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Glimpse Of Pride
Glimpse Of Pride
The journey of Aryan, the only son of his parents, from his childhood to adulthood was not an easy one, but his parents made it easy for him. He used to see his parents careworn and used to cry when alone. So he decided to make his parents proud and not to waste the struggle that his parents were doing for him.
His father was a salesman and struggled hard to earn his daily living. Aryans’ Mother, being a home-maker used to do a part-time tailoring job to support her husband. There were four dependants in his family; hence it was hard to manage in such a meager income. In the early days, Aryan was just a kid and had very little needs to cater to and being a good kid he never demanded anything from his parents. Whatever his parents gave him, he found satisfaction in it. Even education spending were less, so everything was smooth but with very little amount of savings.
Time moves fast and as time passed Aryan was growing into a bright child with good grades in school. Now he passed S.S.C with 80+ and was very much interested in pursuing engineering as a career and so he wanted admission to science stream for his H.S.C, but the situation demanded something else.
He was happy with what his parents showed him, but one day he faced the bitter truth of his parents’ struggles to pay Others’ debt. In enjoying his school life he missed to see blood clots on his father’s legs who roamed around the city doing extra work to earn extra perks & swelling on his mother’s legs who operated the sewing machine for extra hours to earn extra income. As he noticed this he demanded an explanation from his parents as to why he was kept in the dark? His mother explained him “Beta tum abhi bohot chhote ho in sab chizo k liye, tumhare abhi khelne kudne k din hai” (Beta you are not yet mature to understand this phase of life, these are your days of enjoyment).
Aryan came to know that his father was in a debt of nearly lakh rupees which he had to return anyhow, otherwise, that would be a serious issue. He was feeling ashamed why he didn’t notice that his parents were struggling hard, why he was busy enjoying his life and on the divergent, his parents were not even getting a good night’s sleep. And that day he decided that whatever it takes he will not waste the struggle of his parents. From that day he changed himself, but his parents’ struggle was still on. So during vacations, he found a job at the footwear shop where he used to get little pay but was a helping hand for his parents. After the footwear shop he used to learn tailoring work from his mother and even used to take an extra workload of his mother to earn extra rupees. And this way he saved some money to pay extra tuition fees, which he wanted to join.
He wanted science stream, so his mother sold her gold jewelry to pay his college fees. He studied hard to cope with the competition. He passed his +1 with good grades but even though he was studying hard, his health was not letting him.
First he was diagnosed with malaria, then typhoid and to make matters worse he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. His health was deteriorating day by day and he lost 20 kilograms of his weight. He looked nothing less than a skeleton kept in a biology lab. His exams were near and he lost all hopes of passing with good grades, but he still did whatever was possible.
Exam day arrived and he was struggling hard to write papers with 103 ºF fever. Somehow he finished all exams and after exams, he decided not to take engineering as a career as he was expecting very less grades, because he knew what he had written in exams. So Aryan settled for normal science graduation. And when the big day was here, Aryan was busy praying to God to a least let him pass in all the exams. His friend who was already at a cyber cafe called him and said that he had passed with a distinction. At that moment he was shocked to hear that because he knew what the situation was at the time of exams. He went to see his result at his friends’ place and was very happy to see that he has played his part well in exams and now he can hope for an engineering college. He started enquiring about colleges, what courses they offer and fee structures and everything that would matter for admission to an engineering college.
Aryan after so much of research on colleges was facing disappointment as there was another barrier between him and his dreams, and that was none other than money again. He was now totally aware of the situation so again he decided to settle for science graduation. But where there is a will there is a way; his mother told him about the great Indian caste system and according to that they were eligible for education at very low fees. Now engineering admissions were 3 months after the result and he went on a hunt to get that certificate which would be required to get admission to a college at very less fees.
His health was still the same with ongoing medication. He used to travel daily by the local trains of Mumbai in the peak hour rush just for that single piece of paper which would fill the gap between him and his dreams. This went on for two months and finally his efforts came out with bright colours and he got that certificate which he required for his admission which was lined up the next day. He successfully went through the admission and there he was at the door of his dreams: blissful, full of joy, excited. The only reason for sigh was that his college was in Pune and not Mumbai. Hence he had to stay away from his parents.
His journey began; new place, new milieu, new erudition, and new groups started pouring in his excursion of life. As days passed he grew up to be more mature, responsible and started understanding life more deeply. He successfully cleared the first three years of engineering. And the countdown started, it was the moment to prove his family that their efforts were not futile.
This was the time when various campus drives for job-seeking graduates started. Aryan had little low grades compared to his peers hence was unable to qualify for many of campus drives. But this did not restrain his passion, he worked hard indeed. Finally, he qualified for one of the organization but was out in the first round itself. He didn’t lose hope, he worked even harder. And there was a second chance for him to prove himself.
The judgement day arrived; he marched for the first round and bingo! He got through. The second round proved easy for him but hurdles were not yet cleared, as clearing the third and final round would actually mean success to him. Now he started feeling pressure as the third round started. He was seventh in the queue. As time passed he came closer to what was making him nervous and excited at the same time. Here came his turn; this was the time where he had to give his best and make his parents proud. He peeped in the interview room; a man in his forties with black and grey hair was sitting on the chair and arranging papers which were lying in front of him on the table (“might be the bio-data of students who he interviewed before me”, he thought).
The way he occupied his chair clearly conveyed he was tall enough to occupy that small chair. Aryan knocked on the door and greeted him. The interviewer let him in and asked him to sit on the chair in front of him. He started asking questions. After some questions, Aryan suddenly started feeling confident about him as he was well acquainted with the situation which suddenly changed Aryan from edgy to poise. He came out after 15 minutes and to his and others surprise his face had a very different smile, which carried the words; “YES! I MADE IT!”
It was quarter past 10 in the night. Three hours had passed since Aryan’s interview and each and everyone was waiting for the results to announce. It was at half past 10 now. Everyone from the interview team came inside the classroom where everyone was made to sit. They started announcing the names of the selected students and then they called “Mr. ARYAN AGARWAL”. He was lost in a different world as soon as he heard his name voiced by the person in front.
Thoughts started flowing in his mind. How my parents will react, how my friends will react, how my relatives, how my guide and all that stuff was spurting in his mind in excitement. He rang up his mother to give her the news of his selection. His mother heard him and started crying on the phone. Joy was flowing through his mother’s eyes and his father’s chest broadened with pride. It was 11 and to his surprise, his friends were waiting outside just to kick him and shout the cheerfulness out of him. After a few minutes, he called up one of his best friends, who was so filled with joy that he started his vehicle and came to pick him up and they went for an ice-cream with his mother and sister. Finally, he came to the place where he lived with his uncle and aunt and they too were happy for his achievement.
All went slickly from then on. His grades increased all of a sudden. And his final exams finished. His excursion was nearing an end. Results declared; he passed with unexpectedly high grades. He was a graduate now with no tension of searching for a job. He had a good long vacation to stay close to his parents and savour each and every moment with them.
His job started after a 2 months long vacation. He was sent to Bangalore after his training. He did everything which was needed to gift his parents a lavish trip of which they only dreamt till then. He booked first-ever flight tickets to Bangalore for his parents, 3-star hotel rooms for the tour, took them to good restaurants for lunch and dinner. Made them wander around the city in AC cars. He took every effort which at last made his parents exultant. For their return journey, he booked AC train tickets, which was one of their dreams that he fulfilled with immense pleasure. ''
The time came for Aryan to let his parents go ahead to their home-town as he worked in the city 150 kilo-meters away from his home-town. While he was getting down at the station his parents started crying. He knew that it was a glimpse of their proudest moments. He felt victorious. He felt jubilant. And within no time Aryan’s emotions started flowing. He ran to his parents and hugged them tightly and kissed them. People around were watching and these three were in a bliss forgetting everything around them.
Train left; he came home and his parents reached home safely full of memories of how their son fulfilled their dreams, how happy they were to have him and how proud he had made them. Their efforts had definitely proved worthwhile. At the same time, Aryan was full of enthusiasm to tell the story of this journey to his friends and other relatives.
