God and Evil

A few days back, I was waiting at Mulund Railway Station when this happened.

It was a weekend and was around 2130. I was waiting for a friend who said that he would meet me at Station. As my mobile battery was low (fortunately!) and I had nothing else to do during the waiting time, I was just noticing things.

There was a dog at my left side, a little away. A stray dog. Somehow, my attention stayed on that dog and was just observing it. Suddenly, a guy comes with a handful of malai, which he had bought for himself to eat and places it in front of the dog's mouth. My attention shifted onto that guy who did this kind gesture. He was nothing special in appearance. A middle class guy in his late 30's or early 40's with an average height and build. Seemed like he himself was returning from busy day at office. He went back to the vendor to get more malai, this time for himself. Meanwhile, there also was this lady who stood adjacent to that packet with malai which was at dog's mouth. As soon as the dog started to eat it, the lady started to slowly kick the packet out of the dog's reach. As this whole thing was going on, the guy who put it there noticed and started shouting at her to let the dog have the food.

I, observing all this, was thinking, I just got to know so much about these two people in just a span of 2 minutes! I do not even know their names! They might not even have observed me observing their actions!

May be God and Evil reside in each man and woman. May be the only thing that's true is whether you choose the Godly action or the Evil one! May be, that's God and Evil!

A Box of Chocolates.: That one Bedroom!

A Box of Chocolates.: That one Bedroom!: Pritam has done his graduation in IT and has got an opportunity to work with an MNC in IT solutions. Being from a middle class family, all ...

That one Bedroom!

Pritam has done his graduation in IT and has got an opportunity to work with an MNC in IT solutions. Being from a middle class family, all he wanted was not to die as a middle class man. It was task of the millenium for his parents to pay for his education. He also grew up to be a man of simple interests. Since the very first day at the office, he swore to work day and night to return something for his parents. After some years of real hard-work, he was able to gift his parents a 2BHK flat at their home town. He got married to Anita as soon as he got an opportunity to go work in USA. He took Anita with him to USA after she gave birth to Anurag and got settled there. Due to the work and deadlines, he pushed the limits of work-life balance and started working even at home from time to time. It became next to impossible for pritam to adjust leaves for him to come back to his home town or to spend any time with his parents. His father's sad demise struck as shock to Pritam just after two months of Anita giving birth to their second kid Anjana. He couldn't even make it to his father's cremation dur to some Visa problem. he cried all night and regretted his decision of settling down in USA. He tried to convince her mom to come and stay with them but she would never leave the place which had memories attached with it. It was Anurag's 14th birthday when he heard about his mom's demise in the middle of his foreign trip which was scheduled for 12 days. Being the team lead, he wasn't supposed to bail out from middle of the tour. That was when he decided to go back to his place and by the time Anjana turned 7, he had made plans of coming back to India. But Anita had no plans o coming back to India. So, he promised that he would provide for their expenses and started his journey back to India. He took all the money he made during the course of time. He visited the place where he was born and everything looked different. During the course of time, India too had grown and nothing was just like he thought it would be. After 2 months, he decided to settle down in Mumbai, close to his cousin brother, who was also his best friend and had taken care of his parents during his absence. He started to search for homes in near vicinity to his brother's home. With all the money he saved after providing to his family, all he could get was a decent 3BHK in a decent apartments at a decent location in India.

That's when it struck him. All he was able to get was a 3BHK in return for his 23 years of  day and night work, his sacrifice of staying away from his parents and family and now he can't even stay with his kids and wife. He had turned into that man who doesn't even remember the last time he laughed his heart out. And yes... all this struggle was for 'That one Bedroom!'


Story Credits: Dilsheen Kaur

It's all about Belief...

After all these years, now is when I put down a blog for my own purpose. So, the first chocolate I offer for you from 'A Box of Chocolates' is, "It's all about Belief...".

If our whole life can be summarized in one word, the word can be belief. Let me elaborate on this statement with an example. Supposing you want to visit Marine Drive in Mumbai and you're now at Kharghar, the road map would be- A rickshaw to Kharghar Railway Station- Train to CST- A cab to Marine Drive. It sounds so simple here. But when it comes to practical scenario, there is a huge amount of belief involved in this small journey. At first, you believe some Autowala when you get into his auto believing that he'll take you safely to your destination. Then you believe a board saying 'Kharghar'. Then you believe a train board saying 'CST (Harbour)'. Then you'll believe some random passenger when he says "It takes around 1hr to reach CST". Then you believe a board saying 'CST' or a random passenger when he says "This is CST". Then you'll believe a taxi driver and so on. This process goes on the whole way till you return to your place. But, that's not when you stop believing. You believe in everybody you meet on everyday at certain point of time. and that's what makes your life easy. The process of believing starts from your childhood when your mom says "That's your Dad" and extends till a doctor says "you've not got much time left" (No doctor really says that. It simply means till death).

So, Whats my point? My point is, when you believe in so many random things, statements, boards, a piece of paper, random people, dogs and even in God, wouldn't it be a shame for not believing in yourself? Believe in Yourself. Always. Period. That's that!

"I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it. And, I was really... I was alive."  --- Walter White in Breaking Bad.