Time to tie the knot!

Geetha: Ok Raj, everything till now has been great. But this the last thing for all of this and a new beginning to a whole new things.

Raj: I get it Geetha. I have to convince your father that I deserve you for the rest of my life and I’m pretty confident that it works out well for all of us.

Geetha: ok then. Meet my dad (Prakash) tomorrow at 9’o clock in my house.

(Next Day)

Prakash: Hi Raj, come in. How are doing?

Raj: I’m doing good uncle. How are you and aunty?

Prakash: oh, we are doing just fine. So, what are doing now?

Raj: That’s….I’m working on a consultant startup as of now and it is shaping well.

Prakash: oh, that’s nice. So, what is it about?

Raj: The idea behind this startup is to help people achieve their dreams. Like we will be picking those who are ready to give everything for their dreams. Like any kind of jobs, dances, singing, film making, sports, anything that people show interest. We want to cover as much as possible. So, we will be maintaining contacts in respective fields and know their needs and suggest people who we feel best fit their requirements. I see lot of people looking for opportunities and I just want to provide them with some. It is not going to be a large profit making project but I seek to extend my arms for few people. Then after 4-5 years I’m thinking to change my path depending on the progress of this.

Prakash: That’s very cool. Working on these type things at this stage is really great. Geetha said you wanted to talk something to me. What is it?

Raj: Uncle that’s, uh…Geetha and me like each other and we want to be together. We look for your opinion on this.

Prakash: Hmm…So you like her and she like you. Ok…let me ask u one of the cliché questions. If I ask u how much u love her and what does she mean to u what would u say?

Raj: Definitely I won’t say I would put her at stake of my life. Because once there was a time when I felt lost and looking for reasons to my life. Then at that moment your daughter was in my mind…she became one of the biggest reasons for my life. I have decided I should stand in my life to make her life happier and that it’s worth fighting for her. That made her everything to me.

Prakash: Ok, if you’re thinking to be with her then you’re gonna have to look after my company. Do you think you ready for this?

Raj: I think nobody would back off from such an offer. Being at a commendable position for a billion dollar company. But I feel sorry to say that I can’t accept for that because I told you what I wanted to do in my life and it’s my priority now. Just by accepting it without my interest would make things miserable for everyone.

Prakash: You don’t understand. There will not be any growth without money and I wouldn’t want my daughter to feel after years even when she has the choice.

Raj: So, you are telling me that people who have money will be having life and others don’t? I seriously beg to differ on this point. Once if you look up closely you can find there are as many people who screwed up with money as those who didn’t. And the same with people who doesn’t have money. In any case it is only one thing. The determination to live their own life. If one has that then you can see money is just an excuse. Everybody here is a big mathematician trying to solve their life equation. Yet most of them give up at some time and become a variable contributing to others life equation. The variable value might increase in there also but it is for you to decide to bring your own solution to your equation or helping others in theirs. Unless u impute some values to your variables in the process, you won’t get the end result. In the same way unless you define values to your senses in life, you can’t move forward in life. I believe it’s just the values that drives everyone forward, not the money. The day you accept you are responsible for what you do, primarily for your mistakes and not blame anything or anyone, that is the day you really get to see your life.

Prakash: Let me say one thing, most of the parents feel proud when their children achieve bigger things in life, like when they get through some tests, win a cup, come first in the class etc. But I acted like I never really cared about those things to my daughter because she shouldn’t think that they are most valued in life than the way you do those things. I always paid attention to the way she does things. Because I believe when you try to live with values other things just come to you. Even though I’ve decided on you I was just trying to push you deep into fog but you are not really letting me do it. You stayed ahead of my expectations and I feel proud bringing up my daughter by her choice on you! 😀

– A Short Story By Hari 🙂

Diwali Journey

Diwali – the only festival for which my company declared a holiday on Monday even though it was on Sunday! It’s been 4 months I arrived here (Bangalore) and have not got an eyesight of my home town. Even though the bus prices reached peaks like onion prices in India do, because of the festive season, it hadn’t made any change to my mind. So, I right away booked the ticket and boarded the bus. I usually prefer window seat but now there is no chance, there is only one seat left in the bus and that’s not a window seat. I feel so uncomfortable in the bus (kinetosis 😛 ) so I just wanted to sleep. But beside me at the window seat there was a stranger.

He: Hi, my name is ****.

Me: Hello, I’m Hari.

He: you are going to Vijayawada?

Me: yes.

He: I’m also from Vijayawada. What are you doing here?

Me: working.

He: oh, I’m also working here. Going for holidays to meet friends. What did you study?

Me: B.Tech

He: which college?

Me: IIT Hyd.

He: Oh, great. I did Polytechnic from Vijayawada.

Me: Good!

He: So, are you planning to go for MS. Most of my colleagues who did engineering are planning to go. And being from IIT you will go abroad right?

Me: Not really bro. don’t know anything yet. Things you know, still looking for something to hang-on for my life time.

He: So, your parents are staying in Vijayawada?

Me: Yes. Going to meet them.

He: Nice!

With that I started my sleep putting an end to the conversation. I know he wanted to talk through the journey but I’m already feeling restlessness because of the bonding I have with buses. Bus stopped at a Dhaba on highway road around one hour before the mid-night.  People got down to eat something. I and the guy beside me went to eat something. We ordered 4 rotis for each and a single curry for both of us. As we got our order we sat on a table and started eating.

Me: So you are going to meet your friends. Where does your parents stay?

He: I don’t have parents. I’m going to my Orphanage. All of my friends planned to meet there for Diwali.

Me: Good. It’s great that you completed your studies and got a job.

He: yeah, that word is like the morning suprabhath for me. I keep hearing the same thing from everyone. I don’t know if this is also included in “the Rules to live your life!”

Me:                                                                        (not really, I was unable to find a reply for that and I kept eating without speaking. And suddenly I felt an awkward silence settling between us. We were done with our eating and got back in bus.)

Me: So, your orphanage people sponsor for your studies?

He: No, there were some groups offering scholarships to the people who look good in studying and I’m fortunate to be one of them.

Me: Oh, good. So you have any plans for your career?

He: My main problem comes there itself. I have a good career now, if not also lets suppose I have but what is all this for? For whom am I doing these things? Whatever I’m doing right now is not because I wanted to do it but because of the expectations I have from my Orphanage people and the sponsors. They would like to see me in good position and help them out. I do want to help them out but I’m not really fitting in here. I just feel isolated all of a sudden most of the times. Everyone here tries hard in their life to look after their parents then their family if they get any. But first thing to get started is family. They do it for them. In the process they eventually get into building their very own family. What I lack is the base. If I try I can do better in my life but finally a question pops in my mind saying what am I going to achieve from this? I came out of my childhood place for my studies and everyone here is just like me. Everyone puts up a hard fight and they do get turned down sometimes. It’s all the same till here. But, here, at this very point comes the difference to me from the world. When they feel low they have someone they can talk to, and someone that can make them feel cared and motivated. For me even though I do have people from my place I wish you would’ve known how it feels like being with a family and with someone who is a complete stranger to you. It’s only your family that is going to lift you up each time you get knocked down to your knees and when you’ve given up all your hopes. Others just try to make you feel motivated but definitely there is a certain line at which they’ll give up on you because at the end they have their own world too. Having nobody to look after you and having nobody to look up to, that’s one miserable and the most devastating feeling on this earth. It made me so weak that I was crying at least few times a day randomly and the worst thing is it doesn’t consider whether there were people around me or not. Having tears roll down midst a bunch of people, those were the most embarrassing moments I had in my life. I wasn’t able to control myself. And when I talked to people I used to assume them so close as if they were my family. But you know it’s only my assumption. I tried to stay away as much as possible because I’m afraid if I get a little closer I would make some awkward moments with them with things that were not in the standard rules of living 😛

One more thing I had in my life is this girl while I was doing my polytechnic. I’m not going to describe her outer beauty or anything. At the end of my first year I started feeling having a good connection with that girl. Even though you meet lot of people there will be a very few with whom you feel very close and connected. I really don’t know what really made me feel that but I wished she should’ve been as close as a family member to me. I was attracted to the way she had been brought up. I was attracted to the principles she had in her life and the way she was moving on with her life. I wished I had parents like she had. Slowly over the months I was only thinking about her. To put my feelings perfectly I was thinking of her because of their parents more than because of her. I wanted to meet her parents. I wanted to talk to her only to know about her parents. I dreamed of meeting them and telling them how lost I am to get some suggestions and some caring words. And days passed by imagining those things. I tried to talk to her but I wasn’t able to express what I feel inside to her. I don’t have anything else to talk to her also. There was only one thing I wanted to talk and I was dead embarrassed to express it. Beside that with my desperate and futile attempts in trying to talk to her seemed like infatuation for everyone even to that girl. Then I realized I am only putting myself in misdirection. I tried to come out of that and before I could do that my three years completed with me coming out with a degree.

I always wanted to express my feelings to my friends but I was afraid that it could make changes in their behavior with me. I wanted to share these things with someone because it feels like a weight on my shoulders and I thought expressing them to someone would make me feel wing-attached. I’m sorry, I would have bored you to death. Sometimes I get so impulsive.

Me (with me): Well, that escalated quickly for me!

Even though we had some more chat I feel it’s better if it comes in other post or not at all but not in this 😛