A Day in My Life

I am a very straight forward person, both with my attitude and words. This frank nature of mine has always got me into trouble, needless to say a bigger trouble every time. Yet I was never able to leave behind this habit of mine for sake of saving my image, for me the bitter truth is more important that a sweet lie.
It was technical fest at our college and I was among the organizers. The fest was on and everything was going well and good. I really enjoyed the variety events. I was not a active organizer so had a good chance to see how the fest was organized. I went around few places to see different events being held. One of them interested me and I hanged up to it till it got over at 7 in the evening. While I was going back, meanwhile there were some chairs lying there that were to be taken to other hall.
A senior called me and asked “You first semester?”
I said “No!”
He asked again “Fourth semester?”
I said “Ya!!”
His response then was “Send some 1st semester students to take these chairs downstairs.”
For a moment I felt like hitting his head on to the wall. There were two physically able guys, me and him there were just a few chairs I would have taken some he could have taken some, why on earth did he want some juniors to come over there and lift the chairs. Were they working for his family function!!
I got fumed and said “Look I am not gonna call any junior, if you want lets both of us take chairs and then call some juniors to pick the remaining. You cant stand this way and order!!”
He got angry with me and said “You shut up! And call the juniors”
I again quarreled with him and made him take chairs along with me. But as they say dog tail never gets straight, he dropped those chairs as soon as he saw a junior. Now this is a kind of leaders we have, one who make others to work and when its time to take credit, they take it all.
The second incident was even more frustrating.
We were to take the projector to the gallery hall which is at some distance from our dept. we had to carry the projector screen, speakers and projector. So I asked one of the seniors girls to take the speakers along with her as I was taking projector screen along with me. Her reply to it was annoying, she said
“Why should I take it? Call some junior from gallery hall to take it.”
Now I had to call a junior from gallery hall, and that guy would come all the way from there to take speakers and this madam will walk in fame of being senior and wave hands along the way. This was disgusting. There is limit for being stupid.
These incidents had made me feel sick. Soon I will be a senior and if I do the same to my juniors probably they would never speak about it but being in there place now I could know what it feels like!
So I did decide to go up this time and speak what for me was the truth. I spoke something very rude at feedback speech of our tech-fest and that didn’t go well with some of my seniors. I was very much frustrated, yet happy that I was not among those cowards who sit behind and blame the system and the people.
I was obstructed and asked to quit before I could complete.
Very soon after that speech of mine I got a message from my friend saying--
“What did you do Mr. Sawala?”
I replied—“I told what everyone had to tell but no one had dare to tell”
With this reply my cell beeped again—“You want people to know you, whether for good or bad!!”
For a moment I thought was it really for sake of letting people know who I am? They already know enough about me, moreover if I really had to make myself popular I would have praised them with honey coated words, telling that they were the best organizers in the entire universe. It would have never made a difference to me, rather would have helped my image in the department.
I had something else on my mind but not to get offensive I replied “I don’t know why I told it, but I really wanted to tell.”
What was on my mind then?—“I never wanted people to know me, I wanted them to know the truth. The truth which others did not want to speak up just to save their image. The truth which has gone un-noticed in the past and which has made the present worse. Everyone knows it but nobody wants to change it. The same problem is faced by our nation too, I am too small to think about it but I do what is within my reach.”
I went off that night with a feeling of being true to myself and to others too. No small work on the earth will make you small. There is always a sense of happiness in working together. I keep up my words.
I remember the time in our school when we were asked to clean the campus. No-one was interested, all of the teachers got together and initiated the cleaning. Looking at them ever student around started to pick up the litter. Within no time there was a competition of who would collect more scrap. Everybody was so much involved in the work that teachers finally had to drag them back to the classes. This is how a leader should be.
Hope someday all of them will understand that, its not all about taking responsibility its about owing yourself to the work.