“Hey ,wake up ,Vidyut”.
Vidyut was lying on the mattress in his room when he heard repeated calls from someone to wake up. The repetitive calls made him feel it was his roommate who was messing with him. A chunk of his mind was unwantedly activated - the thought process had already started, ”May be some work would be there.” It has been two months since he had bought his new bike and since then ,his roommate had made him an Ola Driver. Vidyut is made to go to whichever location his roommate decides to go ,whether it is Mandir or Restaurant or Pub.
Vidyut with 4 years of job experience bearing a fit body is reluctant today to get up. The calls converted into screams .Vidyut ‘s office timings were from 1.30 PM. He did not need to wake up at 10. He switched on his earphones to get rid of the irritating noise. Even the other person was determined to get Vidyut up. The other person came on the bed ,gave constant pats on the back. “This is really irritating ,Ishen. I have not slept properly for the last three days.” Vidyut shouted at the top of his voice .His eyes opened a bit ,stole a glance at the other person .To his utter surprise ,he was not his roommate .In Fact ,he was not any of the persons he knew .Though his face felt so familiar ,he could not place any name against the face .The intensity of the pats felt as if he was a close friend. The processing took a few seconds and he managed to ask,” Sorry, I did not recognize you.” About the pats, Vidyut was still thinking ,”May be he would be one of the weird friends of Ishen. He would have landed here in the morning .Ishen would have left in a hurry for the office and would have asked to take my help if needed.”
The thoughts were interrupted by the stranger ,”I am Ishen ’s friend .Good morning. I have made coffee for you. You need it in the morning ,right? I don’t have more time.Please get up.”
Vidyut felt nice and a bit embarrassed at the same time .The coffee thing in the morning was a must for him .Without it ,he couldn’t move a muscle.He remains a sloth until he drinks coffee. That was a thing which he continuously did everyday first thing in the morning.But someone else making coffee for him;that was really special for him. With the first sip,the thought process became clearer,” Why is he behaving that sweet? What has Ishen told him ?Ohh fuck!what he has told. May be a prank or very sweet nature.”
With eyes pretending to be concentrating on the coffee ,he took potshots at the stranger standing in front of him.He looked a bit nervous ,appearing to be in some haste,looking continuously at the watch.The watch resembled similar to his watch ,G-Shock and the exact same colour and version.”Actually ,that is my watch. What type of friends Ishen has got? He took my watch out without my permission .”He was wearing a formal shirt accompanied by a pair of pants ,resting on a bearded bloated face with a big stomach and lots of fats on the sides. There were a lot of gray hairs in between the black. One could interpret him to be a lazy man .He was appearing to be aged around 38 or something .The nature of the fabric of the shirt gave the impression of a normal IT employee, not a rich one. The stranger said,” You know I never went onsite in my career till now ,which is now 14 years of experience .I have always tried to do something different since I figured my life ,which is around 2 years after my college ended and my job life started .I had lots of dreams.”
With no other work early morning ,Vidyut had full ears to the conversation .He had no idea why all of a sudden ,one of Ishen ’s friends woke him up and was starting to tell one of his stories.”Anyway ,isn’t he much elder in age than all of us to be Ishen’s friend? He may be one of Ishen’s managers ,whom he licks boots of. The manager would have been really impressed by Ishen and would have come Bangalore from Hyderabad or so and instead ,of going to the hotel room ,came to the flat. But it does not sill make sense why is he being so sentimental with me?”
While Vidyut was speaking in his head only ,the stranger was still speaking ,”It all started with loving a girl. It was like each piece of mine loved her. But she rejected me and got my best friend as her boyfriend. The feeling of rejection settled in. It made a good base up there in my mind .I am a passionate person ,Vidyut.My love was not a temporary one. My love had a lot of innocence ,care - I was obsessed ,addicted and it was very hard to not meet her everyday knowing that she is in the same office as you are. I cried for months regarding that.”
As the stranger said this ,Vidyut felt a bit of nausea as the same thing had happened to him 2 years ago. His one of the best friends had taken his love of the life. Vidyut too cried for months. The frustration of getting rejected and moreover everyday ,seeing his own best friend with her had made a deep cut. He was mentally depressed for months. Luckily ,with the help of his best friends and his determination, Vidyut moved on in life. But still,he could feel the traces of it sometimes. The 1st love seems to be a turning point in almost everybody’s life. It makes you what you are today. While he was still confused at what was happening ,he began to feel a connection with the stranger.
The stranger continued,”But life is as it is and you have to get out of the bad patches. I moved on ,with the help of my friends and decided to give CAT. In my mind ,I had always thought myself to be a very bright student .I got ready for the exam and I gave it everything that I could give. Two continuous years ,I tried to excel in that. Despite a 9 hour job including 2 hours which were wasted for travelling to the office ,I continuously studied for 4 hours everyday. I continuously took RedBull for staying up long hours in the night. I had dreamt to start a successful startup – not some juice making/ shoe selling sort of startup, but a technical one.”
Vidyut was puzzled ,”Why is he making me listen all of this? An old man; they just need a moment to tell stories. These sort of persons were called in the college as dealers. The dealers can talk infinite points on a subject that they know little or not know at all for a infinite amount of time to anybody. However ,his story seems so close to that of mine. For the last two years ,I have been also preparing for CAT. Oh man! he is making me sad now. For the next 15-20 minutes now, it feels I am booked for the life’s worst boring lecture by a stranger whom I have just met. Does not he have a wife to be with in the bed early morning?Who am I kidding? Managers don’t have any works as their jobs.” Though Vidyut was pretending to pretend to listen to the person - the similarity in both of their lives was keeping him hooked to the moment.
The other person however, was not in the mood to stop,” Not only one startup .I dreamt of selling my startup for some good amount of money and then ,opening another startup. I would be featured in TIME magazine featuring as one of the most influential powerful persons in the world. Then ,one day I would contest elections to improve the quality of life for particularly ,poor persons. Since I would be a famous man ,I would easily be allowed to contest elections. But all these dreams were based on the most mandatory step i.e college. Getting good marks and going into the IIMs seemed to be the only way to achieve that. One more thing,I wanted to have a great body throughout this whole process. Moreover ,I wanted to prove myself that the dreams can be made possible. But the 1st step only misplaced. Despite sacrificing all the other things ,I did not get enough marks. I felt like i was a very dumb person ,a loser. I had lost all the hope in the world. In my mindset, I had given myself a tag of a below average person ,who is not worth any of the attention. The low confidence affected my health as well. I stopped concentrating on my food habits. I ate a lot of junk – means a lot of junk. I never hit gym and got converted into something that I am today.”
Vidyut did not expect the lectures from an unknown guy first thing in the morning ,but the similarity count was increasing only.”
I also studied for CAT straight two years.I gave it everything. I had RedBulls as well every night.Now,CAT did not fetch me the desired results and it had been 3 weeks since the result and I am still mourning the loss.I have stopped going to gym .I have started eating junk just to get over the CAT results.How creepingly this guy is similar to me! Even the dream of being a powerful businessman turned into a honest politician is also the same. But I assume based on his experience ,he would definitely be a manager. So ,does it not count as success ?The biggest question is why me?”
While Vidyut was engrossed in his thoughts ,the other person continued as if he was in a hurry to get all out of his system ,”Despite the multiple possibilities in my life apart from CAT,I was so disheartened that at every defining moment of my career,I took decisions thinking that I would be never able to make it.There was a constant fear that I would always lose the fight.I stopped trying.At every step,I could be more but I chose to be less.Today,despite having such an experience of 14 years, I am not yet a manager and in the same company as I was at the start. I never fought hard for my promotion as well.”
Vidyut felt bad for the person and wondered if he could do anything to improve the condition. In between the lecture, the other man was continuously looking at the watch as if in some kind of hurry. The other man ,” We should never stop fighting. There is always a silver lining. We should always try to improve. Exams are just a medium so that we should know how much have we improved in life. There are always possibilities. With this, I would bid you farewell. I have very little time left.” Vidyut offered food but the other person refused,They shook hands and the other man left the flat.
Vidyut even did not get his name.He called Ishen to ask who he was.”Hey roomie.”
Ishen,“Yeah,bark.”
A brief laugh occupied Vidyut ‘s face,” Thanks brother for sending that person.You are really a true friend.”
Ishen appeared confused ,”You are drunk or What ?Who came? I did not send anyone.”
Vidyut ,”Don’t behave like this person.I know that you only sent to get me over this phase. Who is he?”
Ishen ,” I did not send anyone. May be he would be one of Raj’s friends. Why don’t you check in the MyGate app ?It lists all the guests.”
Vidyut got confused now,”Okay.I will check it.He even went out wearing my watch.Thanks.Bye.”
Vidyut checked the MyGate App but he could not see any guests coming into his flat for the past 5 days.He opened the drawer to see that his watch was already there.But he saw the other person leave the flat with his watch. ”He was wearing my watch only. The same brand and exact version are not the only reasons that it was my watch only. His watch had traces of haldi colour on it similar to the way I had got 1 year back in the Haldi ceremony of my brother.I was never able to get rid of the Haldi colour on the watch. That is why it was the exact same watch. It felt like I went myself back in time to meet me. Isn’t it preposterous or it is not.”
Vidyut opened his fingerprint enabled cell phone to find a message sent to his phone through his phone only almost half an hour before ,” Everyone does not get the opportunity to correct the past. Hope you would understand. I wish we never meet.”