changing times...

“You always have to have everything your cousin has. Don’t you understand that your uncle is a police commissioner and your aunt is a manager in the bank? Your mother is just a housewife and I am a junior engineer in the electricity board. We don’t earn as much as they do. We must save money for the future. We are not same! Don’t ask me ever again to get you something which you saw your cousin has! Learn to control your feelings!”

It was almost 10 years ago. Dindu had asked his father to buy him a computer to help his studies at the college. He always got similar answers - when he had asked for a cricket bat, video game or a fountain pen or when he had asked his father to take them to a new place for summer holidays instead of going to their uncle's house as they did every year. After that day he had stopped asking.

Dindu was lying on his back in a lonely corner of the beach - his eyes focused on the infinity of the sky, a cloud intercepting the infinity every now and then. Earlier that evening Dindu had a conversation with his father. His father called him from the village saying: “Look at your cousin. Learn something from him. He has got a better paying job, he married to a beautiful wife and now soon they will have children. I had saved some ten lakh rupees to spend on your marriage, but you never listen to what I say. You don’t care about your parent's feelings.”

Dindu didn’t know whether he felt surprised or betrayed. It was almost dark. He realized, it no longer mattered whether he kept his eyes open or shut. He picked himself up and started walking towards his home.