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“I am sorry mom. I am really sorry, but I have to do this. I’ll return this as soon as possible.” said Sahil to himself.

“Somebody’s been stealing from my purse.” said Shanti to her husband. “I had Rs 30000 with me. They were meant for Sahil’s school fees and I couldn’t find them this morning.”

“What? Have you looked everywhere? You may have dropped it somewhere. Don’t jump to any conclusions.” replied her husband.

“I have looked everywhere, but I just couldn’t find it. I am telling you, I am sure Shanta Bai must have stolen it.” Said Shanti

“Fine, we will question her tomorrow morning.”

****next morning****

“Where is the money Shanta, tell me! Tell me, or I’ll call the police!” screamed Shanti at her maid servant.

“I don’t know miem saab. I didn’t steal it.” She sobbed.

“She won’t confess like this. Shekhar darling, please call the police. Call the police now!” said Shanti looking towards Shekhar.

“No miem saab please don’t call the police, I didn’t do anything!” Shanta sobbed kneeling on the floor and catching hold of Shanti’s legs.

“It’s ok Shanti just let her go. Rs 30000 isn’t a big deal for us. I don’t want to make this a huge issue.” replied Shekhar.

“Ok, I am letting you go. But, don’t you dare show your face here again, you get it?” said Shanti angrily.

As Shanta ran out of the door sobbing, Sahil entered the house. Unaware of the events that just took place; he looked at his mother with a puzzled look.

“It’s nothing beta, she stole money from my purse and now she is shedding her crocodile tears. Anyways where have you been all night? I don’t remember seeing you at all last evening.” replied Shanti.

“Err… Nothing mom, I was… err… in my room studying. Exams are round the corner right.” Sahil replied with a smile.

“Very good beta. Study hard and do well this time around too OK?” she said with a smile.

Shekhar Malpani was an average upper middle class man, who counted himself among the elite. Sahil was Shekhar and Shanti Malpani’s only child. He was a bright, well behaved and very friendly fifteen year old kid. Everything was going well until a couple of months back, when Shekhar started sending Sahil for mathematics tuitions to a nearby coaching center where most of the rich kids used to come.

****one month back****

“Can I come with you guys?” Sahil asked Aneesh, a twelfth class student studying mathematics at the same tuition center Sahil went to.  Unlike Sahil, Aneesh was known for creating a nuisance everywhere he went.

“You want to come with us? We aren’t going to a playground, kid. Go, go do your homework.” Replied Aneesh and the rest started laughing.

“Hey! Don’t you dare call me a kid! I am no kid, you get it! I am no kid!” retorted Sahil angrily.

“Hmmm I guess, let him come with us. He may just be some entertainment for us. But hey, don’t expect us to pay for your stuff. You want the stuff, you pay for it yourself. Be ready tomorrow night.” said Raghu, one of Aneesh’s friends.

****That night****

“I told you not to bring these kids in here didn’t I?” replied Salim Bhai.

“Aree its ok Salim Bhai, he’s a friend and hey, don’t call him a kid, else you are gonna get a piece of his mind too.” said Aneesh giving a pat on Sahil’s back.

Although Sahil tried pretty hard to pretend that he was ok with all that was going on, deep within his heart was beating really hard.

“Raghu, pass it on to Sahil and then to me.” said Aneesh.

“Err…Aneesh, how much does this cost. I have Rs 100 with me. Will that do?” asked Sahil.

“What? You got just Rs 100 with you? You aren’t here to have a pizza, this is serious stuff. Dude, you will have to add a couple of zeroes more to it. It’s ok, I’ll pay for you this time, and you can pay me later. Now come on, have fun.” replied Aneesh.

“Thanks Aneesh. You are amazing buddy!” said Sahil.

“Oh come on, it’s just for this one time. Who’s going to have this every single day? Tomorrow I’ll go and ask dad for some money to be given at school and pay Aneesh off. After that it’s all over. I’ll soon return to my earlier life” Sahil tried to convince himself.

****The next day at the tuition center ****

“Here’s your money Aneesh. Thanks for everything.” said Sahil.

“No problems buddy. Anytime! Hey, we are going there again tonight. Wanna come?” asked Aneesh.

“Err… no Aneesh, you carry on. I am done with this.” replied Sahil.

“What? And I thought you weren’t a kid. But I guess I was wrong. Sigh! It’s ok; you can go to mommy and have your milk.”  Aneesh said mockingly.

“Hey come on! I tried it right? That proves I am no kid. The point is, where will I get the money from? My dad isn’t as rich as yours, you know that.” retorted Sahil.

“Where there’s a will, there’s a way my friend. Ok fine, this one is a treat from my side. Happy now!” said Aneesh in his sweetest tone.

“Yay! Thanks Aneesh, you are the best!” replied Sahil.

This soon started becoming a regular affair. Sahil started to steal from home and started selling his things to generate funds for his new hobby.

****Present****

That night, as Sahil was sitting in his room studying, he heard someone whistle below his window. He knew it was a signal from Aneesh. He was going to take a step higher today.

****The next day****

“Hello.” said Shanti, as she picked up the phone.

“I am really sorry to hear the news about Sahil, Shanti.” said the voice on the other side.

“What? What news?” asked Shanti.

“Oh my god! You guys don’t know? Go read the newspaper.”

Shanti picked up the news paper lying on the table. It read, “Fifteen year old boy dies of drug overdose.”

***********

Every year drug trafficking claims lives of thousands of young teenagers all over the world. It’s really sad when bright young kids like Sahil spoil their lives getting addicted to drugs. When they all try it for the first time, they all feel there will be a return to normal life one day, but, in most case, there is no return. Even if there is a return, it’s a very painful journey.

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Fiction 55 is a form of writing where the whole story has to fit in 55 words.

**********

“What? They expect you to do the job without a gun?” I asked the young man.

He smiled and replied, “Don’t ask me, asked the boss. I just need the 5000 bucks he gives me.”

“What are you doing sitting there!” screamed a voice. “Open the gate you moron! Who’s the watchman, you or me?”

**********

P.S. While I waiting for a friend, I had the chance of speaking to a watchman standing outside the gate. He was a young looking guy, dressed in a dark blue uniform. Having nothing to do while I was waiting, I started talking to him. After I learnt he was getting just Rs 5000 for this job, I asked him why was he even doing this? He told me, he was doing this so that he could fund his college education. Others he says do it for feeding their families. Except at some places, guards usually just have a stick to use as a weapon to fight against unwelcome intruders. The above fiction 55 I just narrated isn’t real. But, the fact is these guys aren’t given the kind of respect I think they deserve. If you ask me, they deserve as much respect as we do, if not more.

P.P.S. The P.S. ended up being longer than the actual post.

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I was invited to a seminar by a friend last Tuesday. It was the last day of a four day seminar – the last day being a day, when the attendees of the program invited their family and friends. Almost all the attendees out there, were people who had some or the other relationship trouble going on, be it their relationship with their parents, relationship with their spouse, relationship with their siblings or relationship with the people at work. People who had attended the program came up one by one on the stage and spoke about their problems and how the program changed it all. Although all the problems had different dynamics, there one thing common in almost all their solutions – they all recognized that they are equally responsible for the relationship going bad and actually apologized for the hurt they had caused to the other person.

At the end of it, I was left completely amazed and also thankful. Amazed, because, it takes guts to come and speak the stuff people there spoke about and thankful, because, when I compared my life with theirs, I felt blessed. On my way back home, I couldn’t help but subconsciously analyze all my relationships. When I looked at myself in my mental mirror, I saw a guy who people found pretty fun loving, had a loving family, had friends who are as close as family and had a pretty decent relationship with people at work. But were these relationships perfect? I wasn’t too sure.

As I was writing this post, my dad came up to and started talking about some random stuff. Now, I just hate it when someone disturbs me when I am writing. It just breaks the whole thought process and I have to re-write the whole thing. Now, although I was angry, I couldn’t scream at him, so I just tried sounding as disinterested in the conversation as I could, hoping that he would get the hint and stop. Unfortunately though, he didn’t, and I had to tell him pretty rudely – “Dad, if you don’t mind, I am in the middle of something!” However, the damage had been done, and I had to abandon my post right there. I just shut my laptop off and went off to sleep. When I got up and my mood was ok, I realized what I did wasn’t right. It was now time to go into damage control. To mend things up, I tried being oversweet to him. I am not sure if I controlled the damage, but even after that, I didn’t feel that good from within. I know it was a pretty small thing and both of us would forget about it within a few days and move on. But, dad was leaving for Delhi the next day and I didn’t want him to go like this. So that night, I just went up to him, gave him a hug and said, “I am sorry for being rude.” He just smiled back and said, “You better be!” and started laughing.

We often leave things for time to heal, instead of apologising – especially when it comes to our parents, our siblings, or our close friends – because we know they love us and will forget about it soon. Unfortunately though, they just move on and we feel they have forgotten, and somewhere within, it turns into a grudge. When I now look at my mental mirror, I can recall many of such instances, when I have been rude to the people I love, but haven’t accepted my mistake, because, my king size ego told me not to. In fact, when I now recall some of the arguments I have had with my mom, or dad, or my sisters, some of these “grudges” come out quite clearly.

I can’t undo any of my past mistakes, but there is one thing I can do – just go ahead and say “I am sorry for all the hurt I have caused to you” to all the people who mean the world to me. It may or may not heal the wounds, but it will get a baggage off my shoulders for sure. Like I said in the beginning, it’s not easy to say I am sorry, but it’s something that has to be done.

And to all my friends who are reading this, if I have ever hurt you in anyway, I am Sorry.

P.S. Do give your opinion on the subject and if any of you do decide to go ahead and say sorry to your loved ones, do let me know.

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The signal turned red and I had to stop. As I stretched my arms, I saw a frightened face staring at me.

I stared back at her with a puzzled look. As I saw her finger pointing towards my bike’s headlight, I realized why.

On it was written “mashallah”

P.S. Mashallah, when translated means, “Whatever god wills”. This is a true incident that happened a few days ago. The bike I was riding wasn’t mine, but my best friend’s.

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I had no answer to that, except, “Ok, so what the hell have you done?” He said, “Well, have you heard of Ek Titli?” I said, “Yeah, I did get a facebook invite for their fan page. But, I havent had time to go through the website. What about it?”

He said, “Well, Ek Titli is a platform for people who want to exercise their enthusiasm and passion to do something for a cleaner community and a greener environment. Simply, ‘let’s do it’, rather than ‘who’ll do it?’ They are soon to launch an online magazine, which speaks of the constructive and positive work being carried out by various people, organizations and companies in the country for a cleaner community… that’s a way of saying bye bye to the ever so ubiquitous news such as melting glaciers, rising sea levels and temperatures, doomsday theories, et al”

Although, I tried sounding as smart as I could, I was pretty impressed by the whole idea. The first thing I did after going home was go through their web site. Most of the stuff I saw, in the about us section, was pretty much what Aditya had spoken. But there was another thing that attracted my attention. It was a photography contest, called the green lens contest. It was just another photography contest but with GREEN as its theme. The contest was divided into three categories, and participants could post a maximum of two pics for any of the categories.

The three categories are as follows:

1)      Moving Stills: Participants can send in pictures of anything that has moved, inspired or motivated them. This a free category with no specific theme. If you have a message or story you want to share through your photograph, send it in!
2)      Seven Deadly Sins: This is a theme based category revolving around the seven deadly sins of pride, envy, lust, sloth, greed, gluttony and wrath…..except with a GREEN twist. Participants can send in entries depicting any one, two or all of these sins but relate them not to people but to the environment! (eg. ‘Wrath’ of global warming on our climate patterns, “Pride” of towering concrete cities after merciless felling of trees) Relate a sin to any crisis of environment and send in your shot!
3)      Strength and Spirit: Participants can send in their own photographic interpretations of strength, endurance and spirit. It could be anything from a massive bridge to a row of working ants or even your personal pillar of strength!

If any of you are interested in participating, you can find the details here

I am a layman at photography, but it would be a great was start using my new camera.

You can also find out more about Ek Titli at their website www.ektitli.org/ .

Impressed? Here’s more from them on their facebook page: www.facebook.com/ek.titli

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Today, I would finally be released from captivity.

Although it’s been just five days, it feels like ages.

Even though this relief isn’t for too long, it’s still worth it.

After all, I would get to see my wife and kids after five days.

“Hey dude!” said a voice behind me. “Have a happy weekend!”

******

P.S. I am sure I saw my fellow I.T. folks smiling at this one.

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The following post is a short story written in the the form of a poem with seven chapters or “Seven Goodbyes” and every chapter is a Fiction 77. Scratching your head? Well, don’t, just read it and enjoy. I hope you guys like it. Don’t forget to leave your feedback in the comment section.

***The first goodbye – the store***

“Hey!” a voice so sweet called out

A sound so magical, I quickly turned around

“She’s hot, she can’t be calling me.” I thought

Wondering for whom it was, I looked here and there

“Hey, I am talking to you.” She said with a stare

“Is this your’s? You left it at the store.”

“Yes, it is! Thank you very much!”

“Your welcome” she said, with a twinkle in her eye

I smiled as she bid goodbye.

***The second Goodbye – goodbye to my dreams***

I sat on my chair looking hypnotized

With thoughts of the morning’s surprise

“Oh my God!”

Exclaimed a face staring at mine

“He’s my only brother, don’t do this to him”

“He’s in love, I know his chances are pretty slim!”

“Stop that rubbish, it’s not what you think.”

“I am just in a good mood, stop giving me that wink.”

“I have to forget.” I told myself with a sigh

As I bid my dreams goodbye

***The third goodbye – there is no saying goodbye***

The night was dark, the rains pouring hard

The roads blocked, the traffic stood still

Among the crazy noises, I heard a voice, shrill

A girl all wet was trying to make her way through

“Hey store lady, hop into my car!”

It took her a while to recognize

And I found her inside before I realized

Smiles through the miles, I was on a high

Yes, I was in love, now there was no saying goodbye

***The fourth goodbye – I wish there is no goodbye***

SMSes turned to phone calls

I soon found myself shopping at the malls

Lunches, dinners and ice-cream

Every single moment felt like a dream

Embarrassing acts were now fun to do

“The world means nothing”, I told myself

All that matters is me and you

Intimate, mushy conversations and the occasional fight

Everything was brilliant, it all felt so right

But there was always a fear, I don’t know why

Was there ever gonna be a goodbye?

***The fifth goodbye – the betrayal***

“I love you” I said after a romantic speech

Sitting on the beach

She looked at me as if I had gone mad

“Are you kidding me? We have had loads of fun.”

“But that’s all that can be done.”

“Where are you and where am I?!”

“I thought you were different, but you’re just another stupid guy.”

My heart was heavy and I wanted to cry

But I walked away from there without even saying goodbye.

***The sixth goodbye – end of a chapter?***

“I’ll never forgive you.” I said to myself holding my head

“The words that you said I shall never forget.

I know I said I loved you

I hate you more than I can ever do.

You didn’t even deserve my friendship forget my love

I’ll make you suffer the way I am now

I swear by the lord above

You were right where are you and where am I

It’s time to say a final goodbye.”

***The final goodbye – three years later***

“Hey!” I shouted behind the lady who left her bag

“Is this your’s? You left it at the store.”

“Yes, it is! Thank you very much!” Said a familiar sound

And I saw her guilt-writen face as she turned around

“Thank you”, I said after a pause “for showing me what love felt like.”

“I promised myself all I wanted was, to see you cry.

But I am just glad today that I can finally say goodbye.”

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“What’s this?” dad asked, pointing towards a CD lying in my bag.

“Oh that’s some CD nani gave me. She wanted me to learn some of these keertans.” I replied.

“So learn then, what’s the harm? In fact, I’ll give you a book on Sikhism, read it, you should know about your religion.” dad replied.

“All of you will never stop trying, will you? You know I can’t stand that word religion. It’s the worst man-made creation. I mean, what’s the point in creating so many religions when they all speak the same thing? All religion does is to create fanatics who go around killing people in the name of the very god they pray to every morning. Please dad, let’s just call it off here, I really don’t want to have this conversation early in the morning and spoil my mood.” I replied angrily.

“You call them fanatics, aren’t you being one right now?” dad replied back calmly.

I haven’t forgotten this conversation till date. Dad’s last statement had hit me real hard. I had no answer to what he said. I just changed the topic without responding, but somewhere deep down within I knew that what he was saying was true.

********

How this hatred for religion started is a mystery to me – one that I hope to solve through this post today.

The above incident may give you a feeling that my folks are pretty religious, but the truth is they are not. Probably, that’s the reason why they always wanted me to be close to my religion. When I was a little kid, the trips to the Gurudwara were pretty frequent. But, for me it was nothing more than just a picnic, where I would get nice langar and kada Prasad to eat. My grandparents tried pretty hard to teach me the first few stanzas of the Gurugranth Sahib. They did succeed, but I never really understood any of it or perhaps, never really tried understanding any of it.

Because of my frequent surgeries I had to keep cutting my hair and at the age of six my parents decided to leave my hair permanently short. My uncle however, was never in favor of me keeping my hair short and kept pestering me to grow them back every time I paid him a visit. I used to ignore it at first, but, after a while that started irritating me. I never said anything to him, but, somewhere within me, I always wanted to ask him that by growing my hair and tying a turban, would the guy within me be any different? I know it for a fact that he would never have an answer to my question. But, I guess, sub-consciously after that I started detesting everybody who made religion such a big deal in their lives. Stories of the 84 riots and the partition only strengthened my hatred towards religion as a concept.

I was brought up in a multi-lingual and a multi-cultural society, studied in a school run by the Catholic church and completed my engineering from a college meant for the Muslim minority. Thanks to this, I was pretty well exposed to the huge diversity of our country. I loved celebrating festivals, be it Eid, Ganesh Chaturthi, Holi, Gurpurab, Lori or Divali, but, ask me to sit in a prayer session and I just wouldn’t. Many of my friends, who are aware of my views on religion, call me a hypocrite and to be honest, I won’t disagree with them. I have always been fascinated with the diversity of our country, but, have always stayed away from the essence of that very diversity.

In another lecture I was giving one of my friends on this subject, I said, “Remove customs and rituals from all religions and they are all one and the same thing. They all teach you how to live your life in the right way, that’s it! As for me, the stuff my parents have taught me since childhood is more than enough for me to judge what’s good and what’s not and if there is anything they haven’t taught me, I am sure life will, in the days to come. God sent us on this planet as a human and our only religion is humanity. Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism etc. are just names we have given to this religion in order to prove one’s supremacy over the other. “
I got a quick reply to this saying, “what the hell do you know about all these religions to say that?” Although I managed to stick to my ground, hearts in hearts I knew that my entire belief was based on assumptions.

My transition started three months ago. I was going through one of my weirdest phases in life. Nothing seemed to be going right. I decided to take a break and go visit my grandparents. When I was there, my grandmother took me to a Gurudwara and for the first time since I can remember, I had no problems with going there. When I looked around, I saw people of all age groups extending a hand in serving the devotees who came there, some helping out in washing the plates and utensils, some in organizing the shoes and others just helping out in whatever way they could. The best part was, they all did this with a smile and without even once bothering whom they were doing this for, and they just did it for the love of it. The only thing that crossed my head was, “there’s got to be something in their belief that makes them do all this so selflessly.”

The second phase of transition came last week when I was in Amritsar to visit the golden temple. While I was leaving, I saw a sight I am going to remember for a long time to come – A sardar, a muslim and a foreigner standing near the sarovar, praying in their own styles. The sight of a sardar standing there with his hands folded, a muslim offering namaz and the foreigner just closing her eyes and asking god for whatever she wished for, made me realize that this world is beautiful only because of this diversity. After all, the rainbow would never have been so beautiful had it had just one color. Thank god this world isn’t made of just one religion called humanity.

*****5 minutes ago*****

As I was giving this post my final touch dad walked in and asked me what I was writing about. I replied saying it’s a post titled ‘My tryst with faith’. I said, “Don’t look so shocked. By the way, once I am done, I need you to give it a proof reading.” His reply came in the form of another lecture on faith and I listened to that patiently for a change. But at the end of it, he said, “You should learn some keertans. In fact, I’ll give you a book on Sikhism, read it, you should know about your religion.” I just burst out laughing.

‘Life comes full circle’ – I had just heard this saying, but today, I witnessed it. I guess there couldn’t be a better way for me to sum up my tryst with faith.

I once had a friend,

Who was hoping to write…

But what could he do,

He wasn’t too bright

So one day,
He put up a post…

Hoping that someone,
would write as his ghost…

Help him pen
his thoughts as they ravel…

Perhaps also include
Stories from his latest travels…

Waiting for some
inspiration to hit…

Perhaps friends would help
and do their bit…

Eventually his mind
would be with ideas awash…

And a post would make it
to Sensible-Bakwash!

Thanks Raj, its always been a pleasure reading your compositions, but this time, you really impressed me.

You can read the rest of Raj’s work at his blog Wordsmith’s word blitz

3rd July 1985, a new member was added into the Chadha family. We were a joint family back then. I wasn’t the first grandson born in the family, but as far I know, I was the most pampered. 2 months into this world and I developed a problem called Hydrocephalus. As soon as it was confirmed that something was wrong, we quickly drove down from Chandigarh to Delhi. Delhi at that time was simmering thanks to the anti-Sikh riots. Dad tells me that he stood at the gates of AIIMS holding me in his arms and the guard wouldn’t allow him inside accusing him of being a terrorist. After he pleaded and begged him, we were allowed in, but only till the kitchen and that’s where my check up was done. Anyways, the problem was soon diagnosed and I was rushed to the operation theatre. After the operation, the doctor came and told my dad that there are high chances that I may be a mentally retard and the best he could hope for is that I have an IQ of 80. After this dad went and visited ever single gurudwara in Punjab and asked god for just one thing, “Just make sure my son gets to study.” Contrary to all expectations, I turned out to be quite a bright little kid. At the age of three, I could actually talk to people about every tennis player of those times. At an age when kids couldn’t pronounce Czechoslovakia, I could tell people what the capital of that country was. My dad tells me this story every time I curse life or god. He just says, “If it wasn’t for that god, you wouldn’t have been what you are today. Out of all the people on this planet, you can’t afford be a non-believer. ” If it wasn’t for this incident, I would have never believed in the concept of god at all. I still don’t believe in the concept of multiple religions, but I do believe that there is a divine power up there who is running the whole show on this planet. Anyways, I had a couple of surgeries in Delhi in the next couple of years and then five more in Hyderabad, where we shifted after dad got a job in Asian Paints.

1989 to 1996 – growing up years phase 1

We moved to Hyderabad in early 1989. After staying in a rented house for two months, we moved into a flat given to us by the company. The society in which we moved into, had people from all over the country. I was a very touchy kid who was always over protected by my parents. To top it all, I was a complete tube light (although, some would say I still am). This proved to be a very dangerous combination. This made me very vulnerable and the other kids would find it very easy to manipulate me. I always found it difficult to learn when others taught me something, but would end up learning that very same thing all by myself in no time. My dad toiled unsuccessfully for over a month to teach me how to ride a bicycle and how to skate, but finally lost all hope one day. From the middle of nowhere, I started riding the bicycle and started skating all by myself. The problem wasn’t that I had a problem with his teaching; it was just that I couldn’t follow a standard step by step procedure of learning something. Even today, I find it difficult to follow a standard procedure in doing something. If I find a better way of doing something, I’ll go for it regardless of what people have to say. I am not sure if that’s a good thing or not, but it’s just the way I am.

1996-2003 – growing up years phase 2

I shifted from an all boys school to a co-education school. I had hardly any interaction with girls before this, except for my childhood friend, who I always treated like another guy. Now, here I was, all of a sudden found myself surrounded by aliens. My sister had a heart problem and my parents had to start concentrating on her and with the result I had to take complete control of my life. This proved a little too much for me and everything started falling apart. I soon started to lag behind in my academics, fellow students and teachers started to look down on me and as a result I had no friends. Things went from bad to worse over the next two years. My teachers used to humiliate me and beat me up every single day. I soon went into a state of depression and developed an inferiority complex. I lost all the confidence that I had and began to hope everyday that, that day was my last. Then one day, somewhere in the year 2000, when things had become way too much for me to handle, I went back home and burst out crying in front of my mother and I told her everything that was actually going on with me. Since then mom and dad helped me get out of my mess slowly and steadily. By the time I had passed my 10 th grade, the kid who had stopped seeing more than 50% on his mark-sheet, passed out in first division and by the time I passed out of my twelfth I could actually boast of a percentage in the eighties. It took a few more years to come out of my inferiority complex and depression. Those years weren’t easy, but today, as I look back, those days are an asset. Whenever am low or the chips are down, I just close my eyes for a few minutes and recollect those memories and say to myself, “if I could get through those days, I can get through anything.” People who have known about this feel sorry for me, but I kind of feel proud that all that happened. You may find it strange, but I kind of feel gifted.

2004-2007 – College life

My dad always wanted me to be an engineer but left the decision on me. However, one of my dad’s friends advised him not to make me take up engineering because he felt I wouldn’t be able to cope with it. Instead, he felt I should be doing a course like arts. My dad just replied saying “it’s completely up to him. I am not going to force him into anything.” But that very day I sub-consciously decided that I am going to be an engineer and show this guy that I CAN. So here I was, in March 2004, admitted into one of the best Engineering Collge in Hyderabad. My inferiority complex hadn’t completely gone away from me. The next three years passed by pretty fine. Not too many friends but I was leading a decent life. The turning point for me came in my final year, when I got through Accenture. It was no great interview that required me to know rocket science, but, it was the first time I had achieved something all by myself. Things changed all of a sudden, I was full of confidence and could now start looking at people eye to eye. Even my class mates were shocked on seeing the new me. I was a changed person. I changed from a guy who couldn’t speak to anybody to a guy who proposed a girl in front of a hundred people knowing she wouldn’t accept it because she like someone else. I changed from a guy who hoped he was dead one day to a guy who wanted to live every moment of his life as if he had never lived before. By the time I left college, I had a set of friends who were as close to me as family and I was a person, who completely believed in himself. One thing I learnt from all this, it was never the way others looked at me that changed, it was the way I looked at the world that made all the difference.

2007 to present – Life in the corporate world.

Although I had done my electrical engineering, I was always fond of software. I could sit for hours and code something. Joining Accenture was a dream come true. I entered this organization with a picture in my head, where all I would be doing is coding software, something I loved doing. However, I soon realized corporate world had many more dynamics attached to it. The past three years have gone from excitement of finally getting to earn your own money to frustration on seeing no future in what I was doing to realization that however pathetic things are, in the end of the day you have to face them. The question I had to ask myself again was, “are things that bad or is it the way I am looking at them?” The answer didn’t really surprise me. The minute I changed my perception about things, things at work changed automatically.

So that’s how my life has been for the past twenty five years. I won’t say it’s been a great life, neither will I say it’s been a bad life. It’s just been a journey of crests and troughs and with each crest and each trough, I have grown as a person.