everything that makes us what we are

Often we tend to take everything around us for granted. We never stop to take time and think how it would be if life wasn’t the way we know it. Its like, its only when we block our airways that we realize what a relief it is to breathe. And mind you- even before blocking your nose and mouth, instinctively, you breathe in as much as air as possible- fill your lungs till it hurts. And yet, even as our instincts fight for oxygen we cant stop complaining about, say, the weird stuffy smell that is typical while traveling in a crowded bus or a train – or even the pollution which comes as a part and parcel of the air we take in to survive.

On a completely different note, I keep wondering about people who keep complaining about other factors of the society. It might be population (which we are a part of) or poverty or even educational systems for that matter. Alma mater is the biggest scape-goat of them all. Alma mater- the college which X had ended up in, because of whatever good or bad results he had acquired in his latest exams. According to X, the crowd was tacky, the buildings of his new college were too small, the campus too inconsequential. In the same inconsequential college, Mr. A joined the cultural group and turned out to be good at everything he tried his hand on and nowadays is a mini celebrity in his own right. Mr. B on the other hand was interested in sports. The grounds were bad but he gathered a like minded team nonetheless and played every sport he could possibly manage and finally got a dream job at the Army. And while they were at it, X just complained about no canteen facilities and low society crowd in the premises. The sad part is, like in mathematics, X is an unknown number- and a big one at that.

Mr. X went on to take up a job in the USA. While he used to throw used wrappers on the street when he was at college- because everybody did it and who wants to take a trip to the dustbins anyway- due to strict laws he did not dare to so much throw a dry twig on the road. Then he marveled at the cleanliness of the country. He picked up an accent and thought of it as a proof of superiority over his own people. And since it is real life and not a story he never realized the true worth of his own background, his own alma mater which shaped him into what he was, his own countrymen and in effect his own country.

Mr. A, Mr. B and Mr. X all lived as happily as life allows ever after. The only difference was- X got the best of situations and A and B made the best of situations. You can only afford to be X when u have everything ready made.