Life and Death

It had started out as a regular Friday morning. Ever the optimistic he got up singing a song from the movie he saw last night. But that was when the trouble started. Just outside his house was an eviction notice which was just been pasted in the presence of his builder. He grew pale as he read it.

“What!? I have to pay you 1 lakh?”

“Ahh you know how to read.”

“I... But... Why?”

“No use butting me. You have to pay up by Monday. Good day.”


Atrocious! What a baseless demand! He already had cleared all the monetary matters with the builder. Surely there had been a mistake. As he read on he realized that he had some how missed this particular detail or rather the required amount altogether. Ah but life still goes on. There are always ups and downs. There is nothing you could do about it.

Soon he reached his office determined to make his boss cough up the required money. He calculated it was just about time for his monthly bonus. What awaited him at the office was not a bonus but a pink slip. Flabbergasted he rushed into his boss’s office for an explanation.

” What’s the meaning of this?” he asked.

“Well can’t you read?? You have been dismissed.” His boss replied in a matter-of-factly voice.

“I... But... Why?”

“That’s the decision of the board. I have nothing more to say. Please close the door as you go out.”

It had been his dream job for which he had worked very hard for and now it had been taken away from him for no good reason. Why?? Why was the life so unjust to him? First the house, then this. Why? Why? Why? Soon he was out on the street carrying his office belongings and in one hand the little piece of paper that had messed his whole life up. Stopping at a nearby bar he decided to drown his feeling with a bottle or two. It was on his third bottle that he remembered that he had a date with his girlfriend.
He rushed home in order to dress up for the night. This night was to be very special; he had decided to propose to her. Ah but life is so full of turns and twists that even the most experienced drivers receive a jolt sometime. Something of this kind happened to him. When he reached the restaurant, which he had so meticulously selected for this great juncture in their relationship, he realized something was amiss. His girlfriend was sitting there stone-faced with a determined smile.

“So how’s my sweetheart today?”

“Don’t get too mushy. I feel that this relationship has hit a saturation point.”

“Eh.... What?”

“Yes. You nave guessed it right. We have to stop seeing each other.”

This was the second time that day when he became tongue tied. The ring was starting to burn a hole in his pocket.

” Don’t look as if you didn’t expect it.” She said as she stood up.

“I.. But.. Why?”

But she was gone. Gone was his love that just had so bluntly dumped him. So much was he in shock that when the waiter came he jumped as if startled out of sleep. After about a half an hour he came out into the cold a determined man. All he wanted to do was to die. He had weighed various methods and soon was on a cliff just outside the city.

It started raining. It seemed as if the gods high up there were also sympathizing with him and were shedding tears as a symbol. As he stood out in the rain on the edge of cliff he rethought about his decision. Doubt was stirring in his heart. His optimism was slowly crawling up the dark chasm that the present circumstances had pushed it into. The money he could pay it. Yes he could. He had to. He was going to. About the job hmmmm there were tens of others which could be just right for him. Why do a job? He could start a business. Yes a business would be fine. It felt wonderful that at last he could be his own boss. As far as his love life was concerned there were hundreds of other fishes in the pond. Several of his friends were bachelor and would be sure of having an encyclopedia on girls especially beautiful ones he thought as he went back to his car. He mused about trying out speed dating.

It was still raining when he started to cross the road in order to reach his car. All that he heard was the screeching of tires.

“Nobody could have survived a hit like this. Wonder what he was doing here on such a stormy night.” , said the medico as he lifted the body on to the stretcher,”Wait something fell out of his pocket.... it’s a suicide note!”