The day, the earth stood still for the 'lone reader'

A dull afternoon in early 2000s. Sometimes in November, the temperature has just started dropping slowly, but you can't stamp it as winter yet. Nothing special; just a regular 'day in everyone's life.' Everyone? Perhaps not at-least one fellow.

A boy in his teens entered his local library: the usual dull view, typical one of those Govt, aided libraries in this part of the city, two librarian 'manning' the desk (well, more out of 'nothing to do at home' rather than salary), an old TV showing some cricket match and only one reader, just going through the leading newspaper and two pretty long vacant old-fashioned wooden bench. The boy took in a seat aside the 'lone' reader and started going through the magazines (Ah! Come on.. I simply said magazines.. not those magazines whose names came first to your mind). 

The 'lone reader' asked the boy mildly, showing his cell phone "Can you delete numbers from this?" 

The boy looked up: A man in his 40's , with unshaven beard of around two days. Won't say shabby clothes, but it wasn't that tidy too and dull eyes. Just an usual description of a looser, ain't it? Fuhh.

As the boy nodded affirmatively, he handed over the cell, one of those early Nokia 1100s that used to flock the market in early 2000s. 

The boy inquired whether he want a particular number to be deleted. 

The man replied, hastily, " Delete all, every contact, everything on that damn phone. I don't need any of them." Confused, the boy waited, as the 'lone reader' carries on his 'story.' The 'lone reader' continues... 

" I was working at a marketing firm since so many years. Year after year after, I went on to meet the targets. You know, last two years back to back I even overshoot the target by a fair margin. And now, I have just failed to meet the target this year, they throw me out? For failing , just once? Can you believe it ! What do they think? I will go back to then? Begging? Requesting on their feet? Never! If they don'e need me, i don't need any of them. Delete everything, every contact, every text from that damn phone. Do it.Do it please. "

The boy was shocked by the intensity, the harsh reality of 'cut-throat realism'. He continued to delete the contacts...one by one................ till the last one .

Well, I met that 'lone reader' more than a decade back....... never knew his name, never knew where he worked (does it matter even? perhaps not), where he resided....and where and how he is. 

Just remembered the day, the earth stood still for 'lone reader.'

That's all folks, go back and enjoy your meal.

And then they lived happily ever after................ or not 'ever after'

Lets start with a story..errr, a real life incident, plucked out from someone's life, someone I happen to know years back.
There was a girl(lets call her Pooja) and a boy ( say Samir). Lets give a picture of their backgrounds one by one.
Pooja comes from a well established family, whose father is a retired govt. employee and she herself had a decent job, a school teacher. So, what do you make of it. An educated girl, affluent I might say, established for sure in her twenties ready for having a perfect life.
Now turn for Mr. Samir. Samir is self appointed. Let me correct a bit, he looks after the paternal medicine shop. The only male child of the family looking after the family business and taking care of parents and extended family, sounds pretty good, only there's a slight problem.
The medicine shop, which was earlier the only shop in the locality, is seeing stiff competition from peers and profit margins are shrinking...  u got it nah?

So, you already started wandering come on.. fast forward nah, its so common, the every second person you meet has this kind of gloomy story-line.

Well, as they typically say in 'novels' : 'God has other plans.' They, I mean Pooja and Samir met somehow ..and fall in love. Sometimes I wonder, why they always say "Fall in love?" Why is ' falling' ? Its a pothole? No, then wat? Whatever, sorry for drifting a bit.

Well, where were we: they fell in love and decided to marry, only to have the toughest opposition from both home-front, god knows for what reason whatsoever.  But still, they both decided to hold on, fight together ...and marry against the wishes of both the family. The families did accept the fact...but it was never 'smooth as a cake', an undercurrent persist.
And 2/3 yrs down the line...they a had a child, a baby girl. Everything seemed fine atleast.. the shop was running OK, Pooja had a stable job, kid doing well at school....but again the much used cliche' 'God has other plans.'

Samir had a heart problem, it was never serious, never meant to be serious and both the families knew about it.
Some medical complication happened....and Samir was admitted to hospital, given 'almost' the best treatment possible........ but he succumbed, rather the heart succumbed.  I mentioned 'almost'..because you know nah, unless you are TATA, Birla or Ambani having an unlimited corpus (or Govt. aided politician), you can never have the ' best treatment'

So, lets say the scenario: Samir dead, Pooja, working mother with kid still at kindergarten, the not-so-good inlaws who never went along with her all these years. Got the hostile condition nah? Well, she did, the only option she was left with: moving back to her parents to stay with them.

Feeling uncomfortable? Got any coincidental similarity with anyone you ever known?
I didn't want to make anyone reading this to feel bad, gloomy or dark; this is real life incident plucked from someone's life.
Someone, who is not happy as you are, someone to whom memory still haunts, someone who fights everyday, fights for the kid... to give 'the best' that she can offer. Things could have much better, for anyone, had anyone would have decided otherwise, anyone would have thought otherwise at any point of time. Someone said me once, "Life moves on, because it has to move on."

Yup, Kudos maam.