Hi all. This one’s a real quickie. Hope you all like it.
It was another of those beautiful villagy mornings. The sun had already started his day by gobbling up the darkness. As usual, the high school teacher, Shamappa, was out for an early walk. People driving cattle to their fields, was a common sight. The melodious chirp of birds, the pleasant chill in the weather drove even his lazy son, Ravi, out of bed, who accompanied his father.
Shamappa was an honest man. Though he didn’t earn much, he was satisfied by whatever life had gifted him. Everybody in the village, including the headmen, respected him. With child-like innocent smile on his eyes, pride on his face, books in one hand and the other turning the ends of his moustache, he went to school every day. He had even rejected an offer from a school in nearby town, which offered him to pay the double of what he was earning.
But, today, was not the same. Shadows of concern were on his face. Ravi, walking beside him, in a costly jogging suit, with music-phones tucked into his ears, had no idea of his father’s feelings. He worked as a software engineer at Bangalore. He had come home the day before with lots of costly gifts for his dad and mom. Shamappa and his wife were surprised to see the stranger, the arrogant city- man in their son.
A sense of achievement possessed him. There was no respect in his eyes for his parents. Everything they did seemed very timid. He had brought a costly phone for his father and had laughed at him when he failed to operate it. “Even kids know to use it dad”, he had remarked. He had condemned the lack of facilities of the village. He also asked him to come live with him in the town, which upset Shamappa the most.
The memories of the previous day’s incidents played like a never-ending movie in his mind. His thoughts were distracted by Ravi’s swearing. “Fuck, the battery is gone. There no power till afternoon to charge this as well”- he was cribbing as his music player had ran out of power. While this was happening, a man of Ravi’s age, walking in the opposite direction, caught Shamappa’s attention. He couldn’t identify him first.
The boy bowed down and touched his feet. He then reminded him that he was Sagar, one of his students. Since Ravi had nothing else to do, he tried to pay attention to the conversation between them. Ravi said ‘hi’, and added proudly, that he was a Software Engineer. Looking at his attire Ravi guessed that he never went out of the village. Then, Shamappa invited him to have a cup of coffee, over which he asked what Sagar did. With a polite smile on his face, he said that he worked for NASA. He added that he had quit his job to come back to his village and wanted Shamappa’s help to improve the facilities. Suddenly, shadows of embarrassment spread across Ravi’s face. He realized how little he had done in life and learnt a very valuable lesson in life. Now, within minutes, he was a changed man. He offered to join them in their work for the village.
Shamappa understood that his son had undergone a transition within minutes. He nodded with smile remembering what he had read somewhere -“Arrogance can be won over only by humbleness”.
praveen0989.wordpress.com 