• Life is Good

"One double-cheese chicken burger and one cappuccino..." handing over a five hundred rupee note, I placed my order across the counter.
"Would you like to have a medium or a large coffee sir?" the girl at the counter asked.
"Small..." I snorted.
"...with cream or without cream sir?" she went on.
I took a deep breath and replied, "No cream!"
"Some extra cheese in your burger sir?" the girl inquired as she keyed something into her machine.
That was all that I could take."Look here young lady... I have ordered what I want. And if I don't get my food without any further interrogation from your side, I am afraid I'll have to cancel my order and maybe complain to the manager!!" I screamed at the girl.

She looked up from her machine and made eye contact with me for the first time. Her face depicted a site of extreme shock. Apparently, she didn’t see this coming.
“Ye-Ye-Yes sir… in a moment sir,” saying this returned me the receipt and change in no time.
“Please be seated, we’ll serve you. Have a good day sir,” she said smiling forcibly at me.

“Today I am getting to interact with all the irritating people that dwell in this planet,” I thought as I walked towards an empty table, carrying my helmet. I placed the helmet on the table and seated myself.
I let go off a deep sigh as the episode of today morning flashed before my eyes.

“We have no doubt about your capability Aaditya… it’s just that the policies of our company are such that only limited people in the department can be given an A-grade raise,” Prashanth, my Project Manager babbled without looking up from his laptop screen.
“But Subramani worked with me in the same project, just on a different module,” I tried to debate. “Then what was it about him that made him get an A and not me?” I put forth my point.
“See Aaditya… there are various factors that determine the grade of a software engineer in our project,” Prashanth explained. “Here, take a look at your performance chart…” saying this he turned the screen of his laptop towards me.
“The scheduled deviation shown by you during this project clearly depicts a dip in your efficiency during the last stage,” Prashanth blabbered as he drew a virtual circle with his index finger over a bizarre diagram on the screen.
As he went on and on, explaining the various diagrams he had prepared to flaunt during this meeting, I realized the fact that it was totally useless arguing with this adamant fellow. Managers are masters in sweet talking you to eat even shit.
I kept mum for the rest of the meeting. After about an hour, I left the room feeling like a total loser.

Slowly I ambled towards my cubicle… with all my dreams shattered. I sat at my desk and closed all the web pages that I had opened to check out the latest car models available in the market. With the current raise that I got, my own car still seemed to be a distant dream. Now I realized the significance of sitting late in office just to show off to the boss. I sure had been a fool.

“Your double-cheese chicken burger and cappuccino sir,” the waiter brought me back into the present.
“Thanks,” I muttered as I started stirring the sugar in my coffee. As I was just about to take the first sip of the beverage, a slam on my back shook me up.
“Aadi… you bugger! Where the hell have you been all these years?” I turned around to see Sumit, my friend from college. Sumit had changed a lot since I last met him at one of our alumni meets. It had been almost two years since then. He used to be a fat fellow with a mop of hair falling on his forehead. But now, his long tresses and the sparkling earring perched on one of his ear-lobes made him resemble a style icon.
“Dude… long time no see!” I expressed my surprise with an open mouth. To tell the truth, I wasn’t exactly happy to meet Sumit. He wasn’t liked by many ever since our college days. The typical rich, spoilt brat that he used to be... he would never ever be tired of bragging about himself all day long. His father owned some big petrol pumps in and around the city and his birthday gifts used to comprise of bikes, cars and all cool things every college student could possibly dream of.
“So… where have you been dude?” I asked shaking his hand.
“I am doing my masters from the Michigan State University in the US of A,” he informed me with a grin. “It’s my last semester… dropped by to visit India once before settling down for good in the states,” added Sumit.
Some people have all the luck, I thought. This guy used to pass his exams by buying question papers every year. His dad used to be friends with the local magistrate; hence even if the professors or the principal ever smelled something fishy, he managed to get away with it easily. It hurt to know that such a person could get settled in the USA so easily while I am toiling just to get my visa processing initiated since ages.
“Do you mind if I join you?” asked Sumit as he pulled over a chair. I had barely finished my coffee and was in no mood to listen to Sumit, brag about his American adventures, at this moment.
“I’m very sorry pal… but I’ve really got to leave for a meeting right now,” I said as I picked up my helmet and the chicken burger.
“Do you want me to drop you someplace in my dad’s new Mercedes Benz?” Sumit said flaunting the shining keys of the vehicle.
Huh! As if he really wanted to drop me. Anybody could decipher that this was just his method of showing off his dad’s money.
“Thanks dude, but I guess my bike won’t fit into your dad’s Merc…” I walked off with this taunting statement.

As I stepped out of the café, without more ado I unwrapped the packing of the burger. The yummy smell of the mustard sauce filled the air. At least something good was happening with me today... this burger will make me forget all the miseries I am going through. I headed towards the parking-lot as I took a bite into my evening snack.
I was about to savor the next bit of the burger, when one kid zapped across me in such speed, that I almost lost my balance. I barely managed to regain my initial posture, when another kid shoved past me and this time I slipped and tumbled.
Splat! My burger landed just two inches away from my nose, on the ground. Gosh! Was I having a bad day or what? I collected myself and brushed my trouser. Picking up the helmet I took one glance at my chicken burger worth eighty five rupees, lying waste on the ground.
That was the most I could take in a single day. I felt fumes coming out of my ears.I looked around to locate the miscreants who had caused this untimely demise of my evening snack.

There they were… sitting behind the bush, guffawing away. I rushed towards them. As I approached the kids, I realized that they were rag pickers… hardly 7-8 years old. I was about to yell at the two when I noticed the reason behind their gleeful excitement. One of the kids had found a small piece of bread with some jam on it. They had neatly laid down that single bread piece between them, on the ground, and were totally engrossed in enjoying the treat.
I took one look at my burger lying at a distant and another at the piece of bread that the kids had. Even though I had so much in my life, I haven’t been half as happy ever as these two kids were at this moment.
I suddenly lost all desires to bellow at the kids… I guess a smile appeared on my lips for the first time today. The car that I wanted to buy didn’t seem all that necessary any more. The raise that I got today appeared quite sufficient. And who wanted to go to the USA now.
With these thoughts hovering in my mind, I strolled up to my rickety bike and drove off with a very new outlook towards life.
My life sure is good.