The Ultimate Realization

It was an ultimate realization for him. He was excited, thrilled and his joys knew no bound. Resting on the 10th floor at a posh apartment, surrounded by electronic gadgets, decorated with sculptures and pictures revealing the modern art, landscape, and the rooms reflecting the modern style of interior decoration, carrying a vanity about his position, status and life style, he was looking at the street below, which again was boasting of its presence by the movement of vehicles,bolstering the shopping mall and sky-scrappers divulging the trend of the gen-x era., he could feel the existence of discordant strings, trying to negotiate, to bring back the harmony. Yes it is a rejuvenation. The answer to his so far haunted question ‘ What Next?’ has been achieved while seeking the kingdom of heaven- through the contempt of world, by the satisfaction and pleasure which he got through ‘ Joy of Giving’.

He came from a family which could boast of having many government officers, Doctors, Engineers and Army officers. Childhood was awesome having studied in a renowned missionary school with an arrogant and snobbish attitude which he used to cherish while interacting with servants and bawarchis. All through he had been a topper but was never satisfied as he was longing for the best without knowing the goal he was seeking for. He was a brilliant student and came out with flying colours in +2 with a feeling of complacency after cracking IIT Joint Entrance. He was studying Computer Science and was carried out with the false notion about the materialistic world while the conscience kept on provoking him ‘ Are you satisfied? Were you looking for this? Were you running after marks and scores? What next? ‘ So, deep inside he was constantly thinking What the next goal is! Scoring high, cracking JEE, carrying a BTech brand was the boundary and he was confined to that world, cherishing a wild thought that the boundary has been drawn for him only. When the dream came true, the conscience started provoking him again while the mind boasted about the IIT brand.

Life did not come to an end as the bag wanted more credentials for which the desire to acquire the Management degree became the next target and he found himself at IIM Bangalore. Now he drew his boundary as there was absolute clarity about his career. White collar job, working in IT sector, drawing a fat salary, settling in US was obvious for him as he was slowly proceeding to edge of the boundary. With a IIT, IIM brand at his back, job had never been a problem and he became a chooser where he had to select the corporate sector which he felt suitable. The day for which he was waiting ultimately came and he could locate himself at one of the Fortune Five Hundred Companies.

The goal has been achieved and he started swaying on the waves as the boat has started sailing. Different projects, different clients, different technologies made his life prestigious. He was a good learner and picked up the core areas quickly and life was filled with joy, enthusiasm and charisma. He established himself as a very good technocrat with a sound knowledge in technical areas. It was not inordinate delay as he immediately got overseas assignment which he embraced considering the goal has been achieved. He was off to US developing business knowledge and project management skill and did exactly the same which was inevitable. Changed job and started contemplating on ‘Permanent Settlement’.

Within a short span he reached the acme of his career as he was heading a division with around 200+ associates reporting to him. He established himself as a sound professional and an efficient project manager and earned a fame with people around confabulating about his success. Purchased a foreign car, bungalow, got married and started enjoying his life the one he had longed for so much.

Life became hectic and challenging as he became the Delivery centre Head of a particular division. Day started at 6 am with telephonic calls pouring in from different parts of the world and by 8 am he was seen walking past the security room with a laptop hanging around his shoulder, the cell phone struggling to find serenity beside the ear and the palm keeping a strict vigil on its movement while the other hand trying to reconcile a scuffle posed by the tie, between the knot and the throat. The track changed from bibliophile to workaholic filled with vanity and ego. He was looking after Business development, Delivery, Quality, handling resources, attending seminars and press conferences and there was a complete alignment between the heart and the mind as the existence of conscience had never been felt. The materialistic world and the penchant for credentials, extracted from his lifespan nearly about 15 years for which he never felt penitent but at time mind looked for tranquility. 

A brisk visit at his hometown acted as an ‘ Eye Opener’ and it was a volcanic eruption when the conscience overruled his mind bursting with the new question ‘Is this Next?’ as he found himself surrounded by a posse of kids, in a rehabilitation center, where he had been invited by local members to attend a program. A drive for celebrating ‘Joy of Giving ‘ had been initiated by some local youths where he had been invited as a special guest to take the driver’s seat in order to disburse the materials collected for the noble cause. The long lived fracas between the mind and the conscience broke within a split of a second as the immense joy within him could be felt by just donating a simple ‘shirt’ to a little kid whose sparkling eyes, emotion and the contentment brought a tremendous pleasure in him.

Conscience started flying. He got the answer to his long lost question. He became a regular visitor to the place. He could feel the changes as day and night he started thinking about the little kids. New thoughts started pouring in regarding the betterment of the distressed children, infrastructure, education and medical and many more. There was no ‘Next’ to his ‘Goal’, no concept of boundary. Thought, ideas automatically started flowing in. He left his job, brought his family at his hometown and purchased a small house accommodating 10 distressed children and started providing food, clothes, education to the children with a mindset of building more such center, villages, towns and many more.

At midnight, looking at the sky, he thought, is this ‘ Realization’, only meant for him? When will Aladin illuminate the lamp at everyone’s heart to rekindle the inner strength, leading to the formation of a wonderful society for accommodating the downtrodden class? When? Is it really impossible?