Wednesday, October 22, 2008

expectations......

Dishan was a small town boy, brought up in dust laden streets where the tranquility camouflages the obliviousness , where the bankruptcy of the Lehmann bros or Morgan Stanley fails to make into the small talk, where the falling sensex doesn’t mean falling love between couples or where people usually aspire to be doctors engineers or the next Ambani.
Being a very obedient and the only son of his parents he was a pampered brat. Every alternate week meant a 50 rupee note from his mom...to the mom it was a way to prod Dishan to higher attendance, higher marks and of course peace of mind from his constant nagging..But for Dishan it was much more. It was his way to a Ferrari, to more envious glances from his friends and of course it was his means to zoooooooom to fun and frolic.

Dishan started doing well in school...hats off to him and his parents…he completed his homework on time worked hard and he was the topper. He started reading the newspaper when the backbenchers in his classes couldn’t even join letters to form words. Newspapers meant a window to him...it was his foray into the big world…in the world which expands out from the earth to space…world where abject poverty and stinking wealth coexist , where people die for money and where someone called as L.N Mittal invites everyone to his daughter’s wedding with a silver card…of course Dishan wasn’t invited...but in his dreams he thought, I will be the next L.N Mittal….his dreams had now started expanding at a frantically higher pace and he had started to develop a thirst for more...he wanted to work his way out from the maze of his mofussil town and jump into the limelight…his parents though rewarded his good performance in school with more 50 rupee notes but he had started to think more of what a 50 rupee couldnot buy….he knew a 50 rupee note was just not enough in this world…
He convinced his parents to send him to the nearest metro...seeing the glitter and determination in Dilshan’s voice hardly could have anybody relented. The big city lights …the flashy cars …the ultra mod girl friends ..City was just as Dishan expected…amazing to those who are ready to slog , else you perish...however now his desires had become an obsession...he didn’t “dream “ to be in BMWs ...he actually chased BMWs in his bicycle when they surpassed him...hoping he will catch up some day…but Dilshan didn’t fail his parents’ trust in him. He slogged really hard...outshone everybody else in his league...and he got the sweet fruit of hard work. His expectations and reality had converged and he was in ecstasy. But his dreams kept on expanding and his performance did not . After all there are just 24 hours in a day…..however the gulf between the expectations and reality kept on widening…And the ecstasy kept on evaporating...he was getting more frustrated and depressed. He had surely come a long way...but he looked himself as an underperformer….his shoulders were hung low his head was bent in shame..… He had lots of 50 rupee notes in his pocket but hardly did they matter to him. What mattered to him were his dreams , his ambitions and not what the world thought of him...until the world shook under his feet..And his entire hard work crumbled into a rubble...again a 50 rupee note meant a lot for him…again it was his means to happiness and joy...again he was contended with just A 50 RUPEE NOTE......no wonder when I met him in the bus ..He trailed off saying ...”Life is indeed a full circle but of varying radius, my friend”….

2 comments:

gambit said...

boss ulti story .... or is it....
anyways u must remember,the derivative of the radius is in your hands ... only iff u make it "POSITIVE"...u know the rest.. it will never cum back 2 d same point

Himanshu Sahni said...

Good story man, very well writ. I also like the last one. But one advice, use punctuation to your advantage, don't ignore it by putting ... everywhere. :)