The Word of mAn[S]o0r

My fiance started off on a little project of her own, and well… what can I say! She inspires me! So here goes, another attempt at resurrecting what I thought I had lost…. The art of storytelling.

This piece is about a little boy, trapped inside the shell of man who is just coming into his own. His life, always planned, yet always breaking out of them when he least expects it, is just another story we keep hearing about.. the trials and tribulations of growing up.

‘what the hell are we going to tell our parents?!’ he sighed. Taking a long drag from the cigarette in his hands, he puffed out the smoke, staring at the intricate designs it made in the wind, willing it to give him the answer.
‘what they always told us I guess, that we weren’t good enough’ his friend replied, dejected by the cards life had dealt them.

It hadn’t always been like this, but lately things were not going as planned. The intermediate board result was out, and somehow, they had managed to pass each and every subject! The only problem was, the percentage they got was even lower than the guy who had failed in three! They had been away from home since morning, hiding out till when they had to go back home to their respective parents, to be dealt with dissapoinment, despair and punishment.

They did try looking at the bright side, that they had passed and were going to get to the next grade, but that side didn’t seem as bright anymore. Ridicule, from their parents, their families, their friends and even future interviewers was what awaited them in the life after that moment. This was what they were warned against. For two years, it was all they were told. The grade meant everything! It would be permanently plastered in their records, to be brought up at every interview, every promotion and even at every party they would ever attend. The Intermediate grade was what defined the future for a guy in Pakistan. And that was precisely what they had screwed up.

‘what did we do wrong? WHAT!!!!!’ he yelled to no one at particular. The previous year running in front of his eyes like a horror movie. Months of preparation, of spending un-ending days in the library, at tutions, nights at group study sessions, reciting each and every word on each and every page like it was the holy book, and yet, it wasn’t good enough.

‘In the end, we must do as God wills us my friend’ his friend consoled him, lighting up yet another smoke from a fast emptying packet by their side. Being the more religiously inclined between them, he chose to let God decide his fate in life, yet the dissapointment wasn’t far from his eyes either. This wasn’t the first time he felt God had betrayed him, and little did he know, it wouldn’t be the last.

‘I cant do it man! I cant repeat first year, not from the same college! Its too humiliating!’ he cried out, his pain reflecting in every word uttered out of his mouth. Infact, it wasn’t his humiliation he was worried out. He was the first born! The pride and joy of his family. Coming from a long line of A-graders, he was the one who scored a D! Humiliation wasn’t him being told he’s not good enough, humiliation was his family being looked down upon! His father scorned by his peers, his grandfather having to lower his eyes in shame whenever his doting grandsons’ academics were brought up. This was what was eating up inside of him, this is what he had worked to avoid! And yet……

‘we don’t have to repeat yaar, we passed, we still get to go on towards second year….’ His friend, desperately trying to look for any sign of silver lining, replied. Still go on? Was he serious? Still go on for WHAT? Sure! We’d graduate, but then what? Did he think we could get in a good university? Did he think we might still salvage our futures? Our lives? It was ruined! There was no hope! Admission to a good university was no longer on the table, and after that, what was the point?

‘how could this have happened……. How? when we did everything we were supposed to! We gave it all that we had… what did we miss? what!!!!!!!!!!!’ he was still going around in the same circle, not being able to come to terms with his fading future… he wasn’t man enough for that yet.

‘why?’ …

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