Spare time to think ... (Part 1)

Ahh... The 21st century.. The World of Computers... The I.T. Revolution...

Sounds great, doesnt it?
Here is a short story of a common man living in this 21st Century.

Lets call our common man as Spud. (my silverlight game's character name is also Spud. More on that next time).
So "Spud", a common man, is married and has 2 kids.
Spud works in a well known Software Company and is a good programmar. He knows his responsibilities as a senior programmar very well.
He is known for his dedication and committment throught his department.

You can compare Spud's work with that of a donkey. A donkey works for long hours, does whatever its being told without a single murmur !
Similarly, "Spud" works for long hours.
- as said by Spud's colleagues !!


His wife jokes : "Spuddy has a fixed timing for leaving house, but no fixed time for
arrival."

Spud has missed most birthday parties of his kids, missed many good family get togethers, missed his best friend's wedding, missed his parent's wedding anniversary, missed his elder son's cricket tournament, missed his own anniversary a couple of times and the list goes on.....

At work, Spud is mostly on time. He meets all his unattainable deadlines, attends every meeting with his client, makes sure that the project is well on time etc.......

But his boss yells at him for slightest mistake, shouts at him for not keeping up with the project schedule and threatens to fire him for not making the "module" integrate with the rest of the system...


But his family on other hand, treats him differently.

When he gets up in the morning, his wife prepares him tea, breakfast and kisses him and lovingly says "good morning sweetheart." While at the table, his kids love to see their father all dressed up ready for work. They feel proud ! They even argued at school with their friends as how their father is the "best daddy."
Spud's pet dog is always there for him, wagging his tail, pouring his heart out, just for a quick scratch or a little pat on the back. But our "Spud" behaves as if the dog died years back ! He never attends that poor thing.
But his dog never, not even once, failed to lick his feet or wag his tail when Spud arrived from office.


Nevertheless, his wife never complains about Spud's forgetful nature. Oh yes, Spud is forgetful. He forgets things in nano-seconds. Everytime "Spud" fails to bring those vegetables from market and gives lame reasons like "I'm too tired !"
The last time Spud went for a movie or lets say "date" with his wife is when he got an unexpected holiday on occassion of a "train-strike" which didnt let him commute to work that day ! Nevetheless, his wife never complains.


Spud's parents lives only a few blocks away from his house. However, our Spud who can travel miles in crowded trains, cant find the time to walk 10 mins down the street.

One fine morning, Spud's elder son spilled come coffee on his news-paper. Our "Spud", being short-tempered due to frustration, stress and work pressure, yelled at him. "You fool, are you blind? Idiot !" and marched towards the door and left for work.
The tears in that kid's eyes were wiped by Spud's wife. But there was no one to wipe hers. It was Spud's younger son's birthday today & he had forgotton it.
He complained "Mom, is dad going mad?" -"No, not at all honey. Dad is just fine", replied mom.

Back at the office, Spud was having coffee when his manager came around the corner and bumped against Spud who was leaning against the wall at the corner.
Coffee painted his white shirt brown !
"Sorry Sir", apologized Spud with a voice that seemed unheard by his manager, who went away as if Spud wasnt even there !!!

This incident left him disturbed throughout the day. He remembered how he yelled at his son in the morning for ruining the newspaper.
Little kid got the heat for spoiling something that was worth "pennies." He looked at his shirt, which his wife had gifted him for their last year's anniversary. His eyes moistened unknowingly.
His wife had called earlier and told him to bring balloons for their son's birthday party.
It was because: even if Spud forgets to bring balloons, it wont stop the party. The call was more of a reminder about their son's birthday.

Spud left early. Thoughts still occupying his mind most of the time.
"I shouted at my son for a silly mistake. Yet he loves me. I do that every now and then and still my family loves me."
Tears filled his eyes. It was raining heavily. Tears mixed with rain water.


The trains were late and people were rushing to occupy space as herds of wild animals gather at a waterhole just for a sip.
Spud tried to catch that train which had already started moving. He didnt wanted to be late for his son's birthday. He had even bought roses for wife and balloons for the party.
Suddenly, he slipped while boarding the train. He fell between the train and platform and poor Spud was killed on the spot !!!

The roses never reached his wife neither the balloons made their way to the party.

His family mourned his death. Relatives, whom Spud had not met in several years, were crying over his body. Spud's death was tragic !

His company, whicj was his second home, had sent a condolence letter. They quickly found a replacement for Spud. The new guy was not as good as Spud but was ready to work in half the salary of Spud. Nobody in the company talked of Spud, or Spuddy, ever after.


When all this was happening, Spud woke up !
"Phew !!!!, thank god its over. It was just a nightmare."
It was already his usual time to wake up.
The nighmare left Spud shocked and made him realize whats more important in life.

People advice us to strike the balance between work and personal life. But in doing that, make sure that you dont loose your balance ! Spud's incident was just a nightmare. It came and went.
This nightmare taught Spud some important lessons.
- Family always comes first.
- You can get another job, but you cant get another family.
- Respect your family members. Do not shout at them as if they are worthless. Even pets has personalities. Treat them as a family member.
- Our life on this planet is for a very short time. Its precious and God has made it even more wonderful by giving us a "family."
- Friends are the angels who are with us all the time. Never lose them.

Spud was at the table, thinking of the lessons that "dream" had taught him. Suddenly, his son spilled coffee on the table.


Spud gently asked his son "Are you ok? Its ok. I'll clean that up... !" And said to his wife "Honey, lets have dinner together in the evening."

Meaning of family :
Dictionary : Two or more people who share goals and values, have long term commitments to one another, and reside usually in the same dwelling place.
Spud's meaning : "Are you aware that if we died tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easiyl replace us in a matter of days. But the family we left behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives !"

Whats your meaning of family? Decide and tell...............

-Pirate11