|
|
|
STORY TIME: An error of judgment
I sat on the footpath wearing my only set of clothes that was ragged badly, very disturbed prowling into the midst of my thoughts thinking about the life that I had spent without doing something for someone else, something that would make me proud of myself. I was trying to find something that I could consider as the reason for ruining my life. Then I remembered that I myself was the one to be blamed. Getting deeper and deeper into my thoughts I remembered the time when I considered everything to be right, everything to be an adventure. It all began when I was in the late years of my school life.
“Amir, I see that the seat beside you is empty, why not let Umair sit beside you?” Umair was the new kid in my school. He didn’t seem to be very polite when I saw him but as my friend was absent that day he got to sit beside me.
Umair was a weird guy; he usually slept the whole time or threw paper balls at his class fellows during classes. One day I couldn’t see Umair in the fourth period that was the period right after our tea break so I got a bit anxious. He returned after the period so I asked him where he was and astonishingly he told me that he was bunking the class. I was very new to that so I asked him what if he was caught but he told me very calmly, “I never get caught and even if I got caught it was worth it.”
“How come?” I asked a bit bewildered.
To this he replied, “It’s like an adventure of a life time, the pleasure you get after successfully bunking the class is enormous. Why don’t you try it yourself someday and feel the pleasure?”
“No Yaar it’s not worth it, I value my studies and my teachers’ trust more than anything.” I always said that whenever he asked me to bunk the class. One day he forced me to bunk the class and we spent the time hiding here and there.
“How was it?” He asked.
“Yeah, it was kind of fun.” I replied. From that day onwards I started to hang out with him and I soon found out that he smoked too.
He would come late to the school everyday and go with the other boys to smoke. One day he took me with him and asked me to take a puff. “It’s bad to smoke, it ruins your health.” I told him.
“Just one puff won’t do anything to you, try it yaar, it’s great.”
Unluckily I tried and that one puff changed my life. I didn’t like it but just couldn’t get it away and took another puff and from that day onwards I started to smoke. We started to get closer day by day. I thought that he was my best friend and started divulging my inner most secrets to him. When he didn’t have any money he started to ask me for some. When I wouldn’t give him the money he would say that he would tell every one all my secrets and I had no choice but to give him the money.
Then my schooling was over and since I didn’t get a very good result the college that I got admission in was not very good college and unfortunately for me Umair was there with me. He would sit beside me in our class whenever he came to college. One day he asked me if I wanted to come along with him to some place where he would be hanging out with some of his friends. I went along with him and found myself in an isolated place where they all started to smoke something.
“What is it?” I asked.
“It’s something new, it’s even more refreshing, come on try it,” my so-called friend assured me. As I didn’t know what it was I tried it but after taking it I got very drowsy and got home very late. I told everyone that I was with friends for group study. Umair called me the next day and asked me how the experience was. “It was nice but I want to have it again, what was it?” I asked.
“Cocaine, OK, let’s have it today same place same time,” said Umair very coolly. From that day onwards I became a typical Charsi, I couldn’t live without it and one day I had no money to buy it so we planned to rob a house and being new at it we were caught and sent to jail. My family disowned me the moment they got to know what I had done. My life was destroyed. After completing my term I got out and started a new life.
I learned every thing the hard way. Didn’t know what to do, no friends, no family and no home. As I hadn’t got much education I couldn’t even do a white-collar job. I remained jobless for a year, eating things that were thrown out from the third class hotels and became a beggar; living on the mercy of others, begging to eat something, eating only twice a day. Now I knew how wrong I was to take myself for granted. All the adventure had gone out of my life. It was just survival for a new day, for another meal.
Now I knew why good schools and educational institutions are necessary because they are the ones which provide the environment that could make you into someone that other people look up to and say that when I grow up I want to be like him. My father had died when I was only five. Now I knew how important our parents are in our life; they sacrifice their own lives for us and we take them for granted.
I wished the time to return so that I could rectify my mistakes; make up for the things that I had done. How much grief my mother had suffered because of me. The time never returns. Time is valuable if you make the most of it now, you will be able to do some thing in the future. I can just hope that the teenage boys can see me and learn from my mistakes.
|
|
|
|
