Love Industry - The Love Hunt

This is the Part-2 of the story. Please read Part -1 first.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Padamesh was confident that he will able to change the mind of Sweetie soon but her behavior reveals the intention to break up after 3 months. Padamesh with low hope to salvage this relationship, registered himself to all dating sites to find a perfect match. He is now eager to find a new girlfriend within the notice period. He was wondering 5 years of Sweetie’s company will not give him any gratuity, unlike the IT company he left last time.

“Please, tell me about yourself?” was his first dating interview question after 5 years on a blind date he got almost immediately after registration. His nervousness was quite visible even when he spoke about himself. The moment next questions started coming from across the table he found his mind gone totally blank and then he fumbled, make weird faces drank lots of water and soon said: “I am coming back from washroom”. It was the last nail in the coffin of his first blind date when he explained that NASA found new solar system named Trappist-1 with few Earth-like planets and has a probability of life in it when the question was, “tell me about any current affairs you had.” This time his date said, “I am coming back from washroom” and ran away from that restaurant to never return.

****

One evening while having snacks with their friends, Sweetie announced that she is breaking up with Padamesh. Simran looks towards Padamesh and said, “Does Padamesh aware about this?”

“Yes! off course” Sweetie replied.

“Are we having a breakup party now?” Simran said, “you both are still sitting together having snacks like nothing happened, hence asking.”

Sweetie said in excitement “No, he came up with a brilliant idea of three-month notice. Here we will continue what so ever we are doing for another three months and then fully break up. In these three months, we are free to find each other’s replacement,” Sweetie replied.

“Seriously, it’s a brilliant idea.” Simran said with excitement and Meera, Raj, and Rahul nodded with agreement, “this will be the norm of breakups soon. I will definitely follow this process for my breakup”

“Simran, You don’t have a boyfriend yet,” Padamesh said which subdued Simran’s excitement.

“It’s Ok, this is a new concept,” Sweetie said, “by the time her breakup will align she will be aware of good and bad part of this concept.” Sweetie tried her best to cover-up.

“Do both of you started finding the replacements?” Simran asked to showcase that she didn’t mind about it.

“You know my charm, the day I want to have one will get one.” Sweetie said with a swag, “He is trying, but can’t trap anyone like me yet,” and laughed with others.

There is the similarity between love and break-up. When you fall in love you least aware of the surroundings and you just think only about the love and when you encounter break up, happenings at surrounding hardly matters. Same was the situation for Padamesh, with all noise around he was busy thinking about his future. He already received few rejections. The first one gave him the confidence to go for few more dates and with each date comes new challenges and he left rejected. He knows if the pattern continues, he will be the most experienced dater of this city, if not for the country. Whenever he moves ahead in dating rounds and disclosure of notice period comes into picture then no one agrees to wait for three months to start a new relationship.

Padamesh was dejected so far with his love hunt which was not running smooth as his job hunt, he did last time. He even thought to tell lie about this situation while on new dates and maintain another relationship in parallel. After last day of this notice period, he will dedicate fully to his new love. Then he realized about his busy schedule with Sweetie which will not allow him to maintain two relationships in parallel.

His day starts early with heavy breakfast and light exercise for himself followed by … washing dishes, cleaning clothes and cleaning house of Sweetie. After this heavy exercise for Sweetie, he needs to prepare light breakfast for her and heads up to the office. He needs to finish his work early and on time because Sweetie may come up with something of her own work which he needs to resolve in the night. Those works can be critical or non-critical based on how good or bad her day was going on. He also had to cook for her in the night since she prefers fresh food. The night, Sweetie don’t have headaches during sleep time are his lucky days. Padamesh also has a place to stay which he is paying rent regularly but hardly go due to his outrageous busy schedule.

Overall, he loves Sweetie to the core to his heart and this break-up made him realized that market is really tuff to become a boyfriend of someone. Nowadays, good looks and a nice sense of humor do not work. You need specialized skills to woo the would-be girlfriend. Padamesh was quite unsure about projecting these skills that he gathered during the tenure with Sweetie. He told himself that he will now reveal all these hidden skills in his next date. All these rejections had made him desperate and for him, it’s now or never.

He logged into that dating site and sent match request to everyone with the pics of shoulder length hair, the fetish he always had. One request got accepted and via chat, he found her interesting as she started flirting with him instantly. It’s positive sign and they decided to meet the very next day. He can’t wait for the next day and already started dreaming about her and he also loved her name.

****

Next day he went to the restaurant and found her at the corner table drinking, the breeze moving her shoulder length hair to reveal her face slightly. That’s a beautiful face, Padamesh thought and walk towards her to introduce himself “Hello I am … are you Florin?” Padamesh said so loud that everyone in the restaurant turned their head towards them. A man taller than Padamesh stood up from the chair lean towards him said with heavy voice 

“Yes, I am. Who are you?”

Padamesh stammered quite hard and long and finally able to say, “I am your date, Please tell me about yourself.”

While they both are still standing, Florin said “Wo! Wait! I expected a girl for this date.”

“I also expected the same.”

“So, are you?”

“No! I am not. I guess it’s because of your hair and face combination, I thought you are a girl. Plus, your name also does not reveal the true gender identity.”

“That’s my ponytail, you idiot. I have just used my DP with that tail untied. Don’t even you check the gender?”

“No! Looks matter to me and you been extra clean shave with long hair confused me. I will put the gender filter criteria next time. My bad but why you accepted my request?”

“I was using this site for the first time and when your request came up I thought you as a girl. I thought your name came to me as Padamesha which is clearly a girl name.”

“No, my full name is Padamesh Agarwal. In my profile, I mentioned it as Padamesh a. That might have confused you”

“Why don’t you have given a profile picture or filled up personal details”

“Actually, I was more focused on skills, I will rectify it this time.”

“It’s a day wasted. Let’s sit down and have some guy talks since we came a long way to meet each other.”

“I bet.”

He realised that he can easily document each dating sessions during his love hunt as lesson learnt. He came back to his profile did some necessary changes to get the dating ball rolling. Padamesh realized that he filled up his profile like job hunt profile not as dating profile and that could be the root cause of his low acceptance and high rejection in this love industry.

He works in IT industry but he believes there exists a love industry too. An industry which flourishes on the need of love and relationships. All these flower shops, dating sites, gift and card shops are all part of this industry. If love is the driving force for most of the things in the world, then it can drive the whole industry based on the need and trend of love. Like industry here also trends do change from time to time. Like earlier no live-in concept no it is, earlier only husbands used to wash clothes and do the dishes now boyfriends' does that. This belief had given him the idea to define his profile like the of resume IT industry which he realized may differ.

The changes bought the fruit he deserved and received the request for a blind date again next day. This time he verified the request came from a girl.

Go to the Next Part (The Offer Letter)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is the Part-2 of the story. Please read Part -1 first.

©Tapas Majumdar, Not for reproduction without Author's permission.

Love Industry - The Notice Period

Fiddling around his pant pockets a sign of his hiding nervousness. Padamesh ensured both the boxes are intact in his pocket. He wanted to pop “will you marry me?” question tonight to Sweetie. They were in love since past many years. He bought the golden ring for this occasion. Padamesh was confident about the positive answer tonight. He took the box out and open it, Sweetie started jumping out of ecstasy after seeing that ring. She jumped with joy few times and rush into Padamesh arms lick his ears with her tongue and said: “Paddu, we need to break up.”

The voice of Sweetie bought back Padamesh to present. He found Sweetie staring him with eyes wide open across the table at the restaurant they were having dinner. He gave her a nervous smile and started back to focus on his food.

“Did you ever heard what I have said, just now?” Sweetie asked, “and why were you smiling ear to ear with your eyes closed?”

“No, Nothing. I am imagining some forthcoming happy moments,” Padamesh replied, “I read somewhere when you focus on the end results it eventually happens.”

“To hell with your end results.” Sweetie said in raised voice “Paddu, it’s not working anymore, we need to break up tonight.”

“Why? I thought things are going great between us,” Padamesh said with misty eyes, “I love you.”

“I know, but I don’t love you anymore,” Sweetie said, “It’s not that I love someone else, it’s just your lifestyle.”

“I always try to match up to your lifestyle,” Padamesh said.

“You don’t wash your clothes for months and even utensils at your place left unwashed for many days.”

“It’s because I kept busy in washing your clothes and utensils at your apartment.”

“So, it’s all my fault, right?”

“No Sweetie, I will change myself what so ever way you want. We will make it work.” He wants a truce.

“It’s over Padamesh,” she said with a firm voice, “Let’s finish our dinner and I am done with you.”

The restaurant started playing the couple's favorite love song, it was that planned moment when Padamesh wanted to pop that question which is already answered. They started eating silently. Padamesh used these silent moments to come back to senses. He had to come up with a plan to mitigate this breakup.

“Sweetie, please don’t break up like this, I have a better idea,” Padamesh said after some time.

“What you want Padamesh?” was Sweetie’s irritating response.

“You want to break-up that’s fine, we will do it tonight,” Padamesh said with a twinkle in his eyes 

“We will follow a process, a breakup process.”

“I am not going to buy any of your idiotic ideas which you call out of the box ideas.”

“No, this time it's innovative, we can be that famous couple to be marked down at breakup history.”

“Ok, I am all ears.”

“You being an HR what you do when you fire someone on the humanitarian ground?”

“We give him some notice period to help him find another opportunity.”

“Exactly. Since you are firing me tonight, I deserve that notice period on humanitarian ground.”

“What!! This doesn't happen in break-up else it’s not a breakup.”

“Why not? Consider this break up as either you have put the resignation to leave my services or you have relieved me of all your duties henceforward.”

“You have a point, but…”

“We will break up for sure but will follow the process based on IT Industries attrition.”

“What will be the process?”

“After tonight we will remain couple with minimum obligations and will be free to search for love or plan for next phase of life until predefined Notice period. If one of us find someone before that Notice period then also the person will still serve that notice period, if the one who initiated this breakup insists. Early releases may possible which we can decide later.”

“In layman’s point of view, post tonight we will stick together but I am free to find your replacement and you are free to find mine. Irrespective of we find our new partner or not, we will stick together till the notice period completes. So, you will still do my dishes and wash my clothes during this period, Right.?”

“Off-course yes,” Padamesh said with a delight, “I also expect all the services from your side too. You know, the employee does receive full salary and give all services during the notice periods. So, your place or mine?”

“Wait!” Sweetie interrupted, “what will be the notice period?”

“3 Months,” he said, “that’s the standard all Indian IT company follows now a day.”

“Your place is too dirty, mine will be fine,” Sweetie said. “I have lots of clothes and dishes pending to wash. No hurry! You can wash them in the morning before we head towards the office. Paddu, don’t forget to make my favorite breakfast.”

“I told you many times, don’t call me Paddu,” Padamesh said, “It sounds so airy.”

“That’s short form of your name, you know that,” Sweetie said with a giggle.

Padamesh released the sigh of relief. He was wondering all these times how to return the ring without getting caught by the judgemental eyes of shopkeepers. The biggest problem was the pack of the sheath in his other pocket, which doesn't have any return policy. If his trick would not have worked, he had almost made his mind to sell that pack at OLX, Quicker or Craiglist as the last course of action. Thanks to this notice period, his investment on safe sex is now safe.

Go to the Next Part (The Love Hunt)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
©Tapas Majumdar, Not for reproduction without Author's permission.

A Life's Price Tag

“What is your name?” I asked that kid. “Peoples call me Chotu” He replied.

My route to office crosses many traffic signals and in each traffic signals you will be approached by the sales people of all age groups for “Vehicle Stop Shopping”. Most of them are children.

In India, child labors are the cheapest mode of making the profit for a family with earning child and also to the person who had recruited that child. Most of us are against child labor and we also don’t discriminate them so we call all these child labors “Chotu”. They may have a name at home but at work, they are been called only as “Chotu”. These children could be the one working in shops, begging on street or selling stuff on street.

Now, most of those beggars rather than begging sell different goods like Pen, Books, Toys, Balloons, Seasonal Items, Car accessories or selling anything and everything, rather than begging on different traffic signals.

This is “Vehicle Stop” shopping and similar to doorstep shopping where salesman comes to your house to sell something which you may or may not want. In this case salesman or saleswoman are the peoples with weathered out clothes, some mark of tears or running nose across their face or with impaired limbs or bruises across the face or hands. The moment your vehicle stops they will start selling you the Items that you can buy if you want.

They may be the same people who used to beg earlier and now sell Goods or Items. They don't beg, although they haven’t changed their attire, workplace or habit to ask for money. This is the new business of begging industry.

I am being an extrovert and talkative guy, I actually use the opportunity of Vehicle stop shopping to talk to all these “Chotu’s” who came as salesman towards my Bajaj Pulsar motorbike.

My motive is to get the insight of their life about their need, dreams, and fantasies. I want to use those insights to write an article, essay, story or a novel. The mean it may sound, the mean I am.

They also mean business hence I have to buy something from them every time I need to get their inside story. The result is, I now have too many pens, coloring books, soft toys or car accessories at home which I don’t need.

Most of these Chotu’s, recognize me. They know the price of their goods is the price of the answer to my question. It is addictive for them since they found a permanent customer and also for me because I get a ton of first-hand insight of their life which I believe been wrongly presented and projected so far.

I speak with all of them in the local language and realized most of them are happy and content with what they are doing. They don’t have a dream and if the end meets for that particular day, that day will be their happiest. Sometimes the whole family occupies a traffic signal and they will happy to introduce with their family or some cases pretending families and also some cases they have a boss whose name or identity they won’t reveal at all.

One fine day, in one of these traffic signals, while my way to the office I have met this Chotu. He is special and different than all other Chotu’s in different traffic signals.

He had dreams and demands. Sharp enough to calculate money quickly and honest enough to return the change. I many time met him twice a day if I have to stop at that traffic signal while coming back from Office in the evening too. I never asked his name and like every child labor, he is Chotu for me too.

He had that tan across his face, hand, and legs due to all the heat and dust from the road he faces every day. His natural body color was visible sometimes from under the sleeve of his faded half shirt. His big dark eyes, short height with that innocent smile easily help peoples to guess his age 5-6 years compare to his original age of 8 years.

I hardly got the chance to ask one or two questions every day based on the time my motorbike stops in that particular signal. Sometimes even before he can answer I have to move my vehicle since all other vehicles start moving or his voice does not herd with all the honks on that junction. Someday I got the green signal at my end the moment I reach that junction and never had any conversation with him.

These are some of the noted conversations we had in the Hindi Language over the period of time. We had much more to this but just added the remembered ones only. The unfinished one is due to the traffic started moving at my end that particular day.

------------------------------Day 10 -----------------------

“Chotu, don’t you ever bath?” I asked him. “Yes, every day on that River across the road.” Chotu replied instantly “Why?”

------------------------------Day 14 -----------------------

“What you love to eat?”

“Chicken curry and Rice, which my mom cook when we had good earnings over the week.”

------------------------------Day 20 -----------------------

I want to ask this question for quite some time now and asked him the moment I got chance “Whom you love the most, Mom or Dad?”

He replied, “Obviously my dad I love the most.” I asked instantaneously “Why?”

“He is the one who brings me all toys, I want.” His response was prompt.

“But your mom cook you chicken and rice, that you love the most.” I was playful and he was confused and before he can answer I have to move out my vehicle from that signal and this context never came up.

------------------------------Day 21 -----------------------

“Do you know how to write? You are selling Pen every day.” Was my question and “No” was his answer with a very sad face and while moving out of that signal I can saw him in the mirror that he is continuously looking towards me with that face while standing in the middle of the road with all vehicles gaining speed to cross that junction along with me.

------------------------------Day 30 -----------------------

I was always the one who start the conversation. Some of the time have some predetermined it before reaching the signal or sometimes the same question which I might have asked to another Chotu at the different traffic signal.

“You don’t want to go to school?”

“No”

“Why?”

“My Parent’s don’t want me to go.”

“Don’t you feel sad about it? See that kid on that bike and also on that blue car is going to school. If you look around so many of them are going to school. See they also have different dresses for different schools.”

“No, Never. I don’t want to go. I am happy here.”

------------------------------Day 38 -----------------------

“Hello Bhaiya, Meet my sister Jyoti. She likes to go to school” Chottu introduced me to his sister. This was the first time where he started the conversation.

“Which School you go?” I asked her

“I just like to go and study. My Parents told me, no need. Will you buy Balloon from me today?” She replied all in one breathe.

I hesitate and want to ask some more questions hence said “I am going to office now still I will buy a couple of them. Give me your and Chotu’s favorite colors.”

“Please buy four. I will give you my Mom and Dad’s favorite colors too.” She insists with a smile.

Buying Pens from Chotu was never a problem I can always keep them in my bag on my way to the office. Reaching office with balloons at hand was not a good idea. I bought Pink, Red and Blue balloons tied them at my hand while driving my bike. Thank god, Chotu and his Dad has same favorite color to help me negotiate and settle down to three balloons only.

I want to keep the blue one for the sake of Chotu but since was going to the office so don’t have any choice. I found some kids playing on a road near to my office stopped and gave them those balloons before entering at office premises that day.

------------------------------Day 41 -----------------------

“Where is your Sister today, I can’t see her across the road.” I asked Chotu.

“She is not well since last night. So my dad is covering both signals today.” He replied.

“You always cover this side of signal?”

“Yes in the day time and my sister covers the opposite side. My mom’s side is the left to your side and Dad covers the right. In the evening, I switch side with my sister. Mom and Dad also do the same thing.”

I realized that’s the reason I always find him at the side where I have to stop while going or coming to office. It’s the same reason I can see his mom clearly but not his Dad. I always stand closer to the footpath or roadside to meet Chotu which falls on my left-hand side. Due to the four lane and traffic, His father always visible distant from my side of the road.

------------------------------Day 59 -----------------------

I was sick for a couple of days at one of the weekend. So while going to the office on a Wednesday, I found the signal green the moment I reached there. If I have slowed down my bike, but I have to speed it up. Chotu noticed me in all the traffic and shouted towards me.

Chotu: Where were you?

I just smiled towards him, since I felt awkward to reply him back with all peoples moving around him. I do explain him in the evening that I was sick and fine now.

------------------------------Day 83 -----------------------

The newly launched 2000 Rupees note was in my purse that day and I want to flaunt it to him to test his mathematical skills so I said “Chotu keep this note with you. In any case, I buy something or other every day from you and you can deduct the amount from this money.”

After dwelling the note for few seconds, Chotu said “Which amount note is this? I only know 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 amount notes.”

“This is a 2000 rupees note.” I replied. He tried to hand it over back to me and said “I can’t keep this. Deducting 10 rupees every day will take you 200 days to finish this amount. That’s too many days.”

I was surprised and speechless with his prompt math skills. I started moving because signal turned green at my end. He ran towards me and gave me the 2000 Rupees note at my hand and while running with my bike he said “You just buy every day 10 Rupees from me. I will make 2000 from you someday but give me 10 rupees only. My father taught me if someone gives you bigger amount note just tell him, I have no change.” I can only able to nod my head to agree with his logic.

------------------------------Day 86 -----------------------

“Who taught you Math so well?” I said with the reference to what happened a couple of days ago.

“My Mom and Dad.” He said with an irritating voice “Don’t waste my time I am very busy today. Here is your pen and give me 10 Rupees.”

------------------------------Day 86 -----------------------

In the evening while coming back from office on opposite end of the signal I asked him “What comes after 2000?”

He shrugged his shoulder and said “I don’t know. You always come and waste my time by asking unnecessary questions which I don’t know”

He crossed my bike and approach toward a car standing next to me and asked that person if he would purchase a Pen. I asked another question “What are your desires, Chotu?

He turned his head over his shoulder towards me and smiled. While moving towards the next vehicle and said: “I just want to live.”

“Everyone live, what’s new in that.” I asked him with a raised voice so that he can hear. He didn’t say anything that day.

------------------------------Day 92 -----------------------

“Bhaiya, meet my mom.” Chotu said to me with an exciting voice.

“Namaste Saab. He told me about you many times.” She introduced me with both her palm closed.

I smiled back and replied “He is a smart kid. Why don’t you send him to school?”

She took a deep breath and said: “He is earning for the family we don’t want to lose that and also like any other kid, he don’t like school.”

I turned towards Chotu and asked him if he is going to introduce me to his father someday.

Chotu’s Mom intervened and said “No, never meet with his father. He doesn't like any of us meet and make friendship with travelers on this road. You are his only consistent customer, please be that way.”

------------------------------Day 99 -----------------------

He was living a simple life on a complex road. Driving there needs skill but living, may not.

While coming back to the office on one Friday evening, I was standing three rows behind to the same traffic signal and noticed Chotu found something lying on the side of the road.

He found me in the traffic and showed a 2000 rupees note that he found lying on the grass at the corner of the road. He came to me and asked, “Is this your money lying on the ground?”

I know that’s not my money. That money might have fallen from someone else pocket or purse while purchasing something from these sellers.

I nodded my head with negation and asked: “What he want to do with this note?”

He shrugged his shoulder and said, “Don’t know, will give it to my father and maybe I able to eat chicken soon.”

He showcased that note to his sister, teased him and ran away toward his father and handed over to him. His father eyes lit up which was visible from that far and in a pink twilight.

Father-son were having the conversation and their happy faces remind me the answer he gave it to my question I asked once “Whom he love the most? Mother, Father or Sister.”

My traffic signal started green and I have to move my vehicle along with others. Finding this he ran towards my vehicle but with honks from many vehicles he decided to stay at the side of the road and shout for me “He will bring me a big toy with this money”. I raised my hand and showed thumbs up while driving to give him a gesture that, I heard him.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a weekend that evening and next day and I was looking into all the Pen I bought from Chotu. There are too many of them now in my possession. Most of them don’t work and some I use it for occasional jot down.

It was total 90 pens. I met him 22 days a month if I go every day to the office. That make at least 4-months of interaction but I guess, I have known him for more than a 6 month now.

I checked my journal where I kept my daily activities and revisited pages where I have noted something about Chotu. I remembered the day we first met.

------------------------------Day 1 -----------------------

I felt a tap of the pen on my right-hand wrist and Chotu asked me “Will you purchase a Pen from me?”

“How much is the cost?” I enquired. “30 Rupees.” He replied.

“That’s too much. I will buy a pen every day. Give me in 10 instead” I negotiated.

He smiled and said “Only if you really buy from me again. Today I can give you in 20 Rupees.”

“Ok. I will pay if you allow me to take your picture today.” I said and He obliged and said: “Then cost will be 40 for the pen”.

I was really impressed by his logic and smartness that day. I got his picture and placed in all relevant social network so that if he got stolen by someone, his real parents may find him out one day.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Till date, no one enquired about him, which made me realized he was part of that family he introduced me to.

Due to some personal exigency, I had to work from home on Monday and was itching to meet Chotu to find the happiness he might have received.

On Tuesday, I found the whole family missing on the traffic signal. I thought it could be some off-day for the family.

On Wednesday, I found everyone was there except Chotu. The traffic signal and my urgency at work ahead didn’t give me enough time to enquired about him.

On Thursday, the situation was same. Chottu is missing from the scene where as everyone else is there on that traffic signal. I somehow managed to catch hold of his sister and in a spur, she said: “He is now going to school, so will not be available from now onwards”. Her words made me really happy as this is something even I want to happen for him, since long.

Few more days passed by and my eyes were always in search for him whenever I crossed that traffic signal twice a day on weekdays.

It was Sunday and New Year’s Day so was a holiday. I thought to distribute some sweets to Chotu and his family. When I reached there I noticed many peoples were selling different kinds of stuff to the Pune’s busiest traffic signal.

I was able to locate Chotu’s Sister, Mom, and Dad but can’t locate Chotu. Chotu was missing from the scene.

I asked her Sister and the response came the same. Today being a holiday, no school would have opened. I became restless and I need to find out the true story.

His mother was selling something at another end of the signal. I took a different route from that signal so I can reach to the signal where her mother is doing the sales.

When I reached to that junction after some time, I noticed she recognized me but pretend it such a way that she didn’t saw me.

“Where is Chotu?” I reached next to her side and asked.

“I don’t know any Chotu” She replied back.

“Where is your son?” I realized that he might have a real name which I don’t know.

She said, “He is at the school today”.

I realized there is definitely something wrong “Today is Holiday in all Schools. Which School he goes for study? I will go there and meet him” I said in a stern voice.

In the meantime traffic already started at that end and she started walking back towards the end where his husband is selling.

I adjusted my motorbike to stay with her. Finding me accompany her she turned back towards me and said “I can’t tell you and if my husband finds out that I am talking with you, he will kill me” She said with a discomfort voice “So please go and never come back”.

I was adamant to find the truth “I will call the police if you don’t tell me where Chotu is and what happened to him.”

The traffic was moving at full speed she looks toward her husband who is busy selling something as the traffic at his end just stopped.

“Please don’t go to the police.” She pledged. “He told me, Bhaiya will come one day to find me, please tell him the truth. He deserves to know” and she started crying "I will tell you the truth."

I am getting impatient and quite aware that if that traffic signal where his husband located stops again then she may not converse with me. The timer on the traffic signal was quietly counting down.

She tried to hold back her cry and said “Saab, your Chotu his dead!!”

Even with so much traffic noise on the road, I felt there was pin drop silence all around. That moment I can’t explain and felt my senses getting numb as I can’t believe what I have just heard.

She continued her story and I can’t able to speak a word in between “One day, He found one 2000 Rupees note lying on road. He picked that up and gave it to his father. He promised him to buy a toy car bigger than we sell, in this traffic.

In that night he was eagerly waiting for his father to come back with that toy and was not willing to sleep. To make him sleep, I promised that I will cook his favorite Chicken Rice tomorrow.

I don’t know when my husband was back that night. He was awake and went to my husband and asked for that toy. His father was fully drunk and was no mood in talking. He just pushed him forcefully and his head got to hit against the pole nearby.

My husband went to sleep and not aware what he did. I was sleeping too. No one was aware that he was lying there on his own blood till morning and I was the first to saw him when I woke up.

We took him to the hospital and after few hours, doctors declared him dead.

He woke up once at the hospital and said to me that just tell truth to Bhaiya, whenever he will come to find me else he will find out somehow, which will not be good for all of us.”

“Is your husband always come home drunk?” I wanted to know.

She said while sobbing “No, That additional 2000 Rupees as income caused him to drink. He was supposed to use that money for household and for my son’s toy but he blew it all up to drink.”

“I am going to kill him or put him behind the bar today” and started walking toward him

“No” she quickly came in front of me and said “Please don’t do that. What will happen to me, my daughter? It was just a mistake. I will give birth to another child to him. If that will be a son then everything will remain same. He will also earn in this traffic signal. So please don’t do this. He doesn't have any fault. It’s my Son who was adamant enough to get a toy. He should have slept quietly that night.”

Her words surprised me more than Chotu’s death. I realized, Chotu was just a source of income to her and not even her own blood matters here. Even if I do something for the sake of Chotu it will not solace his family.

I turned back and started walking back to my vehicle. The tears finally rolled out to my cheek. I turned toward Chotu’s mother and asked: “What was his real name?”

She sobbed, cleaned her eyes and said “Jeevan”

I just put the sweets I bought for Jeevan’s family at the same place I was standing at that time.

Jeevan is the Hindi word for Life and his only wish was to being alive and today on a new year’s day, when people take a new look at their life I came to know he is dead. Such an irony. I thought mere 2000 rupees (30$) was the Price tag of his life.

When I reached to my vehicle. Stayed there for some time to calm me down. I felt a tap on my right-hand wrist with a pen. I turned around and found a boy of 6-7 years old asked: “Do you want to purchase a pen from me?”

He was not Jeevan but some another boy selling the same stuff he used to sell.

I asked that kid “What is your name?”

He replied with a smile “Peoples call me Chotu”



©Tapas Majumdar, Not for reproduction without Author's permission.

How To Guide - To Keep Your Resolutions

It’s another New Year and few new resolutions been made. After a month some of you might have already broken those resolutions and feeling guilty. Some of you might be struggling hard to keep the resolutions alive.

Good luck to those who are still continuing with the resolution and those are the only one who will be benefitted the most. You are already on right track and keep continuing the good work.

If you feel under the category who made resolutions at the start of the year but not able to keep that. You keep them for few days or months but never able to achieve your targets. You feel your resolutions are under "my impossible resolutions" category? Do not worry, this article will help you to keep your resolutions, going forward.

I was in the category where I made resolutions on the eve of New Year and break them in a day or two. Sometimes I tried for another 15 days and broke them. Everything changed when I started following these steps and find SMART way to keep them which benefitted me over the year.

  

Although, I still break some resolutions but keep most of them. So I am still learning and mastering this technique but it’s definitely worth sharing with you.

Create SMART Resolutions

Will you able to keep your resolutions or not, is decided by the way you make it. What is your resolution(s) this year? These are some sample common resolutions people make.

 To lose weight this year.

Stop smoking this year.

To write a best-selling novel this year.

To become class topper this year.

To transform self into a traveler this year.

You can add your resolution to this list and verify if you are making your resolutions correct way or not.

The intentions of making any of your resolutions will be always right. If you are able to keep them, then the fruits of benefits will be rewarded to you only.

The only problem with all these above resolutions, they are not SMART and hence will fail eventually.

Your resolutions are your target of this year. So treat them as targets to achieve with some strict deadlines, of a year.

Contrary to popular belief, it’s not necessary your resolutions must start on 1^st January and end on 31^st December. It can start on 1^st January but can be ended any date of the year. In short, resolutions are as good as goals of your life targeted specific to one year.

What is the SMART resolution?

The full form of SMART is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound. This means any resolution you make, must fall in this category.

Always make a resolution which is Realistic, Specific, Measurable, and also has a definite Time period, with a clear execution plan and completion date. Yes, everything must be incorporated into one or two lines of resolution.

Now, let’s make all the above resolutions SMART.

SMART Resolution Example 1

There was no harm in thinking “To lose weight this year”. The only problem is how much and till when. So that you can define your further action plan. 

• I will lose 10 Kg weight by 31^st October.

The first thing this resolution defined that you have to reduce 1 Kg every month to achieve this goal. Your resolution is Specific (1 Kg per month), Measurable (10 Kg), Achievable (Within limit), Time Bound (Defined target date as 31^st October).

To make it Realistic you need to ensure the weight you are going to lose is specific to your body. 10 Kg may be too low or too high for you to loose.

Don’t create a resolution that is not realistic enough to achieve. Like losing 10 Kg every month. What so ever exercise you do, initially 10 Kg a month may possible but eventually, it will not. Hence it’s not realistic.

Same holds true for realistic and achievable target dates.

SMART Resolution Example 2

It’s excellent to create a resolution that you will “Stop smoking this year”. Now how realistically you are going to achieve this?

If you were a chain smoker last year and want to make a resolution to quit smoking this year. Say, you were smoking one packet a day last year (300 cigarettes a month), then you can’t change that behavior from Dec 31^st last year to Jan 1^st this year with no cigarette a day. Unless you have the strongest mind and body possible.

Your resolutions should be realistic enough to reduce the intake gradually to 0 by end of this year and it’s should be measurable and achievable too.

Your resolution must incorporate reduction you will do each day or month so that you don’t have to smoke at all in December. Based on the above statistics, your SMART resolution will be 

• I will reduce my intake of cigarette in a month of January to 250, February 200, March 150, April 100, May 50, June 25, July 15, August 10, September 5 and 0 cigarettes in October, November, and December.

The above case is just an example. I am not a smoker, to provide you a perfect plan but I believe you got the idea which can help you to keep your resolution.

If your mind is strong enough to wake up one fine day and decide, you will never smoke or your life had triggered an emotional event that helped you to stop smoking from next day onwards, and you actually stopped smoking that way, then this SMART resolution is not applicable.

Smart Resolution Example 3

This resolution will help you to identify the unrealistic approaches while creating it. The Original resolution was “To write a best-selling novel this year”.

The unrealistic part of this resolution is to make your novel best-selling. To make a novel best-selling, will never be in your hand. It will be in the hand of peoples who will love to read it.

You must not incorporate anything that’s not in your hand, inside the resolution.

Using keywords like Best Seller, Getting Published, become famous will be good for motivation while creating the resolution but after some time this will become the de-motivator to achieve your goal of the year.

Hence, the resolutions must not include anything which is beyond your control. In this case, your focus should be to write the Novel and at most publish it this year. So your SMART resolution will be

• I will write 500 words every day. I will finish my novel in 4 months. Ready the final draft by 31^st July this year. Then work on publishing this novel by November 30^th

Here it’s assumed that your Novel will be around 60000 words and you will able to write every day. This will realistically change based on the efforts you can actually make each day/week/month to realize this resolution.

Smart Resolution Example 4 and 5

You must have got the idea now about SMART resolutions. Let’s take the remaining two scenarios quickly.

When you make resolutions like “to become class topper this year.” Or “to transform self into a traveler this year”, your current and existing circumstances matters apart from your efforts too.

In the first case, while making a resolution like this in January when your exam is in February will only make sense if you can apply lots of intelligence along with hard work. 

Most of the school/college sessions are already half way by January and exams are anytime between Feb to April. So how much you have already studied last year will define your approach realistic or not. Unless it’s a new semester starting in January, this resolution may not be realistic.

• I will study 10 hours every day and will complete 1 chapter each of 3 different subjects every day.

The study capacity is dependent on the student and highly impacted by surroundings hence, be realistic will be the only recommended approach.

In the second case, you can transform yourself traveler based on your current financial situation, any spiritual, physical or mental dependencies. You need to plan your travel bookings by keeping all these situations in mind.

To transform yourself as a traveler you must mark the places you want to travel this year. Place them based on the coverage you can do each month along with other realistic dependent circumstances.

• I will go to Jammu and Kashmir in January, China in February, The United Kingdom and Scotland in March….and Goa in December.

Fill-up each month with some destinations (domestic or international) you really want to travel. Just keep the realistic features like budget, dependencies, availability and routes in mind while creating this resolution.

Execute SMART Resolutions

I have explained you in details about how to make resolutions. Once you have the resolution ready, write it down. This will become your goal. Identify who and what can help you to achieve this goal. Write that too.

Once you have the plan then your next job is to execute that plan on daily basis. If your resolutions are SMART you can easily distribute and target your daily goals.

Create a daily schedule to help you achieve those targets and also act on that schedule. You can either create your own custom daily schedule or can choose any online tools for this specific purpose.

In the first SMART resolution above, the person needs to lose 1 Kg of weight every month i.e. at least 33 grams every day.

To execute the resolution, you need to find what diet you need to incorporate or which exercise or instructor to choose. Your daily schedule and execution plan should only help to reduce weight and ensure you don’t put weight too.

Your plan must have weekly, fortnightly or monthly milestones and which will eventually accumulate to final milestones. Planning alone will not help, you need to execute it and also monitor your executions timely to ensure you are in right track or not.

This approach will also identify current or future obstacles early that can derail your resolution. Monitoring progress on time will also help you to analyze if you are going to achieve resolution on stipulated time frame or not.

Don’t forget to treat yourself, whenever you achieve some percentage of milestones. This will help to release happy and positive hormones and will keep you motivated along the way.

Example: treat when you reduce smoking to 25% or 50% compared to last year.

Smart People – SMART Resolutions

When a smart person fails to achieve targets, He neither blame himself nor others, he will just move on and try again.

Within a year while keeping your resolution, your environments or circumstance may change and will obstruct your resolutions.

Rather than losing hope or blaming yourself, luck or circumstances, try to find solution or workaround to that situation. Adjust and become flexible enough to accept the change. Work with the change rather than against the change.

Example: You want to write 500 words every day and some guests showed up suddenly. Your routine may get disrupt. In such kind of situations, change your schedule to fit in. If you write only in morning, and in this situation, it’s not possible then switch the writing at night or to different time accordingly. Still, if you miss your schedule then don’t lose hope. If there is a way to cover it up by putting some extra efforts go for that option or draw confidence from the achievements you got till your guests arrived.  

If you are going to miss your deadline but you are working consistently towards it then don’t worry about the time. You may only have estimated it wrongly and try to achieve that soon. 

Your SMART resolutions will only work when you adjust with your circumstances smartly. If you fail to achieve it within a year, then don’t wait till New Year to re-create your resolution. Just analyze the situation of what went wrong and then re-create resolution.

Realistic approach and correct estimate in your resolutions will be the key for achievements.

The day you changed yourself to make SMART resolution, consider that particular day as New Year. Your resolutions should be any day resolution rather than only New Year resolution.

If you have missed the month or years to your last resolution, today is the good time to re-start, re-create and re-execute that again.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you have any further questions on this article please leave your comments and I will try my best to help you out.

©Tapas Majumdar, Not for reproduction without Author's permission.

Extremely Short Stories - Part IV

This is the continuation of the series where earlier parts are Extremely Short Stories Part -I,  Part-II and Part-III. None of these parts were inter-related.

Inspirational Stories

The dyslexic child had grown up to receive the Noble Prize in Literature.

A mother took her newly born daughter in her lap and said to herself “I will ensure that you will not sacrifice yourself at any stage of life, the way I did at every stage of my life”.

He considers the street light and the bench underneath his parents because they are the one who helped him to study since childhood and ensured his graduation without interruption.

Finding her father crying on television interview for corruption charges against him, her daughter promised to herself that one day she will bring back pride to her father.

The whole stadium applauding and cheering for the local hero who came back to play the soccer match with his artificial legs that got amputated due to a major accident.

He is been thrown out from a train compartment by some British officers, he thought “let’s go back to my country and throw all Britishers out from my country” – The story of Indian freedom fighter Mahatma Gandhi

In this universe, a perfect moment of coincidence generated a huge ball of fire and after billions of years, someone named that ball as “Earth”.

He is diagnosed with cancer with slim chances to survive updated his Whats-app status “Ready to inspire those who run away from life”

During the extreme torture, he had to choose between his life that is precious for his family and the precious top secret information that can jeopardize his country and he decided to give the life over the information.

This business made him broke and lost everything and after few days he thought “let’s try one more time with a new business”.

Once procrastination was his favorite hobby he revealed about it when he received the most hardworking entrepreneur award.

Love Stories

It was a love at first sight. He had only seen her photograph and subconsciously admired her beauty. He realized she is more beautiful than her photograph on the night he went to kill her.

He found his true love during a one night stand.

The childhood friend met after many years. After few hours of time been spent together they realized their love never diminished in all these years and they can’t admit this to themselves, to each other and to their spouse.

He always loved money and always kept every money with him. Then after demonetization in India, he realized the money never loves him back.

The strangers married with a hope that love will grow someday. They know each other now but love for each other is still a stranger to them.

They live happily ever after and then she knocks on the door.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: Many of these stories were originally posted at some of my Quora answers and some are original specific for this blog only.



©Tapas Majumdar, Not for reproduction without Author's permission.