An Imperfect Life-partner

"Finally, I have found someone for myself. I am very happy", said the girl as they walked down the street.

The girl and the boy had been friends since high school. The boy had a crush upon her since the first day of school. The boy even expressed his feelings several times and the girl gently turned him down. She liked his friendship and so in spite of hindrances she maintained the friendship with him.

"I am happy for you", replied the boy in a soft and broken voice. He didn't have any moisture in his eyes, yet it was not able to maintain the joyfulness.

"I owe you a treat. Tell me where do you want a treat?" asked the happy girl.

"What was so wrong about me?"

"I don't like you. That's it."

"Why? You like my company but you are not ready to accept me as my boyfriend. Why is it so?" asked the confused boy.

"You cannot decide your life partner just because you like his company. He need's to be a complete man."

"What's incomplete in me?"

"You see a man is known by the company he keeps. I hate your friends. They are so badly dressed. They wear the same pair of jeans for weeks thinking it might go unnoticed. They are into brawls every now and then and surprisingly most of the times it is for others. They still need to grow up."

"You didn't accept me because of my friends?"

"You are a good guy but he is better. I can blindly trust that he shall keep me happy all throughout his life. He earns good, has a nice apartment, keeps travelling across metros and is always surrounded by good company. By good company I mean to say people who are properly dressed with suit and live a gentle life."

"I had bought something for you but now I think it won't be of any use to you" said the boy.

"What did you bring?"

The boy pulled out a diamond ring from his pocket.

"Please don't make it difficult for me. Please don't propose", said the girl.

"I won't. I gave up the idea of proposing you when you said that you have found out the life partner for you."

"It looks expensive."

"Yeah I saved an entire months salary for it" smiled the boy as he said it.

"It looks more than your months salary."

"Obviously it is. The rest is paid by those friends whom you hate so much. I just announced that I was planning to propose you and they collected the money. I hesitated to collect the money but they insisted a lot. They selected this ring."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes I am. It might be true that I am an imperfect life-partner but I am surrounded by perfect company. Fatso earned his livelihood by giving guitar lessons to the school kids and that idiot sold his guitar for this ring. Sam was saving for a Royal Enfield but he broke a part of his savings. I am lucky to have them. You please keep the ring or they shall be hurt. I will keep my friends. I look best in their company."

The Kalapani Captive's..

The sun so strong, outside the window.

Yet it's cold, frozen to death,

the warm revolutionary ideas.

At the blink of eyes, things have turned so wrong.

We swore to struggle, at the cost of everything.

We pictured immortality beyond the victory of our flags.

Our brothers, who fearlessly faced bullets,

smiled, as they walked to the gallows,

kissed the noose as if it were there valentine's lips.

Had their death gone to vain?

When we were captured by the soldiers,

we were hung up and brutally tortured,

mercilessly they ripped off our skin,

they smiled as our muscles gave up,

we didn't surrender, even when they hit us hard.

We pictured handcuffs as ornaments,

and jails as a paradise with our valentine.

The brothers who swore to us,

to keep the struggle alive,

must have been dead or brutally killed.

Had they been alive, the chill would been unnoticed,

the blanket of coldness would have been stripped off,

the Sun would have been ashamed,

their struggle would have been much warmer.

In this island where we have been kept,

and there's water and water around everywhere,

fellow prison mates and guards to accompany us,

beyond the walls are poisonous snakes,

there's no way we can even escape.

Pass on the message, to our brother's,

ask them to be safe, and continue the struggle,

we are born indebted to our motherland,

the debt shall vanish only with death.

Our sacrifice shall be recognized,

only when the Tricolour shall be held high.

The generations yet to come,

shall know they they got their peace,

because some men choose to weep,

in dark cages, and pictured victory.

These line have been penned up as a respect to those Indian revolutionaries who were jailed in Kalapani.

Priortization

For late adolescents and people in twenties, it is a hard decision to make when it comes to choose between family, friends and their partner. All three have got their importance's in an individuals life. Parents are the backbone of life. From birth, education and till everything parents are the backbone. From advice's in career counselling to spending time at the evening plebeians gatherings, friends become an integral part in life. Partners, apart from evening park walks and coffee, walk close to heart although in some cases, they don't turn out to be life partners. After everything an individual needs time for himself. Some me time is very essential, even if someone gets to sleep very less he needs that quarter hour before sleeping to think about himself. So here come's the problem of prioritization. Who should be given priority? Is it family, friends, partners of self that deserves priority?

My roommate, Siddharth Choudhury suggests a theory of 'Three Thirties and a Ten'. What he wishes to convey is that family, friends and partners are of equal importance and the trio needs 30% weightage each. The remaining 10% is the me time. He says although the weightage of me time is lowest yet that must be the most efficient utilization. If we fail in the utilization of me time then we shall be lost. He says that is a person can't give time for himself than surely that person won't have any time for others too. The trio of family, friends and partner should be maintained equally and it should be watched that one doesn't supersede the other. 

I completely agree to his postulate but I believe in occasional transformations in the weightage. Well at this age if the question and opportunity of career pops in, than the me time weightage should be increased. If our parents get sick or they need us to take our stand in the family, than the weightage for family should be increased. If our friend is lying in the hospital bed or is depressed sitting beside the lake, than without giving a second thought we must rush towards him. If our partner is lonely then its time to be beside her, taking evening strolls with our hands around her waist and making her feel secured. What I believe is just a minor alteration to  the prime idea of my roommate. After all, this stage passes through mood swings, affections, responsibilities, career leaps and repents; yet this remains as the happiest time throughout our lives.