So, When Do We Stop?

Shiv was a good student .He was the stereotyped good boy that every parent wants his child to be.He had always scored big in all tests; he was a genuine ‘topper’. And, to mention that his triumphs equally exhilarated his parents as teachers would be just another compliment to add. Shiv had a friend, his childhood buddy, his classmate: Rajesh. Rajesh, was a smart boy who had this viable habit of never letting anyone ahead of him in academics, no matter what. He wasn’t as intelligent as Shiv .But he sure was ‘shrewd’. His dichotomous judgment of things held him different.
They had always been the best of friends. They shared a great relation which embarked this valuable friendship. But down somewhere in their minds, instilled by their parental pressure was a perpetual insecurity. The insecurity of losing. Not losing their friendship, but the pride of being superior. Superior to others, superior to each other. They were appearing for a prestigious entrance exam. Shiv was expected to hold the strong conviction of his parents ;that he would excel in the exam. Rajesh was not to be left behind as he too had started his part of strategies and preparation. So, they were not just friends now.They were something more. They had become competitors, they had grown contemptuous. Their penchant for success had injured their friendship as it fell apart and they were no more on talking terms. Then, one fine day, Shiv fell ill. He couldn’t take the test with sufficient preparation and as a consequence ended up with a cringeworthy performance. He couldn’t get through. Neither could Rajesh. But Rajesh was ecstatic .He was happy that Shiv couldn’t clear the exam, his eyes gleaming with gloat. Shiv was sad to have not achieved, but he was satisfied that Rajesh too couldn’t.


Owing to their glee they had forgotten that both of them still stood at the same place as they earlier did. They both had failed in their tests. They weren’t successful as yet. The only thing that had changed was their friendship. The eyes that once filled with happiness seeing each other were now filled with rancour and bitterness. In their demeaning quest for success they had lost something. It was their friendship which had suffered. It was the butt of their bully.

A little introspection would reveal that somewhere within us peeps a’ Shiv ‘or ‘Rajesh’. We on a persistent basis are riding this train with a huge baggage of success on our shoulders. And, obsessed with this we tend to ignore the sarcastically petite thing called ‘friendship’. Don’t we? Don't we look for a competitor in a friend? And whom exactly are we trying to bluff? Is it our friend that we are bluffing? Is it ‘god’ ? Or is it ‘we’ …ourselves?The answers to these are a matter of perception .But a moot question comes dragging in :So, When do we stop?