A VISION

Waiting impatiently for his meal, Pranav picked up his spoon and started drumming on the edge of the porcelain plate that his mother had already arranged neatly on the dinner table. Mr. Mehta was busy scanning the pages of The Hindu and did not seem to notice. Encouraged by his father's nonchalance, Pranav increased his rhythm to test if he could play as fast as his music instructor in school.

"Don't do that ! It is irritating", his elder sister, Surbhi, suggested very calmly.

"Go to hell ! I'll do what I want", he snapped.

This seemed to have caught Mr. Mehta's attention, for he immediately lowered the newspaper.

"Pranav, that is not how you speak to your sister", he interrupted.

"OK, sorry", apologized the young boy as he turned to face the teenage girl.

"That's my boy. Just talk to your sister more politely from now on. In fact, do not be rude to any other girl."

"I will not be rude, Papa.", he exclaimed.

"Very good.", Mr. Mehta smiled at his son's obedience.

"Such sweet children. I'll also bring the rajma. Once you finish, we have icecream to celebrate Surbhi's academic result", Mrs. Mehta said as she entered from the kitchen carrying a bowl of vegetable pulao. The girl had achieved a ninety five percent aggregate score in her class 10 board exams, second in the entire district only to her friend Ritu who lived in the neighbouring slum.

"Chocolate?", asked Surbhi expectantly.

"Yes, dear", her mother affirmed. "Exactly what you asked for."

As the family sat down together on the dinner table, Mr. Bachchan posed the first question to his ecstatic participant on KBC. When the show had ended, the kids retired to their rooms. They had to wake up early next morning to catch the school bus in time for a trekking excursion.

"So, honey ! Anything worth noticing in the news today?", Mrs. Mehta asked her husband as she settled next to him on the sofa after a fulfilling dinner and rested her head on his firm shoulder.

"It is in the headlines. A bunch of youths gave a sound thrashing to some miscreants who were eve-teasing a 20 year old girl in New Delhi. Apparently, the girl raised an alarm and a few passers-by quickly came to her rescue. The culprits are now in jail facing an appropriate sentence dictated by the Nirbhaya law. This is one of those rare instances where people have stepped in to prevent a potential tragedy."

"Yes, that is indeed rare. There is not a lot of empathy found on the country's streets. But anyways, this is a relief. I think people have finally begun to realize change cannot happen unless they strive for it themselves; things can only get better if we start taking initiative and stop waiting for the government to swing into action."

"Hmm. We have waited for a long time. It has made us lethargic. After the series of crimes that have blotted the nation in past years, people probably cannot take it anymore."

"If only we could try to similarly stand up against other evils that plague our society."

"I think we have made a start. With the Jan-Lokpal bill being very likely to be passed in this parliamentary session, we might finally be able to force graft under control."

"That is debatable. Nevertheless, I was referring to issues that do not contain a large political association." 

"Well, even on that front, I heard Tushar who lives next door convinced his parents not to ask for dowry from the brides's family. When his parents cited financial stability as a motive, he declared that his qualifications provide him enough earning potential not to depend on any form of depraved assistance. Good lad, that one."

"Yes. You never asked for dowry, right?", Mrs. Mehta prodded him with a grin.

"Oh, no. I thought you would be enough", Mr. Mehta smiled, stroking his wife's silken hair.

"Good. Because I would have thrown you out of my house had you asked.", she giggled. 

"That would have been a sight", he laughed. "Speaking of being out of the house, I just remembered I have a business trip planned for the US next month. How much is the current exchange rate, by the way?"

"Fifty six."

"So the rupee is slowly recovering. Anyways, can you remind me to make travel reservations? If you are able to get a few days leave from work, you and the kids should come along too."

"I'll see. But first, I hope you recall you promised the kids we are going to Mussoorie this weekend."

"I remember, sweetheart. We most certainly are."

ONLY THE LORD SHALL TAKE AWAY

Question : Who decides when to end a life?

Answer : NOT the life-bearer

You, dear reader, might wonder what has suddenly sparked this subject. It is the shocking, self-inflicted demise of a person whom I considered to be a rational, jovial and ambitious human being. I do not know the reason for this extreme step, but I am unable to come to terms with the fact that such an individual can actually go through with such a preposterous and callous act.

There cannot be a greater gift to mankind than the ability to perform any action at will - the freedom to make a choice, to love and be loved, to travel this beautiful world, to embark on a passionate dream, or to do nothing at all. And there cannot be a more blatant disregard for that pristine gift than to throw it away in a mindless, impulsive error of thought.

Also, our life is not ours alone to give away. We are just the bearers of this asset; it is much more a property of everybody else who has a stake in our existence. And since we are not the complete, rightful owners, we have no right to discard it without consent.

Of course, life is not always the joyride that we wish for, but a wave of crests and troughs. While we enjoy the crests, we often tend to resign in the troughs. I have travelled through fairly deep trenches, and I am sure so have you. All it takes to make our way up is a little courage, and a little faith. It is the plethora of such high and low experiences that is the basis of life. There cannot be perfect order in anything worldly; if there is, we would cease to exist - that is a fundamental law of nature. 

The prolific inventor Edison had a series of failures - professional and personal, before he could finally invent the electric bulb. If he had given up because of any one of those failures and chosen the quick escape route of death, he could never have touched the billions of lives that thrive today on his inventions.

If you ever find yourself harboring the slightest "self-destruct" ideas, perhaps you can remember these words. And who knows, it might help save a million more lives someday in the future.