Road Not Taken

"I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."

Road Not Taken --- Robert Frost


Life - my friend once explained to me quite introspectively, in his drunken stupor, is a series of Mistakes! I could understand - he had broken up with his girlfriend a couple of days back and then for some unknown reason, he wanted her back...he seemed pretty serious about breaking up then, and he seemed pretty serious about being with her now.

Hang on...the drunkard has more to speak....its not about her alone...its about the "funny thing called life" (aah...deja vu!). "You know TP - some freak said life's like a box of chocolates.....you never know which one's gonna come your way - the guy from Philadelphia or You've got mail...dont recall which one... - doesnt matter ...he was right.... Everything around us is the way it should be - people and circumstances. These are the result of our concious choices. And yet its ironic that we loose appreciation of these. We suck!"

Speak for yourself pig! Quite paradoxical at the moment it seemed to me - Life's a series of mistakes but a box of chocolates we fail to appreciate...that's the rum-effect on both...he's talking gibberish...and i am all ears...go on you *****....

"I hated school - played truant, cheated in tests, skipped homework...did everything that would later be repayed in the parents-teacher's meetings..and boy was i glad to make it to college-rather out of the prison - only to find myself in deeper shit. College life was supposed to be cool, but it turned out to be a stopover that was suddenly going to decide my career! It sounded awesome when someone used to say i am in Biomedical or Electronics and Telecommunication...why do i have to go through this two-year jig to get there- i couldn't comprehend it."....

Made myself another glass ...had decided deep inside (last fraction of my concious self that would soon drown itself in rum) that if this was to go on for the rest of the night...i needed to be out of my senses asap.....

"Gladly college ended - was now into engineering......surely things were back on track! I couldn't be more wrong...they expected me to understand Newton and Electromagentic Theory and Mechanics ...the aim was to graduate into IT and earn big bucks like my seniors...surely that was the life I want...suddenly, i needed to survive the four year stint...."

One more glass and mission accomplished - i will drop dead by his side ...he can puke his heart out after that...would be least bothered...

"Now i have an IT career and guess what ..." I know..it sucks too...."No you moron! "- he took me by suprise.."IT's also ok....". Then what could be bothering the pig i thought.

"I miss school "

Aaaaggghh...someone stab me ..."And i miss college ...and i miss engineering....".

Awesome - the bottle was within my arm's reach - if he was to miss something else too, i could break it on his head...he could miss his life then...

"Dude...its about time we appreciate the moment we are in...the people we are with...the situations we are in... ..busy as we are in our cynical post-mortem of life,we have forgotten to enjoy it......The grass was, is and will always be greener on the other side..."

I fell silent for a while....the grip around the bottle loosened....

"Is that why you want to be back with Sheetal ? " I asked ...kinda understanding the needle-in-the-haystack sermon...

"See! That's why you are my best friend...you understand me so well...I want a second chance at life..."

As his head flopped over my shoulder, i made a note of his wisdom...promised myself to call up my folks and tell them the time i had with them has been the most splendid in all my life...


To be continued......