That perfect pair of jeans
My maternal uncle was on one of his many short business trips to Hyderabad. He had about half an hour before he had to be at the airport. So he decided to use that time to buy me whatever I wanted from lifestyle, which was at that time a pretty upscale shopping mall in Hyderabad.
Growing up, my parents typically gave me a budget to shop from. My strategy was pretty simple. I had to pick something close to or just over the budget allocated to me and if it was slightly higher, I had to convince my parents to buy it. It served me well. Since the choice of clothes in that given range wouldn't be much, it was a quick and an easy process.
But this time, my uncle had asked me to pick whatever I wanted. I could buy that really expensive jeans I always wanted or that perfect shirt. Anything! So I went about searching for that perfect pair of jeans. Something that would fit me perfectly. Something that was stylish and trendy. I was overwhelmed with the choice. I tried quite a few jeans, which were good, but not perfect. After scampering for about 25 minutes I gave up and told my uncle I couldn't find anything I liked. I told him I’ll buy something next time I see him.
My uncle, who had waited and watched me patiently while I searched then said,
“Son, it is easy to chose between right and wrong. But most choices in life are between two right things. It is important to be able to decide what to do in such situations. I’ll get you the jeans next time. But remember, it won’t be this easy always.”
I shrugged off his advice and blamed lifestyle for not having the perfect pair of jeans in my size. But for some strange reason I've found myself in that store scrambling for that perfect pair of jeans each time I've had to make a choice between something that was right and more right.