The Box of Tissues

No matter how hard you try, no matter how much you plan, life will never give you exactly what you want. You would get some things and yet you will have a few things denied. And the best thing about life is that it goes on. No matter what you have or have not, it still goes on. The only thing that you need to do is just learn to do without what you don’t have and be happy with what you have. You can plan as much as you want; but things are never completely under control. Something or the other comes in to disrupt that perfect plan. It could be anything – a phone call, a text message, a chance encounter or traffic. Traffic… Nothing can be more tiring than getting stuck in traffic, multiple times in one day.

At times, even the most convenient things turn out to be the most inconvenient ones. If you live in a big city, commuting from one place to another is easy. Every day some amount of your time is invested in traveling from your home to the multi-national company you work for and vice-verse. If you don’t want to struggle for a seat or perform weird dance poses in a local bus, you can always go for the cab. You choose to share your ride, book a cab using your smart phone and the cab appears right in front of you. How convenient! This convenience is a lot due to technology. To err is human. That doesn’t work for technology. Technology always delivers. Well… almost! But then there is also a human involvement included in the process. Come human… come errors.

So, when you are just about to get into the cab that you’ve so conveniently booked, the driver says he is going in the opposite direction. You are shocked! Who wouldn’t be? That never happens! How could technology so advanced, make such a mistake! You think it’s the driver’s fault and blame him. The technology can’t be wrong. Why did you accept the request? , you ask. Turns out, he doesn’t know where you are going until he drops the other person first. The driver refuses to cancel as he might lose his contract. (He’s already reached his cancellation limits!) You could cancel the cab but then you stand the risk of losing some money. There are the servers, the controllers, the agents, the signals, the network... the fault could lie anywhere. And you are in no mood to stand there and contemplate about whose fault had caused such an error. You want to get to your destination fast so you do not think much and hop in. A few turns on the road later, you realize how round about a way you are on, and how much longer it will take. Now you are annoyed, irritated, cursing yourself and suddenly the car stops! You look up and see the sea of vehicles ahead of you all stagnant and roaring. All you can think of is how to get out of the traffic and reach your destination. You are on the verge of getting a headache thinking how much time you are wasting just being there, burning petrol. You are so frustrated that you just want to get out of the car and start walking. But then, life isn’t that cruel. The light turns green and the cars ahead start moving. You let a sigh of relief and lean back on the seat to relax. But then the car stops again and again and again. And then you just lose track and the only thing you want is to reach your destination.

He stood there by the roadside waiting as the cars sped by. Cars, big and small, new and old, of all colors and built sped past him. Some shabby looking old cars, some brand new SUV and some so fancy looking cars that even he, a poor boy living in those slums could tell they were imported. He thought of how happy the people in the cars would be. He wanted to be there, in those cars. He would drive down to his home in one of those high rise buildings, get into those lifts like he had seen in the movies and eat a hearty meal. Dressed in ‘suit boot’, he would be speaking in English, like all other rich people with a smart phone in hand. He could even hear his smart phone ring. No, it wasn’t his smart phone but the sound of the honking horn coming from the car that had stopped beside him. He cursed himself for dreaming a hopeless dream again and started running towards the sea of cars. He looked down at his hands. He had to sell some these today, or there wouldn’t be enough to eat tomorrow. He tapped on the window of a car and said, “Sir, two boxes of tissues for hundred bucks. Please buy them.” The driver shooed him away. He couldn’t even hear what the driver said because the car had the AC on. He tried his luck with few other cars and then finally one of the drivers pulled his glass down and inquired. He repeated his usual sales tagline.

“What do I do with these?” asked the driver.

“Sir, you can wipe your face using this. It keeps your face clean.” He replied.

“No, I don’t need this.” said the driver and started pulling up the glass.

He continued to offer negotiating and coming up with a new deal each time, “Sir, 3 boxes for hundred” “ Sir, 4 for Hundred”, “ Sir, take five for 100” just then the signal turns green and the cars begin to move. He moved aside, resumed his position by the roadside and continued to dream.

You see the boy tapping at the window and think he is like all the other beggars who beg for money. You get irritated when the driver pulls down the glass since you have no change. But then, the boy is selling something, boxes of tissues. You admire him for trying to earn his own money instead of begging. You think of all the hard work that he is doing just to sell a few tissue-boxes. You want to help him by buying one. But 2 for hundred is too much! The driver declines the offer. You think it’s not worth it and then the boy says you could have 3 of them, 4, 5, for just hundred bucks. That’s pretty cheap you think. You think you should grab the deal. But then, it may not be hygienic you think. The signal turns green, your car moves ahead and you forget about the boy altogether. You reach your destination; get down from your car. You curse the pollution in the city as the dust gets into your eyes. A middle-aged man dressed in rags comes up to you and begs for money.

He is fit enough. He could do some work. Why is he begging?

You put away your thoughtsand give him the ten rupee note that the cab driver had returned.

You dig into your purse, pull out a few tissues from the box you bought from the mall, wipe your face and walk towards your destination.

Hours later, he still stood there staring at the cars and thought, if this time nothing works he would go around begging for money.