The Ultimate choice...
It was 6:00 pm in the evening, darkness
filled the room, the strong smell of tobacco prevailed in the air, empty liquor
bottles lay on the floor and the rhythmic sound of a rocking chair echoed in
the dusty room.
On the rocking chair, sat an old man, deep
in thought. His thoughts took him back to his childhood....
Ram, ram, getup ram it’s getting late for
school called his mother. A tall handsome boy, in his teens, got up from bed,
he looked at the clock, stretched himself and smiled while he told himself its
time for school
Ram lived in a small two bedroom rented apartment
in central Chennai with his parents, they shared a social stigma of being “middle
class”. The family was always blessed with food on the table. All the general
need of the family were taken care of by Ram’s father - Mr. Sitaraman.
Mr.Sitaraman a smallscale business man, worked day after day to keep the family
needs fulfilled, like another loving father he took the responsibility to dropping
ram in school every morning on his old rusty Bajaj Chetak.
Ram was an attractive young lad, His charm was
not limited to his looks, but he took every opportunity to try his luck in
various fields. He was good in academics, took part in every cultural events
and boy oh boy, did he captivate people with his achievements. Ram was just one
of those kids everyone wanted to be like. he enjoyed the status of being a
celebrity in school and everyone predicted a bright future for him.
Towards his 12th standard, his
attention started shifting more towards cultural events , every evening after
school time went into dance practice and coordinating other events, studies had to take a back step as he was too tired after practice, life went
on like this for ram and before he knew it, his grades dropped from an 8.0 to
6.0. His poor grades could not fetch him a good college and Mr.Sitaraman could
not afford to buy his son a seat in some of the Tier 1 or tier 2 college.
In the end ram had to settle down for a 3rd tier college in the out skirts
of the city. No one including ram noticed a small change in the way things
turned out after that, ram hated his college knowing that all his friends were
studying in better instructions, a sense of irritation and frustration crepe d
into his life, schooling was the last for rams good academics.
Ram started blaming everything around him and
there was not a day when ram thought, if
only they did not force me to do so many cultural events i would have concentrated
on my studies and would have been in a good college today.
Ram scored bad throughout college and his
bad marks could only fetch him a mediocre company with a mediocre salary. Later he got married to Sindhu a family friend’s
daughter and settled down in a small two bed room apartment. Life seemed to
have changed for ram, he sensed a feeling of happiness after sindhu came into
his life, but the happiness was short lived. Ram was soon taken back to his old
depressed ways, Smoking and drinking became close associates of ram. His
depression was so deep rooted that Even the birth of his child did not bring
joy into his life.
His neighbours complained of, the sound of
frequent fights and ram’s drinking habits. One led to the other and soon Sindhu left him.
His children hated him and he was left to
live all alone in his two bed room apartment.
There was not a day that ram looked back at
his life and muttered:
·
If only they did not ask me to do so
many cultural events i would have studied better and got into a better college.
·
If only my father earned enough money,
he would have got me into a good college.
·
If only my college staff took some
interest in me i would have got my confidence back.
·
If only my boss was good to me i would
have worked better.
·
If only my wife stopped nagging me i
would have loved her
·
If only my children listened to me i
would have been a better parent.
·
If only god was with me...
Ram had an excuse
for all his short comings, he went on cribbing about his life everyday.
Years passed by and ram was a old man now
in his late 60’s, but persistent drinking and smoking made him look like he was
in his 80’s.
His two bedroom
apartment was a dusty place now, cobwebs hung from the ceilings, the air smelt
of burned tobacco and empty bottles lay on the floor. Ram sat there on his
rocking chair as usual and deep in thought, he thought about his life and did
not have anything left to complain. He realized he had nothing now, he realized
all his life he had blamed someone for something that had happened to him. An
excuse was produced for every failure and the excuse had resulted in him
becoming weak.
A few days passed
by and the old man died in vain, over his rocking chair. The old man died in
vain not because he was a fool, not because he was a no one in life, But
because he was smart, he was talented and he had a lot of potential, but did
not make it big in life. For the sole reason that he blamed everything and
everyone in his life, and lived his life with the excuse If only.
The
old mans story and actions might sound familiar, the story of ram might be
mine, might be yours, It can be the story of any one of us if we start living
our life with excuses. Bringing a If only in every failure.
Please take a moment, look back at your
life, look back at all the choices you have made. Look back at all the battles
you have lost, let it be sports, studies or a event. Did you make a excuse for
your defeat? Do you blame the course of events for your failures ? do u live
your life with a “if only”? Or do You want to take things into your hands
during tough times, blame no one, make no excuses and take life to new heights.
Because you can be all you wish to be
You can be the best at work.
You can be the best dancer
You can be the best father or mother or sister or brother.
You can be the best at what ever you wish to be, the moment you take things into your hands and stop blaming the course of events for your failure..
So whats it going to be?
If-Only or yourself?
Remember.....
Remember.....
The Ultimate choice lies in
your hands.........
