RAT RACE

20 years of life passed away so fast as if they were just meant to touch and pass on and leave a joyful memories to be cherished life long, then comes the real tough life where everywhere is a never ending rat race and everyone becomes its part and wants to stand on the 1^st position amongst numerous participants few prosper and rest perish as there are only 3 stands in every race 1, 2 and 3. [read more] John also enrolled himself in this never ending rat race and the race started. College got over and now it’s time for job, family, house and n number of etcs.  John started giving interviews got selected in one of them he started working with that company but did not found it much of the worth so switched to few other companies and finally landed in a company which offered him mental and financial satisfaction but he lost 5 precious years of life in just finding a suitable job. It also lead in to the craving of adding more or rather never ending zeroes in his bank account.

John was 25 now and the family started pressurizing him for marriage as he earns well now and he can take care of his family. Then came Nancy in John’s life both of them looks amazing and beautiful couple together. It was all fun for initial 3-4 years like getting pink roses going for a long ride chatting for hours but all of them were short lived and the reality knocked both of them. Nancy gave birth to a beautiful son and they named their son Sam, in no time Sam reached to swing from Nancy’s lap and the entire focus of John and Nancy shifted on Sam now. The pink color of the pink roses faded somewhere, the long ride turned into doctor’s visit for routine checkup and the long hourly love chatting turned into hourly discussion of future settlement.

John was 35 now, things were falling as per his plans as he was able to add zeroes in the bank account, a beautiful house, and nice car parked outside and more importantly a lovely family. Still something was missing in his life which John was not knowing about but this missing thing created a vacuum in his life. He started behaving in nostalgic way but regardless of that the rat race of life kept its pace on and John also kept running to maintain the speed of his life or rather one should say his never ending race.

Sam is a grown up lad now and he started going to school, now the dinner table is usually full of Sam’s little problems and discussion. The lifestyle changed and so changed the priorities which also changed the behavior of John and Nancy towards each other. It seems that this couple has never experienced love and they are just maintaining a social decorum of staying together and growing up their only child.

 The best looking couple have stepped in to their 40s now. The bank account figures kept on increasing along with the length and height of car and house respectively. But still something was missing in the life of John which he feels sometimes whenever he gets into his own space where nobody is there to accompany his loneliness not even his wife Nancy despite both being a happily married couple for the society.

John came from the office and sat on the sofa, he kept his office bag aside as he was not willing to switch on his laptop and he also switched off his mobile phone. He thought to break the ice and asked Nancy for a cup tea, Nancy came with a cup of tea she kept the tea on the table. “It has been quite a long time since we have gone out, go and get yourself ready let’s go out for a drive”. John said it to Nancy, Nancy ignored it and rushed towards the kitchen and a voice came from the kitchen “I have to cook dinner and Sam will return from the playground so I need to prepare something for him as well”.
John said “Ok, at least you can come and sit here as it has been quite long time since we have spent time together.” Nancy came with a little smile on her face and said “How come an old John is getting romantic, is everything all right? That word Old pinched John and he asked to Nancy “Do I look so very old, don’t I look attractive to you anymore?” Nancy burst into laughter and said “We have lived our lives and now it is time for us to accomplish our responsibilities perfectly so that we can give a beautiful future to Sam and by the way look at our age and we are too old for any romance.” Nancy got up and left for the kitchen, her words created a storm of confusion and a questionnaire was generated in the mind of John “Do I need to focus only on my son? Don’t I’ve my own life to live?” the string of thought was broken by the doorbell, the doorbell rang again but John didn’t moved from his position, Nancy came and stood in front of John and said softly to him “Do not over think on this, this is life so it is a ongoing process and you better change the shape of your face and smile, as it must be Sam on the door along with his friends and he will not feel good if he finds a sad form of your face”.
The doorbell rang again and John stood up and said to Nancy “I think you are correct, I should not overthink on this.” John opened the door and it was Sam along with his friends “Papa how come you are back from office so early?” Sam asked John “Hi Uncle, how are you?” Sam’s friends asked John, “I was passing by and just thought to have coffee with your mother, so I rescheduled the meeting and called it a day, come on in son”. John took his laptop bag and switched on my mobile phone and went inside the room, a thought started hitting John “is this rat race worth participating”?

Now John stepped into his 50s the black hair started turning grey, the sharp eyes started taking help of spectacles for a clear vision, fast brain started becoming a dull one, the coordination between fingers were not so rhythmic, vacuum started increasing its space in the life of John. Sam is in college now and he planned to fly miles for his studies, now the zeroes of the account, height of the house, length of the car was not the concern anymore. The only concern of John was “will I be able to reach any position in this rat race but who will decide that whether I won or I lost the race, who is going to decide the parameter of the results as this race has no rules.
He was sitting on his sofa trying to pass his idle Sunday, Nancy was busy with her house hold activities, and there were thoughts and only thoughts ringing inside the John’s head. The phone rang, rang and rang but John did not moved from his position so Nancy came to answer the phone and she picked up the phone “hello! Who is this?” Nancy answered the phone and she suddenly collapsed, John jumped from the sofa to hold her but he failed, she was lying down in an unconscious state and John was not able to understand the happenings around him, “what happened to Nancy, whose phone was it, what did Nancy hear on the phone that she went unconscious”. John got Nancy into the car and rushed towards the hospital and in the way to the hospital John kept on saying “Nancy, Nancy, wake up, what happed “? John reached hospital and entered into emergency ward of the hospital Nancy was taken into the emergency ward where she was to be examined, John’s mobile rang he took it from his pocket he saw it was Sam. “Hello Sam”, he answered, the voice of the person on the other side of the phone was not of Sam, “who is this”? John questioned the person on the other side and he found it was Sam’s friend who called up to inform John that Sam has met a very serious accident and he died in that accident and he called up on the landline but someone after picking up the phone did not responded. John was immovable at that stage and was not knowing how to react that suddenly he was being tapped by the doctor, John turned towards the doctor. “Mr John, we are sorry as we could not save your wife. She had a massive heart attack.”

The entire world came crashing down in front of John he started shivering, the doctor held his hand and helped him in to ease. John sat down with a complete blank mind suddenly there was a beep sound from his mobile, he saw it was a salary credit message His entire body got numb. He was completely clueless as his beautiful journey of life which he created by participating in rat race was coming to halt. “Was it worth participating in the rat race, has the race ended, has he lost the race or won the race? The various questions were hitting John but none of the questions were having any accurate answer. The questions took him to the state of oblivion.

“The purpose of our lives is to be happy”

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