Time Machine!

1 … Mothers are harsh. They forcefeed us disgusting cerelac in spite of all the tantrums and tears. I feel like running away from here! 

3 … Mothers with their cerelac laden spoons down my throat were so much better. You cannot put me in this play school with 20 other kids who bully me, and a scary teacher who scolds me. Out here, I am no longer the special one , unlike at home. 

5 … Please spare me from all these alphabets and numbers. They are so hard and complex that I would rather go back to my play school and spend time with my circus dolls and toy blocks. 

8 … Learning numbers and alphabets were never this tough. Putting them together to make grammar, to perform additions and multiplications...... Ufff. 

13 … Forget about numbers and their manipulations. At least they were things I could use my fingers to calculate. Oh man, now Variables and Algebra are here!

15 … I have never been this nervous. My first board exams. I am not sure how this would turn my life upside down. But the high school senior told me it will, for he wasn’t offered first group due to lack of marks.

17 … I made a mistake thinking that the 12th boards would be as easy as the 10th. I surely should have put in more effort on this instead of going to all those IIT coaching classes, which I knew I wasn’t capable of. Now I have lost it all. I don’t have enough cut-off to join tier-1 college. And I am going to feel guilty for the rest of my life over the 5L that my father is donating to the college for my admissions. Sob sob. 

20 … At least I cleared the board exams with ease. But now, with 8 backlogs and already 3 attempts down for the Unix paper,  I don’t even know if I am capable of graduating college. Oh, and just when I gathered enough courage to propose to my crush of three years, I came to know that she is already going out with someone. Depression and desperation at its peak.

23 … It took me one final determined attempt to clear all those arrears, and one great girl to fall in love with me to help me get over the crush I never got to ask out. But now, I have more problems. Our parents came to know about our love and they wouldn’t compromise. Of course we are from different castes and two years out of college, I am yet to find a decent job. We decided to wait it out, hoping time heals everything.  

25 … She got married to someone else after a years wait and a month later, I got a really good job. I still cherish the times I spent with her, the pain inside growing every minute. I don’t like my job anymore, I realized I suck at it. And my manager hates me. I wish I could quit, but I cannot spend years searching for another job. I am just such a coward. 

27 … I finally found the guts to quit the job and start my own business. But this world is filled with much more struggle and uncertainty. I could see I am clearly failing at entrepreneurship. I have already lost a lot of money. And my parents want me to get married. I think I am still not over her. I am not ready for marriage yet. 

30 … I closed the business down and now working for a company again. But with much lesser pay than I deserve. And my parents have been trying to find a girl for me the past one and half years. My friends are all married and I feel lonely. Maybe it’s just my bad luck that it all happens to me. Or maybe, I should have started moving on with my life and found a partner for myself long back. I spent too much time whining and now I am paying the price for it. Parents are exhausted as well. 

33 … I found a bride for myself after a lot of struggle. Marriage was beautiful. But married life wasn’t the same. I am divorced now. I realized that it was better to stay single and see my parents exhausted than to be with a harsh wife and watch my parents get hurt. I have come to terms with the job. Life goes on …

40 … I married again, this time with a much better lady and am now a father of two beautiful children. But my life is sad enough that I don’t get to spend enough time with them. I keep getting busier by the day and slogging overtime is the only way I can clear the housing loans sooner and have a peaceful retired life. I can feel I am getting old.

60 … The loans are all paid back. I am retired now. With a good deposit at the bank. Last year, my wife passed away. And the children stay away. 

70 … I am on my death bed. Surrounded by children and grandchildren. But this is painful. I wish God takes me away as soon as possible. I am done. 

72 … I am dead. But I wish I could resurrect. Death bed might have been painful. But life after death in this 6x4 space with only your own soul for company is hell, literally. 

Oh life! Why is today always tougher than yesterday?

Or well, is it only better than what is to come the day after?