Taking life one day at a time

Taking life, one day at a time!


The exams were over. The fields of Fun Nagar’ had been quite silent of late owing to these examinations. Fun Nagar, located in north Mumbai was a colony where Rajen lived with his parents amidst many such osther families. Rajen looked forward to two big months of uninterrupted fun. Clearly, nothing could be as much awaited as the summer vacation –by Rajen and his pals. The time had come- for them to sit in groups and pass afternoon hours sharing their dreams and pursuits- for them to go to the playground and discover the Tendulkars in them – for them to visit their relatives’ place and have the time of their lives. Rajen’s parents also would impose no restrictions, now that the exams were over. Not that Rajen needed any restrictions- for he was a dedicated student who understood his responsibilities. While he didn’t take his studies lightly, quite ironically, he wasn’t clear about his career as well. Rajen had just another year left before he would enter his X standard- undisputedly a very important year for anyone’s career.
Rajen was an average student and had no clear plans about his career. He was a happy-go-lucky child, taking life one day at a time. He used to approach studies differently. His pursuit was knowledge. Competition couldn’t ruffle him in any way. He also was an ideas-student. He liked to think strongly about how major discoveries happened and what was the origin of breakthrough inventions. This uncertainty and randomness was a bit disturbing for Rajen’s parents who wanted him to think more seriously about his career.

His goal in life was to marry imagination with knowledge to result in social benefit. He strongly felt that every educated person should take up the responsibility of at least turning one illiterate person into a literate one. This, according to him would end partly exploitation of uneducated workers who had to work as liftmen or watchmen. He didn’t see any worth in such jobs. He was often trying to unscramble how if technology had made such great breakthroughs, we still needed people to sit at one place the whole day and act as a watchdog. He also used to frequently visit the nearby newspaper vendor and chat with him for hours trying to understand from him, why he had only inclination to sell and not read the newspaper. He had partly succeeded in his pursuit by making the vendor read at least the local supplement that accompanies the main paper everyday.

The day after the exams got over, Rajen took out a pencil and a paper and started drawing cartoons, much to the amusement of his mother. His mother gave out an instant reaction, “Rajen, this will lead you nowhere. Your sketches are not going to be auctioned for big sums of money.”

“Mummy, let me live this moment,
let me quench this thirst
let me not worry about the future
let me live the present first!”
”Oh, there you are Mr Wordsworth, with one more of your silly compositions.”

“What is silly?
Sparrows will chirp,
Birds will fly
Writers will write
So, please don’t sigh!”

“Decide what you are – a social activist, an artist or a writer or a professional Mr Confusion?”

“Let me follow my heart, it will take me where I have to go.”

The vacations ended. Rajen set his heart free and did everything from writing poems to drawing sketches to urging uneducated people to enroll themselves for schooling. The classes for Standard X began and also started the lectures on profession- you should become an engineer, they get paid well you know- said the nieghbout Mrs. Bhushan. “You should try your hand at architecture- with the no of celebrities increasing, this has ample scope you know” foresaw Mr Rawat, Rajen’s friend’s dad.

“How about earning a living out of playing marbles?”

“What”- The shock was evident on Mrs Bhushan’s and Mr Rawat’s faces. Quite predictably, they didn’t take this very lightly and got annoyed. Mr Rawat told Rajen, “You have no sense of seriousness for your life. You will have to pay a price for this. Mark my words.”

Rajen didn’t bother. He kept studying the way he used to. He wondered often whether it was such a big sin to be interested in almost everything. He involved himself in whatever he did and couldn’t find himself doing just one thing all his life.
Time moved on. His results for SSC came out. He secured 80% and his parenst were delighted. Let’s take an admission for Science stream. Rajen refused. He said that he wanted to be a freelancer- write short stories, draw, do some social work here and there and so on. His parents were unhappy about this.

However, Rajen had already sent his works to many publishers and his illustrations had also been posted on the net. Rajen was confident that he would get the break he needed.
One fine day, he got a call from a venture capitalist company (which had been impressed with his unusual and useful thoughts) called ‘Heartforart’ and offered him a deal- he would have to do what he loved doing- sketch, write poems, enlighten people etc. This would be for a government project in order to increase literacy and promote art as well. This would create the much needed awareness for taking up jobs that one would like to do and not just do a job for a living.

Rajen was excited. He was off for a 5 year period to the quarters of the company, ‘Heartforart’ at New Delhi, where he would continue his pursuits with greater freedom and conviction.

His parents felt happy for him. His mother said, “Finally, my son has found a place which deserves him. My best wishes are with you – My Wordsworth, Michalengelo and Anna Hazare all rolled into one!”

Mr. Rawat was speechless when he accompanied others to see off Rajen at the airport. “Hope you take your life seriously”, he told Rajen.
Rajen nodded while accepting the wishes and said, “Sorry, I take life one day at a time.”
It seemed that Rajen’s heart had finally taken him where he wanted to go.

05.09 (56) p.m.
Saurabh Niranjan Turakhia
Friday
22/09/2006