Priortizing Life First

You realize how beautiful your life is only when you are inches away from death. Your complaints never end. You are in a race to prove how pathetic your life is and that nobody has a more pathetic life than yours. You never compare our life what is today with what it was previously. Instead you keep comparing your life that you dream to live and that you are living. You might have started your journey on a bus and perhaps have bought up a car now. However, the only regret that you have is why you aren't able to own that SUV which that rich brat friend of yours rides around the city. When you are on your deathbed or have somehow escaped an accident you suddenly realize how far have you come. It is perhaps because from your schedule of office, selfie's and EMI's you hardly have any time for introspection. You just keep rolling in the wheel of desires without even realizing that where you should have stopped.

You realize how beautiful she is, only after you see her with someone else. You somehow fail to remind her how beautiful she looks even today. You forget to appreciate her for all the things she does to keep things calm and composed. She is the same girl for whom you once bought a teddy bear, saved pocket money for a gift and suddenly when you have married her, you have forgotten to make her feel special. She still expects some special moments. If she has decided to be with someone else it is only because someone else has made her feel special. Had you been taking some time out of your busy office schedule for her everyday, nobody would have definitely got a chance. Someone is in only because you have left a void.

You will realize the value of your parents only after they have passed away. You have had some dreams with your parents. It can be going out for a family meal at an expensive restaurant, buying some clothes for your parents or taking them out for a vacation. However you keep delaying with the hope for a perfect occasion or a office leave. You never realize what would the delay cost you. You repent only after you lose your parents. Were you so busy? Really? Did office matter so much? Was the month end sales closing so vital? Don't you repent on how transformed are you today that a presentation holds more importance to you than your parents?

Perhaps we should start with priorities. You might not be working with the same company after two yours but your parents, spouse, children and your health is of utmost importance to you and that will matter to you in the long run of life. You might spend the golden time of life working for someone but when you will be old then won't even bother to give you a 'hello! how are you?' mail. The only people who will be beside you are your near and dear ones. Taking some time out for them is not a bad deal.

Life's best lesson

The night before I didn't have my dinner. I woke up late on that day. I left home without any breakfast. I sat on my friends pillion. We left for breakfast at our old joint, but we couldn't due to an interrupted call.

 

He asked me if I could volunteer for blood donation. I instantly agreed, although I was six months less than the permissible age. My friend rushed to the hospital. While climbing the stairs I asked him who was unwell so as to find out if it any any of his kin. He disclosed that it was none from his kin but a lady who worked as a helper in the school where his mom was the Principal. We rushed to the ward and found a young girl in her early teens lying on the bed. We found out that she had severe haemaglobin shortage and needed blood urgently. Donors were asking for fifteen hundred bucks and the lady's salary was such that she could pay only for two such donors and she needed more. She managed a few donors from her known relatives. We immediately volunteered. The lady and one of her relative rushed to touch our feet, but we asked them not to do so as we were younger than them. We rushed to the room where there was some pre-donation inspection by a doctor.

 

"How old are you guys?" asked a lady doctor.

 

"Nineteen," my friend replied.

     

"Me too," I lied instantly.

 

"Did you guys have breakfast?"

 

"Yeah, we had had rice for our breakfast," I replied.

 

After our blood pressure check we were taken to the room. We were asked to take rest on adjacent chairs.

 

"Are you seriously nineteen?" I asked my friend.

 

He laughed and replied, "I have two months left to be eighteen."

 

"I have six months left," I added.

 

After our blood donation was complete, we visited the lady and said her that few of our friends would volunteer the next day. We were welcomed by a smile of relief from a helpless mother. We were contended.

 

With empty belly's we headed to a food joint. We emptied our purse and ordered for three chapatis and 1 butter chicken. We were allowed credit for some more as the manager was one of our close acquintances.

 

We broke a lot of rules hat day. We rode a two wheeler without any proper driving license and helmets. We donated blood even when we were not allowed too. We lied to the doctor which could have been fatal for our health. Things didn't go in vain. We got the good news a week later, when the lady called to inform us that the girl who had very less chances of survival as per the doctor was out of danger now. We saved a live.

 

The lesson we got is that we should never step away from helping someone because it could even save someone's life.

How my parents passed the test

I was then 17 and my 12th board exams were going on. I was sick with jaundice (which got detected after the exams) and heavy fever. I couldn't study. The day before the last exam, which was mathematics I was down with fever. The thermometer read 104 degree Celsius. I had two pills to take care of the fever and which was sufficient to make me feel drowsy. The last thing which I could see before falling asleep was tears on my mother's eyes. I could make out it was because she was worried about my health and my exams.

"You are too sick. You don't need to give your exam tomorrow and you will be taken to a hospital tomorrow," said my mother with the grief that I would be losing a year of my academics.

"Don't worry Maa, please wake me up tomorrow morning. If needed I will crawl to the exam hall. I might fail but I will still appear," I said my words just before I fell asleep.

I woke up and had two more tablets of fever. I reached the hall and soon after the question paper was distributed I started feeling drowsyp. I couldn't fight the sleep and instead fell asleep . I woke up after one and half hour. The exam was already half gone. I turned around to see my best friend in tension. She even cried later. I went to the toilet and washed my face. I sprinkled water upon my eyes so that I could be awake for another ninety minutes.

I saw the paper. It wasn't easy and luckily I knew most of the paper. I had a perfect partnership with the pen and I jolted down 60 marks in the time left. I didn't know the rest or else my pen would have sure been with me till the end. I was sure to pass.

My best friend walked to me and she cried. She didn't want me to lose a year. I assured her that it wouldn't have been so.

As I walked out I saw my father. He was there with sweets and juice. I grabbed some and passed on to my friends. It was the last day of our exams and all my friends had different party plans. I went home, had my lunch and was rushed to the hospital. I was admitted immediately. When most friends of mine were having cuisines, I was there at the hospital with salines. I was detected jaundice, fever and weak liver. I was later taken to Hyderabad for further treatments. The day of results came. I scored 42 out of the 60 that I had attempted and passed with first divisions and later got in to engineering.

My neighbours and relatives complained about my poor performance and also placed their suggestions. Later when I sat with my parents they coined me to be a hero. They were happy that I made it somehow.

I was glad at my parents than at my results. I was glad to have parents who were least bothered about my exams and results. I am proud of my parents. They passed the test. Most Indian parents wouldn't.

A friendship story

He loved his girl. He proposed and she agreed to marry. The marriage was planned within a fortnight. The boy knew he would be busy with preparations and he handed his dad a list of around fifty friends whom he wanted to be invited for his wedding. His dad said it would be done.

On the day of his wedding he was astonished to see that only eight of his friends were at the wedding. He turned towards his father and asked, "Didn't you send the invitation to all of them?"

"I did, but in a different manner," replied the dad.

"What did you do?" asked his son.

"I said you were kidnapped and somebody needs to be there to help you escape," he replied.

The boy got moisture in his eyes and hugged his friends. He walked to his father to thank him and his father gave him a word of advice as wedding gift, "Live with company, not with crowd. You  need friends beside you, not a crowd mongering around."

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."

College Days

Commemorating every single mischief of the last four years has now made college life look adorable. Bunks, proxies, Cheating in internals, attendance shortage, LL (Lover’s Lane), imitating teachers, sharing data hand-books, parking lot, birthday bumps, Wonder La, Bike trips, Nandi Hills, educational trips  … everything stands as a beautiful part in each one of ours Book of Engineering. On one hand where we had friends from other branches yelling about the differences prevailing among them and on the other hand we have always cheered the  Royal Mechanical Brotherhood. Bengaluru had been a home far away from home for me. In the arms of all the brothers around this was perhaps the most beautiful phase of life. Although we always complained about the scarcity of the feminine gender yet in the end it didn’t even matter. 

Now we have all separated like the branches of a tree. We are all focussed and heading towards our destination. But will this life remain as good as the last four years from now on?? The bitter part of life will now be served to us. At every phase we would be expected to act towards responsibilities, duties and social norms. We are not expected to be mischievous and now on mischiefs would be treated as mistakes. We are all graduates, just like millions of them in the streets. We will have to be in the rat race.

Life after a decade shall be lot changed than what we lived during engineering. Most of us will be married. All of us will be established as white collar employee or entrepreneurs at different corners of the globe. We won’t be college going lad any more. We won’t be wearing our friend’s tee and a pair of torn unwashed jeans every time. We won’t have plenty of time to watch every movie. We won’t have time to fix a girl for a friend. We won’t have that appetite to eat every dish in a buffet. We would hesitate for a street fight. We won’t have that bunch of friends to get us a cake and kick our ass on the mid-night of our birthday. We would have plenty of money for petrol but the least enthusiasm for any bike trip. We would be missing studying together a night before exam. 

One fine day we would plan for a reunion and we would be there with most of us hanging a beer belly. There we shall sit and cherish about all the mischiefs of our college life. As for now, it’s too hard for me to realize that I just lived the best days of my life.