Make it worth watching!!!

One day, your life will flash in front of your eyes...Make it worth watching.

“Wake up!!!!! Its 6... You will miss your bus.”
“Its just 6!!!!”, I pulled up the cover over my head. But wait a minute, My mum??? Its not the alarm yelling. Its my mum. Confused, I get out of the covers. Yes its mum and hey who’s this lying beside me.
‘Me????? Whoa what’s up???’ “What are you doing here?”
“Oh Hello!!!You are the intruder not me.”, says the very familiar looking face. Younger face.
“What is happening? Will somebody explain?”
“Nothing much. Sick and tired of your cribbing I called you back. I guess you like this life better. We will live this again”
Am I drunk? No. I don’t drink.
While she gets ready for school I admire the room. The posters, the drawings…well, she is interesting.
As we say bye to mom I realize she can’t see me. I guess 2 of me would be a major torture for her.
As we board the bus she yells out “hey”.
“Hey Raji”, the remaining shriek.
“You are a nosy bunch”, I claim.
“Well I am better than you. All you do is board your bus and doze off. You don’t even smile at the people who have been boarding the same bus with you since more than a year. You are such a snob. I hope u remember smiling wont cost you a dime. Even if it does you are paid enough.”… She lectures.
“No I am not a snob. And right you know about money!!!”… I retort.
“Well I can manage with Rs.100 a month. And I do have savings”…. exclaims with a triumphant look on her face.
I hate her.
As we cross across to the school there are a million hi’s and smiles exchanged.
She stops. Looks into my eyes and says “You used to love this. What happened?”
Then again back to her snobbish self scans me and remarks, “Look what have you done to me.”
We go through all the lectures. Finally, its lunch time. We sit together gobble up our Tiffin’s and then take off to play lock and key. The recess bell gives away. Huffing and puffing we rush our way to the classroom.
“Half an hour lunch time”, she quotes. “You don’t even take a walk after your lunch. Correct me if I am wrong, but you have a longer lunch break, don’t you?”
I just ignore her remark and look at a small tyre forming at my waist. “I have loads of work to do”, that’s the best I say.
After school we rush to her tuition. After class is over she and her friends gang up in a corner and chat incessantly. I nudge her to want to go home.
As soon as we reach home she dumps her bag. I lie down. She yells “Hello!!! I don’t have time for this. Mom will allow me to play out only for another hour.”
“What? Are you not tired?”
“Tired? Of what? I just sat my way though the lectures. Oh!!! I guess you must be tired since we didn’t have AC. Or that we played lock and key during lunch break. Get up move your growing butt. 1 yr of sitting in front of the computer in the AC has made you so lazy. NOW LETS GO. I don’t have time for this.”
She plays lock and key again .Its the current favorite. As I watch her play I realize I enjoyed this so much. Her life is so much more exciting than mine. Even though I have money to spend it on whatever pleases my senses.
“Rajiiiiiiiiiii. Its time come down. You have homework to finish.” A yelling mom makes her way to the terrace.
Another 15 min pass by. We make our way home. As she is freshening up I make myself comfortable in front of the TV. As I am scanning with the remote, that oh-i-am-so-smart thing comes up to me and says “TV? Ur favorite pastime. What a waste. Lets go. We will do something you like.”
As we reach her room she pulls out her drawing board and crayons. My face lights up. We sit and color for a while. Then as we are done with it. She starts with her homework. I just sit beside her looking at her.
“Why are you staring?”
“Don’t you get bored of doing the same things over and over again?”
“Same things?” she questions as if I said something horrendous. “I play lock and key, sometimes we skip, sometimes we paly hide n seek. We like doing different stuff”, she grins.
“School everyday? Isnt it boring?”
“Have you gone insane? If I don’t go to school how will I become a software engineer, like you.”
The moment she said this she froze. With a look of terror in her eyes she screamed “I don’t want to be you. I don’t want to be an all-time-cribb. I don’t want to stop playing. I want to live. I have an amazing life now. Please don’t spoil it.. Please don’t spoil it. Please don’t spoil it. Please don’t spoil it… ”
I shut my eyes tight. I can’t do this to her.
“Wake up …. You will miss your bus”
With an aching head I open my eyes. My roommate is yelling at me.
I sit up. Look around at the mess in the room. As I turn I see her sobbing “Please don’t spoil my life. I want to grow up to be you but not this way. With me your life was worth a replay. Our older self should also feel like visiting you and not just me.”
My roommate comes back and she is gone.
An hour later.
“Hey!” I smile at a colleague at the bus stop. He smiles back “hey.. Good morning”.
I guess I am going to have many more good mornings.