A particularly gray
morning, Aditi woke with a start. She jumped out of bed unsure of what caused
this stirring within her. A silhouette of a dream hovered in the shadows and
she tried to recall it’s scene as she sat on the side of her bed. An image
began to form, and as she fixed her mind to it she saw her face taking
shape. It was her face, but different,
more serene, determined, intensified.
Aditi started her day as
usual with gym, cooking for the day before heading out to work. Nothing had
changed at the office, the phones continued their buzz persistently, her staff
attended professionally and deferred complex issues to her, and her father in
his office managing the accounts. Before she could grab a cup of coffee, the
first crisis of the day was already knocking on her door. A customer package
had not arrived and as she researched she learned that the customer had
supplied the wrong address. The warehouse needed to be contacted to resend at
the correct address.
She had started this
ecommerce business from the ground up building it to reach its most profitable
year ever. She oversaw the day to day operation making herself available at all
odd hours, while managing everything from the front office to the back office
and everything in between. As her parents had helped her with the initial
financing, they managed the money. Their hold on her changed from the glass
castle to her job. A job that was more
to her than anything else. It was her baby that she had given birth to, built
from ground up, and nourished it into a healthy life. She reveled in the joy of
pleasing her parents, accomplished beyond their or her own expectation. Every
day she walked into the office hoping this would be the day her parents will
pat her on the back and say, “Well done! We’re so proud of you.” Every day she
was disappointed.
She shared her distress
with Sunil and he advised her to withdraw from the company. He had a job and he
could provide for them. But how could she tell him that it had become more than
a salary or any comforts this additional income could provide. This company had
become her core, a part of who she was. It had helped her find herself. It had
ascended her out of the valley, helped her climb the steep mountain to reach
its peak. She was not a princess anymore, but a hardworking, smart business
woman who was her own person who will not be pulled or tugged.
The end
The rock stood sturdy and strong, watching the waves
flowing toward him. His memory was
strong and long dating back thousands of years from the time when he was
submerged, nestled in the sanctity of the seas.
From a grain of sand to a smooth pebble on the soft bed, he danced to
the tune of the currents gradually nudged to the shore. The music of the waves swayed him further to
befriend more grains and merge with the sand.
Centuries spanned as the pebble grew to a rock morphing to a boulder while
the waters receded. Exposed and bare, he
grew and found a footing to stay grounded.
The waves tormented, crashed on its sides, taunted him with sleek,
venomous clutches and left traces of slippery mossy parasites behind. The rock stood firm and let the raging seas
mock him. He looked out with pride at
the ground he stood, withstood the torments of the waves, keeping alive the
memories of when he was insignificant and shielded by the waters. The world around him changed, but he had
stood strong and rooted. Buried deep inside him, encased into his heart the
relic of raw past of plants, creatures, minerals. Its memory was as raw as the
day he had been born, every mineral, each element honoring all the things past,
submerged or forgotten.
