears. It leaves them completely devastated.

Samantha Kochharr's Arribada: The Arrival is her first book and it is an extension of her spiritual journey. Here is an excerpt from her book:

Joy did not understand much about the dwindling turtle population and felt that the smallest of events had been blown out of proportion by the villagers. He did not care; he was neither a conservationist nor an environmentalist. But he was worried about the safety of his friend Ollie, and so he kept an eye out for him. Sadly, many turtles were washing up—all scratched, cut up and bloodless—on the beach of Galgibaga. It may have been due to the presence of those large illegal fishing trawlers that he saw late at night in and around his village.

Joy’s stream of thoughts was cut short when Ollie emerged from the rocks at the far end of the beach and waddled up to Joy’s hideaway. Both man and turtle sat down on the sand, side by side. Joy stroked the cool, scaly head of Ollie. It gave him a feeling of comfort and calmed the emotional storm raging within.

His heart was heavy because his wife wanted to leave him for another man. He had known for a while now that their relationship was ending, but then one day he happened to see her in the arms of another man. He saw true love and longing in their embrace and eyes. He had forgotten how love felt and looked like, and this was a rude awakening for him. It jolted him out of the daze he had been caught in since his father had passed away.

‘When a series of incidents and setbacks in our life start to break us, it’s actually a time of grace and transformation. Transformation is not easy, it’s painful and confusing. We need to look at patterns and see how to break them. Instead, we get busy playing the victim!’

Joy felt a mixed bag of emotions when he saw his wife and her new love. He first felt a wave of relief wash over him because now he had an excuse to end something that had ended many years ago. She too had finally cheated on him like he had, not once, but many times with other women. The only difference was that he was never in love with the women he slept with.

But that night, he had seen Maria smile, giggle and laugh in her lover’s embrace. He had seen her happy after such a long time and that, oddly, made him feel happy for her, but he also felt let down by life. So much had come to an end for him in the past few years, but he had not found the courage to end things with Maria. She was the only constant left in his life and being with her was more of a habit, like it is in most loveless marriages.

The truth was that theirs was a marriage of convenience. He was needed to keep the money coming, provide for all the comforts, and support her dreams, as every good husband should, and he did. She was needed to run the house and keep things functional for them, which she did. Both husband and wife deserved the credit, they did a good job and were a great team.

They were so good at this little pretend game that everyone believed that they had a good, strong marriage. Their spasmodic, half-hearted efforts to make it work over the past few years had even made Joy believe, albeit occasionally, that they had something good going. They would often have bitter fights and not talk for days, and then there would be few weeks of peace between them. The slightest touch, even a casual caress exchanged between them was rare these days and proximity felt awkward. They slept in the same bed, lived in the same house, but were each lost in their own world.

For Joy, his one-night stands were more real. He had often wondered if marriages really made people happy. Did love really last beyond the initial, feverish romance? Why did people stop loving or wanting each other again? Did married people stay loyal to each other all their lives? Or did they cheat at times and keep it under wraps? Were he and Maria the unlucky ones? Was it worth investing so much time and effort in a relationship when it had to come to an end?

He slowly got up and made his way back home and waited for her. He sat in the living room with the lights switched off. He heard her come in after an hour or so. In a very calm and collected voice, he asked her to switch on the lights and sit with him.

She took a seat opposite him and when they locked eyes, she knew that he knew. For many months, she had been trying to find the correct time and space to let him know that she had made up her mind to leave him; it did not feel right to be in love with another man while being married to this one. She had fallen madly in love with Anthony and it felt so right with him.

All the people Joy loved were slowly disappearing from his life and he felt truly alone. He had started to believe that he was not meant for good things, that he was supposed to be unhappy. Maybe he was being punished for all the bad things that he had, knowingly and unknowingly, done to people. He was quite sure that he had run out of luck. The thing Joy did not know is that when a greater force and energy, one that had created this world, decides to step into our lives, everything turns upside down. We are not being punished. We are actually the chosen ones.

Excerpted with permission from ‘Arribada: The Arrival’ by Samantha Kochharr; and published by Rupa Publications India. You can also join SheThePeople’s Book club on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.

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