Trade Off

He was standing at the centre ....... gloomy eyes, tousled hairs, exhausted body and dejected countenance. His voice choked with grief when he spoke. His whole personality was maimed by ruthless twist of fate. I still remember Vidya of happy days --------energetic and smiling .Vidya and his interesting T-Shirts were talk of the town.But after 75 days of mad pursuit of his lost brother, and after being exposed to wimps and fancies of politicians and policemen, he has become stone faced....and perhaps stoned hearted too. While Vidya was busy running pillar to post looking for some clue or traceof his lost brother, I --- his so called friend was sitting in a class room trying to become a good manager.The first lesson I learned in class was that everything comes with a trade-off.And now I wonder did I trade off good human being to become good manager? In class I learned how to value Bonds, Stocks, Assets etc, but in return I forgot few things,I forgot how to value tears of a 60 year old women whose son is missing for last 75 days.I forgot how to value pain of an old father, who is suffering at the hands of both oesophageal cancer and cancerous invasion of the external world in his peaceful family life.I forgot how to value unflinching hope of a wife, who even after 75 days of futile search for her husband still feels whether she would celebrate next ‘Karwachouth’ with him or not.I forgot how to value the loss of a four month old baby, who is on the verge of losing her father even before learning to pronounce "papa".But how does that matter to me anyways, what is important is that I learned to value bonds, stocks and options. So what if the world outside does not know the value of a human life.I learned to minimize objective function of cost, so what if I forgot how to minimize mental and emotional agony of a friend.I learned how to motivate people at my workplace, so what if my own friend stands drained of all motivations.Two days from now I will be flying out of the country, and will drown myself in euphoria of a paid vacation. But Vidya..........well, he will go back tohis battle ground running madly after weakest of clues he gets about his brother. There will be moments when Vidya will feel like crying but he will not shed a single drop of tears. How can he when he has younger brother and sister to console? How can he when his mother is already drenched in tears?How can he when his father is fighting a deadly disease in the hospital? But I did not worry about Vidya. I left Him immersed in his trials and tribulations of life. And me? Well, it had been HAPPY INTERNATIONAL IMMERSION for me................

POSTED BY SURAJ