Attachments

Chapter 28

The starless night sky was painted in a depressing and dull shade of deep blue, with a crescent-shaped moon right above us. That night, the voices of the legendary Bollywood singers – straight from the seventies and eighties – filled Darshan's car, and I was utterly clueless; I was never a fan of retro-music since childhood, mainly because my parents rarely listened to songs at home and so, I was directly introduced to the hits of the twenty-first century! Whenever our family united, Pops would be the human-radio and he would narrate stories about wars and attacks. That was all he could think of and talk about, and my mom and I were his tired-listeners. Sometimes, he'd end up narrating one story four times on four various occasions, and without complaining, my mom and I would simply lend an ear, while ignoring most of what he'd say. Honestly, I wouldn't blame my dad for being that boring, though, because he had spent his days at various army-camps since his youth-years - while boys of his age, loitered around, fell in love and had the best time of their lives; my dad held a humongous gun, guarded the nation and vowed to put his life at stake for the safety of India. I did see glimpses of Pops in Darshan, even though their lives were many worlds apart; but when one boiled it down, Darshan was somehow a reflection of Pops – he was held up with responsibilities at a young age, and it did pin him down greatly. I wondered if he envied his friends, most of whom definitely had a much more normal life than him, if not lavish.

Slowly, I reached out for the volume button and turned down the volume of the radio, forcing him to turn his head in my direction for a brief moment. "Do you ever look at your friends and think to yourself – 'Man, I wish I had that normalcy in my life'?", I questioned and Darshan only wore a small smile for a while. "Sometimes, I do, but that rarely happens because even when I'm extremely busy, I'm living the life of my dreams. I dreamt of this life, I worked hard for this life and now when I'm living it, it feels wrong to complain. Moreover, there's nothing to complain about because I asked for this. It's not that I didn't know about the fame, spotlight and challenges the career I chose would welcome into my life", Darshan answered. "Are you a different person today, in comparison to who you were before attaining fame?", I shot another question, out of sheer curiosity. "Changes are there, for sure, and changes will be there; that's acceptable, I reckon, because I'm living a completely different life. I cannot completely get hold of my-old-self when life takes a three-sixty-degree turn; that's unrealistic. When life happens, things change; life is not flexible, but all of us are, and we need to make small adjustments to fit into the space. One should never be rigid to changes, because you'll either get benefitted or you'll learn something; either ways, you'll grow", Darshan's philosophies about life were intriguing and I wanted to take a deeper dig at it. "And, is there something you understand better now, but never had a clear understanding about before the fame happened?", I interviewed and Darshan turned to look at me. "What is this? Dityaa's Talk Show?", Darshan chuckled. "I wouldn't mind hosting a talk-show to interview you; you're definitely on fascinating thing!", I exclaimed and he smiled. "Talking to you is like visiting a different world, or traveling to an unknown land, I swear", I admitted. "Copy-Paste the same for you", Darshan said, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel. "Answer me now!", I ordered. "Hmm, one thing I have a better understanding about...", Darshan thoughtfully said and chewed the corner of his lower lip. "Probably, time management; I always wondered how I'd cope with dad's company and my dream. I thought I would only have time for one of the two, but then, as I worked and performed, simultaneously, I understood that – there is time, but there's not enough time to do everything. You'll have to be brutally picky and extremely strict with your choices. In Business Studies, they talk about Opportunity Cost; off two things, you'll have to pick the best one and that's how it works in life. You will have to have a proper understanding about what's more important and head in that direction. You cannot simply complain that you do not have time; you'll have to find and spare time", Darshan said and I listened to him in silence, thinking about how different the two of us were. We were glaringly poles apart in the truest sense; right from how we were to what we believed in to how we coped with life.