Everybody loves you when you are at the bottom rung of the ladder. But the moment you start making moves, oh no. No, no, no. You are competition, you are a threat. Immediate elimination. Action needs to be taken against you.
Everyone loves a nobody. An anonymous everyman who is their best friend; their support system, their shoulder to cry on. Do you know why they say that it’s lonely at the top? They say that because if someone else is up there with you, sooner or later you are bound to be tempted to push them off.
Such is the competitive edge in humans; we cannot stand the thought of someone getting the bigger piece of pie. We are stuck in an endless rat-race and everybody wants to come first. Run or you’ll be trodden upon. Competition, may it be in any form, is fierce and cut-throat and the sense of survival is instilled in us from child birth itself. Heck, even the process of being born is a huge race. Congratulations, the winner wins the right to have an existence and back to oblivion it is for the losers.
What can one expect of a race whose very existence depends on “coming first”?
It is a race. Whether you like it or not, you my dear, are running. No time to stop and smell the flowers, sorry Mister Writer, they have been crushed underneath the ribbed soles of the runners. Deep down inside, we’re wearing a pair of sports shoes and jogging shorts.
Don’t we all wish we could turn back time somehow?
Rewind the clock and alter our past. After all, there have always been those moments that we look upon and go “Man, I wish this would have gone differently” or “Ohh… I would give an arm and a leg for this to have not happened”
You can always smooth over your mistakes, try to hide from the past, but it is kinda like trying to paint black roses white. The stuff beneath the surface always shows.
Mihir was a person with many regrets. Being the most popular kid at a flourishing school came for a price. Sacrifices had to be made; old ties had to be severed. Like, who would call you cool if they knew that you were friends with a nerd? Or would anyone idolize you if you were still
talking to the over-achieving pain in the ass chick? Nope.
Being king of the castle had its responsibilities. The crowd would love you as long as the front you put up stayed perfect. Did they really care that you were taking piano lessons since fourth grade? No. No one looked up to a sissy piano player. The sports captain, the head boy… Now THAT was something worth bragging about, however, in the ninth grade, Mihir still had a long way to go if he were to claim those sought after titles. But being captain of the basketball team was as good a start as any.
“Hey Mihir! ‘Sup?” Nikhil and Mihir bumped fists as Mihir walked into the class, bag slung over one shoulder, hair painstakingly set to give off the appearance if a casual style and uniform just a bit askew, very fashionably of course.
Mihir took his seat and sat down. “So… let’s talk homework. You got any done yet?”
“Naah man, I was too busy watching a movie last night, I totally forgot” Nikhil replied.
“Aaaww man, are you kidding me? Shruti ma’am is totally gonna kill us if we don’t submit ALL the homework by today and definitely don’t feel like missing another games period to complete that hag’s work”
“Okay, okay, chill. We can just copy from someone else dude, no tension. Why don’t we ask Sukshiti? God knows, she of all people will definitely have done it.”
Mihir shifted uncomfortably in his seat, but thankfully no one noticed. “Umm… I dunno man, let’s just ask someone else… She probably won’t even give it to us”
The sad fact was, this could not have been further from the truth. You see, what no one knew was, when at the tender age of six a certain shy little boy by the name of Mihir Bhatia took admission in Rose Valley School, a bubbly girl in pig-tails by the name of Sukshiti Verma was his first and only friend. When all the other kids made fun of him for being the new one around, it was Sukshiti who came to his defense. Slowly but surely, the two became inseparable friends. The loud opinionated, full of life little girl and her quiet, shy companion. The teachers used to look at the pair of them and smile at this epitome of childhood innocence. Then came fifth grade and Mihir gradually began coming out of his shell. His early recognition of his talent at the basketball court began to get him noticed among his peers and he started spending more time with them.
Then one day, while walking around with his new found buddies, Sukshiti spotted them and waved an enthusiastic “Hi” to Mihir. A boy on his left smirked “Ew, look at that stupid girl. Does any one of you know her?”
The gears of Mihir’s adolescent mind began to whirr in top speed. Somehow, he knew that by being true to his friendship with Sukshiti, he would once again become the target of much dreaded ridicule. So, voice dripping with scorn, he too joined in the chorus of “No, no” and walked off, ignoring a bewildered Sukshiti.
The day that proved to be quite tumultuous for Mihir and Sukshiti’s friendship was actually quite a beautiful one. The sun was shining in the sky and a cool breeze was blowing. It prompted everyone to go outside during the lunch break and spend it in the canteen. Mihir and his friends were hanging out in a corner when Sukshiti, tired of being looked over, boldly stepped up to Mihir. “Hey Mihir, you wanna play a game of tag?” she asked, eyes full of confident hope that of course Mihir would say yes, after all, he had known her for five whole years. Before Mihir could think up a reply, a particularly zealous boy in his group sprang up and roughly shoved Sukshiti to the side. “Are you dumb? Mihir doesn’t wanna play with you, look at your face ugly!” he leered. Mihir knew that this was the moment of reckoning. He could not afford to lose face in front of his peer group. Not now. Calmly, he got up, pretending to ignore whatever had taken place, and walked off, burning with shame. Tears came to Sukshiti’s eyes as she realized the brutality of it all. Of how her friend had chosen to forget her, snub her, after all she had done for him. Silently, she picked herself up and walked off, tears streaming down her face.
From that day on Mihir never really had the courage to look Sukshiti in the face. Too broken by that incident, Sukshiti became a shell of her former self. The bubbly, happy girl transformed into a quiet nobody who never really spoke, never really had any friends, for the simple reason that her faith in all people had been smashed.
Now, with thick glasses and a small face hidden perpetually hidden behind books, Sukshiti was always unnoticed.
Mihir felt a tap on his shoulder. “Hey Mihir?”
He turned around. The one who asked the question was Sukshiti. Even at that moment, Mihir’s breath got caught in this throat. “Uhh… yeah, Su-Sukshiti…?”
“Oh, I just overheard Nikhil and your convo, and if you really need to copy the homework, you can borrow my notebook”
Nikhil eargerly jumped forward. “Gee, thanks Sukshiti! That’s awesome!”
Still looking at Mihir, Sukshiti said “No problems, that’s what fr-“ she paused. “That’s what classmates are for after all.” She looked at Mihir straight in the eyes and gave a sad little smile, and returned to her seat.
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