An Odyssey

It was almost the wee hour of the morning. I was still banging my head to resolve the issue in the COBOL code-just another common day in software engineer’s life. Suddenly, I got message from my manager who was coordinating with me from US ‘it’s okay Manash, you can leave for the day’. What a respite after the whole day of slogging! I quickly booked a cab to rush to home. It was 4 am of a December morning. Then I had a glance of my mobile – 32 missed call. Oh No! My wife was trying to reach me since 10 pm. I thought of calling her but I thought she might have collapsed in bed after work. Sometimes, the humdrum of life ennui me to the extremity of leaving everything and go to my village and start something of my own. Is this the kind of corporate life I was hoping for? Is this what I wanted or my well wishers wanted? This is not what I anticipated from the corporate life. Yeah! I do wanted money but not at the cost of my family life. These feelings often bewilder me a lot. Suddenly I heard the cab driver waving his hand at me to guide me to the cab. I lit up a fag and it was like the inner serenity I was searching for. In this mental state, I generally use to be keen observer and it never precludes me from being myself. I could see an old impoverished sleeping on the footpath and was in recurrent fight with the cold breeze of December morning with only the non-capacious blanket he was having at that time with him. A cadaverous boy, on the other side of the road, was washing the furniture of a restaurant to make it ready for the will-be visiting lavish people. Our cab took a U-turn and suddenly a serpentine throng of people caught sight of me. They were waiting for the daily municipal water which was available might be for a specific time slot of the day. The daily wage workers were all waiting for the potential clients to earn bread and butter of the day. The kind of apprehension they were in, was palpable from their faces. The miserable life for which I was lamenting a few minutes ago was simply nugatory and unwarranted in front of their hapless lives and the harrowing experience they had to undergo in every instance of their lives. The mere dream of sustenance always haunts them. I thanked God for the kind of life He has offered me and awe to him for the same, for not having to lead such a life. I am the luckiest person on Earth! The sudden brake of the cab brought me to the reality. I reached home by that time.’ Whatever happens, happen for good and try to get the best out of the rotten mango’. May be this was the only source of solace in that muddled state!