I don’t want to grow up: a short story on work
“Please don’t leave your job right now! You know we have a debt of 4 lakhs on us”
“But Mom, I don’t like that job! I don’t get to learn anything… Plus, I get completely drained and the pay is also not something to hold on to!”
“Son, you have to understand that your father is now old. For how many more days will he slog on the fields? Now you have to take things forward. Your older sister also needs to be married…”
“It is only for you, otherwise I would have left this job long back…”
Chetan lives in Rajkot and works at ‘Ram Kripa Dairy’. He wakes up everyday at four in the morning to deliver milk and then takes care of the shop. He goes to the village every Sunday to meet his parents. Chetan has an interest in computers & electronics and he also loves cooking. If anyone eats his home made ice-cream, they’ll be fans for life… But he’s not good with studies. He has barely passed his 10th grade from National Institute of Open School and is now slowly preparing for the 12th grade.
Chetan wants to do something different. Something he likes. He wants to take his parents out of debt. He wants to gift his older sister a mobile phone. He also wants to take his father for a train ride. Chetan wants to start his own business. He has some dreams!
Chetan: Mihir bhai, show me some way please. What needs to be done? I can’t do a job, these are all fake, ways to steal from people, tell lies. Same thing, day in, day out; this is not something I can do. I can work as hard as you tell me but not like this… where there’s nothing to learn, where there’s no life…
Mihir: You are very innocent, my friend. Even IIT graduates get this kind of a realisation much later in life… you are super fast.
Chetan: In the village, amidst nature and with parents, living peacefully with an honest job is what I seek…
Mihir: But for starting a business, you’ll have to gather a seed capital, right? And for gathering these funds, job seems the only way for now… Many a times, for big dreams, small things which you don’t enjoy doing, needs to be done.
Chetan: Mihir bhai, I want to take my parents out of debt. I don’t want to build any Bungalow nor do I want to own any car… I don’t have such dreams… I just want to setup a small shop making natural ice-cream. It’s fun and can also be a decent source of income.
If my dad hadn’t incurred the debt, the shop would have been up by now. I wonder why do people take loans? What would have happened if the brother’s wedding happened in simplicity? Atleast I would have been living peacefully today.
Mihir: This thought pinches me often as well… So many people are killing themselves to get rid of debt which has been incurred only for showing off and maintaining something that we call ‘status’! When we listen to our heart, we realize that all this doesn’t really mean anything… It’s all a big trap which is working to fit us in the social structure… Sorry, I spoke too much.
We will work hard friend, there has to be a way out…
