I woke up to the sound of violent coughing coming from the adjacent room, where my son Rohan slept. He had been down with viral fever for three days and yet showing no signs of recovery. It was five in the morning, still early for me to get up but on realizing that Sunita my wife was not there beside me, I got up went to Rohan's room.I found her sitting beside Rohan with her hand on his forehead, speaking to him softly. I felt more at ease, she was a surgeon from the 'All India Institute of Medical Sciences'. Rohan looked more sick than ever. I brought him a cup of hot coffeeand sat down beside him, talking to him cricket, the only thing that ever mattered to him. After a long discussion about the form our batsmen were in and the dates of forthcoming matches, I left him to get ready for office.
An hour and ten minutes later, I pushed aside the door on which a plaque read- 'Mr. Sushil Khanna -DEPUTY DIRECTOR-CENTRAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION' and i stepped in to my office, still worried about Rohan's condition. Very reluctantly I picked up the files kept on my table and browsed through them one by one signing my name wherever necessary. Five long hours of office work later, when I stepped out for lunch, Mr. Pandey, one of my colleagues came running excitedly towards me, with a letter in his hand which he thrust into my face. As i finished a brief scan of the letter, my joy knew no bounds. I had been promoted to the post of 'Director General of the C.B.I' and was to take charge when the current Director General retired next month.My eyes turned moist as I realized that my childhood dream had come true. The news spread aroung the office like wild fire and the words,'Congratulations Mr.Khanna'echoed constantly in my ears as peoploe shook hands with me. After the office hours i treated some of my friends and colleagues to pizza and cold drinks.
As i was leaving the office, I got a call from the Joint Director who informed me that a person under C.B.I custody had died under mysterious circumstances and an enquiry had been launched, which only meant that we had troubled times ahead. This news only dampened my mood and meeting my ailing son, Rohan was no better although he was mighty pleased to hear about my promotion.
Just before I retired for the night , I received a phone call from my brother-in-law who joyfully told me that my sister and he had just been blessed with a baby boy. I promised to meet my sister the next morning in the hospital and then I went to bed. As closed my eyes I began to recollect the day's events- worry in the morning, then good news about my promotion followed by bad news about a person's death and then again some good news, a few moments ago. I realized that it is never only good or only bad events that take place in our lives. It is a mixture of both- a bittersweet recipe. As happy and sad moments thrust themselves into our lives, never allowing it to be monotonous, life may as well be considered an antonym for monotony.
By,
-ANKIT NEERAV
"This is an original work by Master. Ankit Neerav. No copies should be made without permission of the author -Ankit Neerav. Any person/group/company interested in obtaining this work, it's publishing rights/copyright must write to the author at : ankitneerav@gmail.com"
