My First Short Story
A New Beginning
In his entire life, he has always stood by one principle - everything happens for our own good. No matter how harshly life treated him he would always come out unscathed, at least in his perception. He would always find a ray of hope even in a mire of deepest troubles. He would say that if something has already happened and despite the fact that it bore ominous results for you, it was no point in blaming others or the circumstances for that quagmire. Even from that calamity, you could always find little-little positive points and in the end you could say that – ‘everything indeed happened for your own good’.
He was perspiring profusely. His was being defeated by his own reasoning. All of a sudden, he wondered that for how long he had been following this stupid dictum. In an instant, he got the answer as well, 52 years! And he remembered vividly how that one 40-minute English period changed his thinking forever. No, not forever! He was then in 4th standard when his English teacher read him a small story. Once upon a time, there was a King. One evening, the King was engrossed in a conversation with his counselor. The counselor, while serving fruits to him, accidentally put a small cut on the King’s right hand index finger. The King was so enraged at his counselor’s impertinence and impropriety that he ordered him to be put behind the bars. Early next morning, the King went for hunting in the jungle. There, while chasing a deer he found himself face to face with a lion instead. As he lay on the ground beset with exhaustion and the mortal fear, the lion calmly circled him twice and went his way without hurting the King. More than being grateful, the King was bewildered at the lion’s generosity in sparing his life. After reaching safely to his palace, the first thing he did was to summon his counselor and asked for an explanation for the extraordinary turn of events. The counselor in his calm disposition replied that the lion certainly would have devoured him to pieces had he hadn’t gotten any cut on his index finger. The lion never wants his prey to be stale. He put an end to his explanation with a divine statement, ‘everything happens for our own good’.
A blaring horn put him back to reality. He had been walking for the last two hours on a lonely highway. He frantically waved his hand at the passing truck and the truck just passed by. It was the third truck in two hours and also the third, which didn’t stop. He was stranded in the middle of nowhere. It was 2 am in the morning and his car had broken down. The events of the last 24 hours had left him totally disillusioned and he had never felt so helpless in his life. He had weathered numerous ups and downs but this was just too much to handle.
At 10 in the morning that day, he got the news that his company was hostilely taken over by the rival firm. Overnight, he had turned from being the majority shareholder to just a petty player in the company politics. He bore the news very calmly but he was disturbed by the fact that his closest aid had betrayed him and probably sold himself to the rival firm. World was full of such dishonest people. This was something he could deal with and which, he has always dealt with. He suddenly realized that he was sixty now. Probably, this news was an indication that he should slow down and give himself the luxury of rest. The time had come for him and his wife to enjoy their old age. He spent the entire day attending meetings and by the end of the day, he had quit his company.
At ten in the night, he received another call. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back. His wife had died. It must have been a while before he put down the receiver and the reality sunk in. His world shattered to pieces. He knew that it was going to happen but he never imagined it to happen so soon. She was suffering from cancer. It was diagnosed only two months ago. Without wasting a minute, he rushed to his car and headed straight to his ancestral home, which was a good 4 hours drive from the city. She had always wanted to spend her last days there. It was a large country home set amidst lush greenery and high mountains, away from the hustle-bustle of the city life. As he was driving madly and as fast as his car would go, her entire life flashed past his eyes. More than that, he realized that this was the first time when he had totally lost his reasoning and was unable to fathom what good could have come out of this train of events. But, more was to come as halfway through the journey, his car broke down. He could not bear it any more and a tear trickled down his face.
Perhaps, this was the best thing that could have happened to him. His solitary walk on a lonely highway gave him enough time to review his life from another perspective. He thought that it was indeed good that his wife had gone forever for she was spared the agony that she would have had to bear because of her ailment. It was also good that he had quit his company for now he could get back to his writing and painting. He had forgotten when was the last time he had held a paint brush in his hand or he had brainstormed just to come up with a good story. After two hours of anguished and at the same time relaxed walking, he sat down against a tree trunk for some rest where in just a blink of an eye, he felt asleep.
It was his profoundest five-hour sleep in a long time. When he woke up in the morning, the day was as beautiful as it ever could be. His mind was as fresh as the morning dew. It just dawned on him that this was also the first morning of the New Year. And he also knew that everything had indeed happened for his good only.
P.S. This is my first short story and by the way, I am not at all impressed with it. I think it is too contemporary. Anyways, since I have written it I have also published it here :o)
He was perspiring profusely. His was being defeated by his own reasoning. All of a sudden, he wondered that for how long he had been following this stupid dictum. In an instant, he got the answer as well, 52 years! And he remembered vividly how that one 40-minute English period changed his thinking forever. No, not forever! He was then in 4th standard when his English teacher read him a small story. Once upon a time, there was a King. One evening, the King was engrossed in a conversation with his counselor. The counselor, while serving fruits to him, accidentally put a small cut on the King’s right hand index finger. The King was so enraged at his counselor’s impertinence and impropriety that he ordered him to be put behind the bars. Early next morning, the King went for hunting in the jungle. There, while chasing a deer he found himself face to face with a lion instead. As he lay on the ground beset with exhaustion and the mortal fear, the lion calmly circled him twice and went his way without hurting the King. More than being grateful, the King was bewildered at the lion’s generosity in sparing his life. After reaching safely to his palace, the first thing he did was to summon his counselor and asked for an explanation for the extraordinary turn of events. The counselor in his calm disposition replied that the lion certainly would have devoured him to pieces had he hadn’t gotten any cut on his index finger. The lion never wants his prey to be stale. He put an end to his explanation with a divine statement, ‘everything happens for our own good’.
A blaring horn put him back to reality. He had been walking for the last two hours on a lonely highway. He frantically waved his hand at the passing truck and the truck just passed by. It was the third truck in two hours and also the third, which didn’t stop. He was stranded in the middle of nowhere. It was 2 am in the morning and his car had broken down. The events of the last 24 hours had left him totally disillusioned and he had never felt so helpless in his life. He had weathered numerous ups and downs but this was just too much to handle.
At 10 in the morning that day, he got the news that his company was hostilely taken over by the rival firm. Overnight, he had turned from being the majority shareholder to just a petty player in the company politics. He bore the news very calmly but he was disturbed by the fact that his closest aid had betrayed him and probably sold himself to the rival firm. World was full of such dishonest people. This was something he could deal with and which, he has always dealt with. He suddenly realized that he was sixty now. Probably, this news was an indication that he should slow down and give himself the luxury of rest. The time had come for him and his wife to enjoy their old age. He spent the entire day attending meetings and by the end of the day, he had quit his company.
At ten in the night, he received another call. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back. His wife had died. It must have been a while before he put down the receiver and the reality sunk in. His world shattered to pieces. He knew that it was going to happen but he never imagined it to happen so soon. She was suffering from cancer. It was diagnosed only two months ago. Without wasting a minute, he rushed to his car and headed straight to his ancestral home, which was a good 4 hours drive from the city. She had always wanted to spend her last days there. It was a large country home set amidst lush greenery and high mountains, away from the hustle-bustle of the city life. As he was driving madly and as fast as his car would go, her entire life flashed past his eyes. More than that, he realized that this was the first time when he had totally lost his reasoning and was unable to fathom what good could have come out of this train of events. But, more was to come as halfway through the journey, his car broke down. He could not bear it any more and a tear trickled down his face.
Perhaps, this was the best thing that could have happened to him. His solitary walk on a lonely highway gave him enough time to review his life from another perspective. He thought that it was indeed good that his wife had gone forever for she was spared the agony that she would have had to bear because of her ailment. It was also good that he had quit his company for now he could get back to his writing and painting. He had forgotten when was the last time he had held a paint brush in his hand or he had brainstormed just to come up with a good story. After two hours of anguished and at the same time relaxed walking, he sat down against a tree trunk for some rest where in just a blink of an eye, he felt asleep.
It was his profoundest five-hour sleep in a long time. When he woke up in the morning, the day was as beautiful as it ever could be. His mind was as fresh as the morning dew. It just dawned on him that this was also the first morning of the New Year. And he also knew that everything had indeed happened for his good only.
P.S. This is my first short story and by the way, I am not at all impressed with it. I think it is too contemporary. Anyways, since I have written it I have also published it here :o)
Au revoir
posted by Ankur Shanker @ 3:22 PM
2 Comments:
Thanks for sharing. Wow, that was strange. I just wrote a really long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn't show up. Grrrr... well, I'm not writing all that over again. Anyways, just wanted to say fantastic blog!
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Truly, this article is really one of the very best in the history of articles. I am a antique ’Article’ collector and I sometimes read some new articles if I find them interesting. And I found this one pretty fascinating and it should go into my collection. Very good work.
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