a question of education...sam's story!

Sam was scared.He was only seventeen.He was bright and smart.He was good at school.All his techers said so....so did his parents...so did his friends...and all those who knew him...He had already mentally prepared himself for an academician life to co - exist with a sportsman's life.

He had planned to enroll in one of the most prestigious colleges and graduate with honours.All his family knew this .All his friends knew this.He had always been quite a clear minded person .He knew what he wanted out of life and he knew how to get about it.



At least ,he had thought he knew.



Now it was through a sudden twist of fate that all his plans lay in ruins.The result of the public exam that he had appeared in ..right in front of his eyes.It was terrible.Something had gone terribly wrong.His grades was bad...just too bad.

He would not be going to a college of his choice and he would not be preparing for a life of pure academia...he had no idea what he was going to do......he had a dark bleak future spread out all around him.....like the dark bleak night....In fact he did not know how he would survive the night and what new horror would the next day bring to him .And the future ...it seemed dark...dark and bleak.

Through out the night one thought chased the other ,none of them good,none of the offering hope,he sat still ruling out one possibility after the other...
he could not go abroad or away...he had a sick mother to care for
he could not write his exams again...it was too much of a chance
he could continue his study the way he wanted to...it was out of his reach.

He began to think all that he had...a bright and a sharp mind...amazing communication skills....organizational ,management and entrepreneurial skills...

the long night was over...he would go into business...he would earn money...lots of it ...and he did!

promises and lies

It couldn't have happened again.
And it couldn't have happened to her again.
She felt like a fool.
Rather she was a fool.
On this beautiful evening , she stood at the Priya PVR feeling like an absolute fool.Stood up ...once again!
Annie is a smart girl ,also a sweet one ,she has a voice of her own and she has always been able to speak her mind.She has also been able to ask for her rights whether it was with her family or with her friends.She was always where the action was . Always popular and outspoken ,she fell in love the way she had always done everything ,totally and whole heartedly.

The guy she fell for was altogether an amazing one....but he was outside her realm of understanding.

Annie had a loving heart.Now it was more than a loving one ,it was jealous and possessive too.
When he was with her she wanted to know what he was thinking ,when he wasn't with her she wanted to know where ,with whom ,till when , and most difficult of all why...He hated to answer all these questions ,he was in a relationship and not a victim of the Spanish inquisition.
Sometimes he would feel claustrophobic and hemmed in ,at such times ,he did not take calls from her ,she grew desperate and he grew equally adamant.

Then finally the axe fell.
He could not take any more of being questioned.
He wanted out...
if she does not trust me ,she does not love me ...if she does not love me ,she has no business being with me...i m not doing anything wrong....i cant tolerate a relationship such as this.
Annie felt heartsick and heart sore ,she knew she was at fault but he had driven her to this .She wanted him badly.....she wanted him at any cost...she wanted him period.She pleaded and cried ,she cried and pleaded ; if they could be just friends...
He relented ,after all this was the girl he had cared for deeply ,not so long ago.Probably they could be friends.
He agreed ,even agreed to meet her for a coffee.But something urgent came up ,he could not make it.She had to go there and wait and wait some more . Then wait and then come back home.Again she suggested something ,again he agreed ,again he did not turn up.She could not keep on suggesting more dates and they were not even dates since they were no more together.But she couldn't give up.
Yesterday night she had called him again and miraculously he had taken her call.They had decided to take in a movie...a matinee....and now it was 4.15 pm.She had been waiting for over a good one hour.
She knew he was not on his way.
She knew he did not want her.
She knew that she will never call him again. ...ever again.
It was over.
At last.

second chance

All Jahnavi needed was love.All jahnavi wanted was love.All she was ever denied was love.
She was a daughter in a household full of daughters.Unfortunately she was a daughter in a household which had far too many daughters too appreciate any ,and far too fed up of them to love them.
Her parents did their duty by her.They provided for her , ensured she was well-fed,well-clothed and received a good education ,a good dowry and a good husband ...and that too in this very order.They could not do more.
It was her desire for something more that hurt her constantly.Her husband was a nice man who did his duty by her.He provided for her ,ensured she was well looked after.He could not do more.He wasn't capable of offering more.She was growing quieter and sadder by the day,by the hour ,by the minute.She knew not why.
The marriage fell into discord and dissatisfaction.
There was a mutual growing away.The husband took it as a routine matter,the wife broke her already fragile heart over this.
At this point in her life when she was gaining momentum rolling downhill to an imminent crash,She was halted in her tracks by someone who cared..
She met a man.He loved her.He wanted her.He suffered when she suffered.He would walk a thousand miles to put a smile on her face.Jahnavi was loved....for the very first time in her life she was loved passionately,fiercely and the way she knew that she deserved to be loved..in her heart of hearts.
A decision awaited her.It weighed on her heart, on her mind and her soul.It weighed on her conscience..Her parents would never forgive her bringing the scandal of a divorce to their neat life.Their love she had never known but now she would forfeit her right to their concern too.She was scared , afraid and frightened.
However she knew all this.But she knew one thing more.
She knew that this man was her only chance at life , his love was the only path to her destiny.
Jahnavi would move out of her arid desert of a life to a fulfilling love...

winner takes all

A true story...not mine but mine to narrate.
Aayan was what one would call a difficult person....but with a sense of humour.
Humour was his shield.It was his armour and his weapon too.When life served him a tough question he answered it with a joke.And since life served him many tough questions there were many a times when he found it convenient to laugh aloud...and laugh he did.People as is a habit with them did not understand.They judged him ,quick and fast ,and gave him no reprieve.

So he became the bad guy.

He came from a family with a troubled past .He had been very young at that time and his indulgent mother and sisters shielded him from all that was disturbing.They wanted to give the world to him on a platter.So certain things came easy ,Yet others were difficult.There was no balance in his world.With such a childhood ,he grew to a rebellious adolescence.With such an adolescence he grew to a disturbed adulthood.

Disturbed in the sense that he never had a clear picture of his strengths ever.

Ambitious but gravely suspicious of his own ambition , he found a mediocre job and tried to settle down to an existence of the average middle class contentment and comfort.He failed.

In abject throes of misery ,because he did not know what ailed and troubled him, he grew more frustrated with each passing day.However there was no way out.It was the only job that did not need higher qualifications.His laughter turned against himself ,he had never understood the value of academics..scoffing at it all !But his job.... it was just a job not a career.It was not going to take him places.It was not even giving him satisfaction...just a pay packet .He needed it.So he could not leave his job.Not that he did not try ,he did, but after some even more frustrating time spent at home ,he took up another .The other job was too similar to his previous one to satisfy.All hiss inner nature rebelled against bowing and scraping all day long to people who were either rude or indifferent.

Caught in a vicious circle,he grew angrier...with himself and with the deal this world had offered him!

He thought of extreme measures.

He would now work at this mind -numbing job.He would reach home tired,whenever possible ,he immersed himself in drink.His life would be easy if he could control that mind of his which kept on telling him that this is not for you......even when he was bone tired and unable to think,he knew that there was something missing from his life .That he was being unjust to himself.That the only way out of his misery was to give up the easy life he knew and to begin from the scratch .His struggle was not over ....it was about to begin.
He began to sort out his thoughts,started work on the project that he had always wanted to.He knew that he would be courting difficulties and hard ships.But he had always wanted to work for himself...to be an entrepreneur.
The next day he wrote his resignation .
Risk would be his destiny,challenge his life.

He had never learnt the difference between possible hopes and impossible dreams.
i call him a winner.

overcoming EGO !

He knew he was a compromise candidate.


The way the selection committee had been divided was clear.Two members were clearly backing the one they had brought in ,two were neutral but they did not want to say anything just then , the other two had an obvious soft corner for him but they had to be scrupulously fair at all the times.The head of the committee seemed to have a regard for him but her attitude had more to do with the other candidates with whom she seemed less than impressed.




He knew he was capable of the post.

The way the selection committee was functioning it had not seem probable that they would reach a decision soon.Even if they did , it would not be acceptable to all of them.Even if all of them accepted it ,they would not be happy about it .Even if two of them would be happy about it ,the others would begrudge his success.And after all this this kind of discord would not allow him to function well.


He was confident of his abilities.

He was intelligent enough to take good decisions and diligent enough to follow through.

He could work at creating good vibes in his own sphere and he knew how to create popularity too.He could garner the support of his team and all those on which the results would depend.He could be a nice guy when he wanted to and he could be a tough guy when the circumstances demanded him to be one.



He knew at present it was not a question of his capabilities .

It was a more a question of what was going to be acceptable to all the members of the selection committee.It was also a question of his not being everyones' absolute and final choice.The problem lay with those people who were now debating behind closed doors.He could guess at what was being said and debated.The problem also lay with him.


He knew that the problem also lay with him.

He hated the word compromise.He did not like the fact that the committee was composed of an equal number of people fairly divided by their like and an equal dislike for him.He could overcome their prejudices if given a chance .But how would he overcome his own pride?



His one failing was his own ego which ruled him strongly.

If they chose him ,would he like be chosen? Would he like to work with those who had no high opinion of him?Would he be able to take the put downs ...the snide comments....the disregard?

He had always had a very strong sense of his own dignity...his pride in his achievements.

Would he be able to overcome opposition the most...and indifference at the very least ?And most important of all would he be able to overcome his own ego?




He wondered as he waited .

He waited for an eternity , or was it only till the announcement of their final choice was made.

But he knew that his decision would have to be made before that door opened and the selection was made.The battle within his mind raged .He was torn between the acceptance because that would mean that he would have to work with people who had initially rejected him and refusal because that would mean that he was conceding the victory to those who had said that he was incapable...a loser.




His pride and ego would have to go.

He reconstructed his self ...piece by piece .Overcoming ego was the toughest thing he had ever done .But he did it.He was not going to be a loser.The door opened.

He lifted up his head to hear his name being announced...