Why Me??

Satya was the most jovial and happy-go-lucky student in engineering college. No problems could ever bother him because of his attitude. Enjoying life was his primary intention and he believed that if you are enjoying life without hurting others then that is the purest form of worship to god. His enjoyments always meant making people around him including himself happy. His friendcircle was huge and he was one of the most popular student of the college. While all his friends wanted to know secret of enormous positivity within him, Stuti had started developing a strange emotion within her about Satya. Stuti is a person with fewer words and loved listening and when the speaker is Satya then she gets mesmerized. She used to love the fact how Satya finds positivity from everything around him. He used to stay in Satya’s company as much as possible. She always prayed god to give her a life partner who can live and think like Satya.  Time went by and only handful college days were left in their life. Some say college days are the true life of a man and then the life of a slave starts. But Satya said, my role as receiver ended and role of contributor is going to start. He explained his friends that whatever society, parents and country had to give him or invest in him is over now. It is now the time when I will have to show my parents, society and country, how good the investment was and he promised he will make sure his investors will one day will be proud of him. He made his friends take a pledge not to feel helpless or sad at any moment in life despite the situation life creates. Always tackle life with courage and positivity.If situation goes out of control at any moment then will call each others to find resolution or gather strength.

Two months after passing out from college, Satya got a job in a big software company. He was one among the few students who got the best combination of work plus salary plus company. He did not take this casually and worked extremely hard to make sure he proves the trust that the interviewers had as well as company has on him. Positivity within him was visible more and in a professional environment getting a combination of good performance and excellent attitude is not very common. He got his first promotion in 18 months of his joining. He was very happy and determined to work hard. He used to get free time during weekends and many of his college friends used to call him specifically to join them in various meetings they used to conduct to help increase awareness among people in various fronts. Some invited him to spend weekends with street children and teach them and some invited him to come and have a listening forum at old age homes so that we can learn from seniors. He politely deferred as well as declined the requests as he thought growing in career has become like a passion in him and weekends are meant to take rest and plan for next week. After he disappointed some of him friends they stopped inviting him. One day, While coming home, he saw a text message in his mobile phone.

“When will you return my stuff?”

He got surprised, “What did I take from anybody?”, he thought. He called back at the same number but no answer. He tried several times a day for new couple of days. Again he received another text,

“I thought you stick to your commitments, but it seems you forgot this time”.   

He got extremely anxious, he tried called immediately and the sent a text back, “I am sorry, I can’t recognize you. Can you please help me help you?”.

Again no response for more than a week and then he received a call from the same number, he was anxious as well as angry. He guessed it must be somebody from his college friends who is trying to trouble him. He picked the phone and said “Who’s this??” and in return, he heard one person who has found this phone on the road and called him because he found this number to the lost phone’s received calls list, so thought the caller might be knowing whose phone it is. But Satya was clueless about the owner of this phone so he explained to that gentleman. Satya also asked, “Is my number stored in that phone and with what name?”. The other guy was bit hesitant for couple of seconds and then said , “My Hero”. Satya did not want to continue the conversation more and disconnected the phone. He assumed it must be some girl from his college who must have been in love with him.

Months passed by and forgot this incidence. One day he was having coffee in his office Cafeteria and found one beautiful looking as well as familiar face in the adjacent table. It did not him long to realize that she is none other than  Stuti. His college mate. He went near her and extended his hand and said “Hello Stuti!!”. In response he saw one blank look from her and that girl said, “Do I know you?”. Satya was taken aback by this and everybody around were looking at Satya. Satya was bit uncomfortable but he immediately wore the smartness that he used to carry during his college days and responded, “Not Sure Madam. But I am sure that I know you”. Then Stuti laughed and greeted Satya. She joined the company two days back and was searching for Satya since he first entered the office. Satya was busy in a workshop since last two days. They started interacting a lot everyday. They had fixed coffee times and they used to go for a walk after lunch. Satya was confident that Stuti was the person who was sending those SMSes. Satya never tried to reconfirm this with Stuti. Satya never noticed or observed Stuti so much during college days. But he was feeling bad for not knowing her earlier. He was in love. A wonderful feeling that he had never experienced.

One morning he went to Stuti’s desk and said, “I want to spend a lot of time with you as I feel heavenly when you are around. Is there a way you can be mine forever?”. Stuti was pleasantly shocked and immediately responded, “I don’t talk personal stuff at office. Can we go out for a quick walk so that I can answer ‘Yes’”. They both laughed after Stuti’s response and went for a quick walk. They gradually nurtured their romantic relationship and life became rosy every moment. It took more than a year for then to communicate their decision to their parents and finally take the relationship status to next level, “Married”.

A happily married life where abundant love, money, happiness and peace of mind. They decided to have a baby at the earliest so that they can see their both of them in one heavenly body. They continued and remained busy in their married life. Everything that happened to them was good and everybody around them liked them. A perfect balance between work and life. There was a movement which started in the city regarding growing corruption in civic officials and diminishing moral values among younger generation. Stuti several times requested him to join those but he said, its of no use. We have to stand first and then we can make others stand or change anything. I will actively devote my time for this city once I feel I have secured my future. There are many jobless youths and they are doing this as a fun activity. Stuti disagreed but never protested. Satya said all these sound right when you hear but if you involve you have to sacrifice all comforts you have. I do not think I have guts to loose all at this stage. May be after 10 years I can. Stuti just said, “You changed!!”

In 7 years of their married life they were having two beautiful kids, a semi luxurious house and a peaceful life. Their only attention was family, happiness and career.

One morning Satya and Stuti left for office. Stuti works as a Business Analyst who works mostly from home but goes to office once in a week. So, today was that day. Satya parked the car and they both walked up to the office entrance together. They found some frowning faces on their way. When they reached the office entrance they found a notice pasted on the notice board. After reading the notice they were devastated. The multinational company where they were working has decided to close it’s India offices due to sudden policy changes in the country where parent company is located. They could not think of anything at that moment. There were many employees shouting their and protesting but all went in deaf ears as there was nobody there. They lodged a police complaint at the police station and escalated it to labor ministry but it seems everybody had enough time to look into this issue. Satya and Stuti actively started looking for new jobs and Stuti was confident that they will get a job soon and they can lead a normal life. Satya went into a deep depression mode. He was lacking confidence on himself as he stopped learning since last couple of years as he was mostly focused on pleasing people to get the work done and uninterupted growth. He thought entire world around him broke apart. He applied for many jobs but could not get success. Stuti reminded him about the positivity that Satya used to spread around during college days but she could not persuade Satya. Stuti got a job with good enough salary to manage her family but it drove Satya more into depression as his male ego got hurt. This resulted quarrels at home for minor and insignificant issues and kids were listening to it very attentively. Then after couple of months Satya got a job of lesser salary but equivalent role in another company. They were working in two different companies and that caused less attention to kids. This resulted another flavor of quarrels at home everyday.

Satya complained about a mouth ulcer which was growing big everyday. Stuti asked Satya to take a day off and both will see a doctor. Each of them had one or other commitments so they delayed this. One day when it was unbearable they both went to see a doctor and it was found to be a cancerous development inside Satya’s tongue. With the help of company provided medical insurance Satya could treat it but had to lose his current role because he was not able to speak clearly after his tongue surgery. He was offered a role which does not require much talking but it was like an assistant to the post that he was holding. he did not take that and resigned despite Stuti’s repeated requests and many quarrels.

Stuti was trying to bring the positivity and confidence back in Satya. One day Stuti forced Satya to come to the stadium where their kids had a football match so that he can again remember how to live life looking at the competitive spirit in their kids. They both were sitting and suddenly Satya received one SMS.

“I hate people who can’t keep their commitments”

He looked at Stuti and could not find her mobile phone in her hand. He was wondering who is this person again. he called the number but no reply.

Again he received a text after couple of days while he standing on their roof.

“You still have opportunity to rectify your errors”.

He went crazy this time. He again tried to call but not response. He threw his phone and shouted, “Who the hell are you? What mistake I made that you are giving me this pain. I was so happy with life. I did not do any harm to anybody. Why me?? Why Me?? Who are you”

His phone which was lying on the ground started ringing. He did not pick up the phone but it kept on ringing. He finally picked the phone to hear.

“You can not survive if you try to fool me. You raised the bar for yourself. You You promised to help me make this world a wonderful place but you forgot that when I gave you the resources. You promised to return back to the society, Country and humanity once you start your life after college. I provided you money, happiness, peace and stability so that you can achieve it. But you just enjoyed and forgot the commitments. That’s why”

Satya replied, “But!!”

“You want your kids to be competitive so that they can grow. You give them challenging tasks so that they become better than what they are today. You love when your kids struggle to do better than what they are doing now. You are my kid. I want you to grow by utilizing the existing resources not just enjoying them. I gave you so many years without any monetary or health worries but you did not do anything for the people in society who are deprived from these. Like you enjoy your kids play hard by shedding their sweat and blood to win in sports or studies, I too enjoy when you struggle to overcome the challenges that I give to you. If I would not have faith in you, I would never have given you any challenges but it seems you have no faith in me. That is clear when I see you do not have any faith on yourself. I hate losers and disqualify them from my game called life. This is your last opportunity. Do not ask ‘Why Me??’ rather as ‘Why not me??’.

Namaste!!!

– Stray Dog