Tears...

(This is my first crack at short-story writing. So, please bear with me. :) )

Dr. Shirley Rose was very happy today. She was finally marrying the man she had grown up and in love with. Looking at the mirror, she was lost in her thoughts, while her mother was pinning her pearl-white dress, removing all creases. She remembered the first time she met him in the class. The ocean-blue eyes, the roughed-up hair. From that time till now, a lot had changed. They had spent 14 years together. From friends to lovers, the story was like a fairy-tale.

She was suddenly jerked from her thoughts by Meredith, her Maid-of- Honor, who handed her the phone and told her a colleague had called and said it was important. She said ‘Hello”

Within a span of seconds, the glee on her face had vanished and her eyes widened. The cup of tea slipped from her hands, crashing on the floor, spilling the brown tea on her pristine dress.

She turned and rushed down the gallery, leaving her mother and friends in shock to tried to ask her what had happened.

The church was filled with guests, all decked up and ready for the event.

She could see the flashing blue and red lights from the church windows.

She reached the gate and pulled it open, only to find a hospital van pulling up to the curb.

All of the good memories rushed up to her as she feared the worst. Could this be really happening on her wedding day, the day she was supposed to be the start of her happy days.

Everybody had gathered outside and was thinking the same, hoping to be wrong.

She rushed up to the ambulance gate and with trembling hands turned the knob.

“During the history class of school was the first time I spoke to you. Seeing your face that day and today, I realised how lucky I am. You took away all my fears, sorrow and asked for nothing in return. I just wanted to see that pigtailed girl one more time and ask you once again, Will you take this eraser that you once gave me, marry me and make me the happiest person on this planet?” , said Bill, down on one knee, holding out in his hand, a piece of used eraser, on it written, their initials, SR + BM.

A tear drop rushed down her face as her heart leaped out to scream, “Yes”.

He was wrong.  She was the happiest person on this planet. 

No Country for Passion?

Yesterday, I was standing at the zebra crossing waiting for the light to turn red, so that I could cross and I heard someone behind me say, “My sister had a girl yesterday. She will surely be a doctor. My sister was also a doctor, no!! “

Let’s see where it begins from!! From the time a child is born, his future career is by this time decided and 90% of the time is a Doctor, an Engineer or maybe an MBA. The poor chap, who has just been in this realm for the least amount of time of his life, doesn't even know or understand the amount of expectations already placed on him and also the fact that he has already been included in the rat-race of this country by none other than the people, who are supposed to understand him.

From Standard 6 or in some places, even earlier, children are given ranks on their academical performance. So what does a person have to do to be in the top 5% of his or her batch? Just be a computer. Essentially, just learn every topic by heart and vomit the same in the exam. Thus, YOU ARE A GOOD STUDENT. Rote learning is now becoming a regular part of children’s curriculum it seems. Is this what we want to teach the younger generations of our country? If you can’t fit into a system, you are not “good enough.”

A very small portion of the parents who actually encourage their children to be whatever they want to, to pursue their passions and to love what you do. People are forced into jobs they don’t like or is way off tangent from their likes and interests. Just Google the phrase “unhappy professionals” and  see for yourself first-hand almost all the professions that I mentioned are dissatisfied with their current job profiles and wish they could do something better with their life.

Another interesting fact, you won’t find any painters, writers, artists or any other field which includes passion as its main component as unhappy. It is not that being a doctor does not include passion. It does. But how many passionate people really make it to the top colleges in our country where medical seats are sold to the highest “donator”?

The creative, enthusiastic side of adolescent minds are trodden upon by this system of learning. Question is how long do we let this continue?

After 67 years of Independence, the youth of this country is finally breaking free from the stereotypes and pursuing their varied interests. Need proof? The emergence of designer boutiques, t-shirt companies, bloggers, professional photographers, mountain climbers, chefs, travel writers, painters, golfers and many more professions in the past few years is signalling to the entire world that the youngest superpower of the world is finally stoking their inner fires.

The thing is hopefully, this generation does repeat this same with their kids. Whatever might their passion be, just let them discover it themselves.