Priorities in my life

I used to wake up hearing the noise that steel plates made in the kitchen, the wake up calls that the cocks sang; the Sanskrit news in ‘akaashvani’ radio and those sundry animals that marked their presence in the hood. Ammi used to push me to the front yard of my house and grandmother’s ‘kallu dosa’ was ready for breakfast, of which the first four were always reserved for me. While I ate them mixing it with tea and sugar, Ammi kept my ‘Madrasa’ kit ready.

I used to think of a time when I would stop going for the early morning Islamic classes and sleep like the elders at home. I used to be five then. Life was so simple, but for a five year old it was not that easy either, the tutor at the madrasa would ask to recite versus of The Holly Quran that had to be memorized; friends would make fun if Sourav Ganguly had been out cheaply in the previous day’s match and asking fifty paisa from Ammi for the candy at ‘ithiru thatha’s’ shop was a herculean task.

Times change so fast, I always wanted to grow old and start working when I joined school, although my thoughts on a professional career was not much of interest to people at home, since I wanted to be a peon at the school so that I could ring the last bell for home. Cricket in the rain and swimming in ponds in the farm filled the rest of the day.

When I was in eighth grade, I so wanted to be part of the school cricket team, which was the only thing I had prayed when I had gone for ‘Umrah’. A play station, a computer, a mobile phone, a laptop and these prayers never stopped till I finished my schooling. All of these had been top priority at some stages of life.
Now that I’ am twenty three and an exam away from the end of my student life, all those priorities I had in the past seem so funny. Not because I don’t value it any more, nor that I don’t have prayers for any other things in life; just that life was a lot easier then. If I had problem I could just sleep the night off and the next day those were solved. Now if there is a problem even sleep doesn’t come to the rescue.

I have just lived nearly a quarter of my life, when I go to bed now I have a lot to think. And those are not just for the next day, but about the things that are going to be part of my entire life from now on. The upcoming exams, choice of being an internal auditor or financial analyst, and most importantly about my family and the girl who waits on the other side hoping I would hold her hands some day.

And again now that it’s five in the morning and I was to get up had I been the same five year old kid, I have to sleep now that I have been awake the whole night. And when I go to sleep I so wish and pray these priorities of life that I have now just fall in place by the next time I open my eyes.