Story1: Nature reciprocates

My grandmother is eighty five years old. She has a peculiar habit for shouting continuously for several hours. I am fed up with it. This disturbs my sleep. This wakes me up. With a heavy heart I have to go to her.

“Why are you shouting from a couple of hours?” I asked.

“I am not shouting.” She replied. This angered me. I controlled my anger and went to bed. When I was on the bed waiting to fall asleep, this whole act reminded me of an incident when I was a teenager.

It was 6PM. It was the period of time when he used to return from the office. We used to start studying. If he doesn’t see us studying he used to scold us. He used to teach us. He always advised us to practice.

“Practice makes a man perfect. If you practice you would never get stuck in the exam.” He used to tell me.

I used to practice a wrong sum for three times in front him. I used to find his words boring and frustrating. I never took his words seriously. I never used to practice because I found it very boring. I used to listen music in this time. It was my hobby.

The day of examination came. I got the Maths paper. I gave it a quick glance. I was overjoyed. I thought I would score the maximum marks. This would make him happy.

I started solving the easy ones first. I solved them quickly. I was overwhelmed with my capability. Next was the turn of the medium ones. I took some time to solve them. When I finished it was the turn for difficult ones.

When I began solving the first difficult question, I got stuck in the middle. I tried very hard to remember the next step but couldn’t. I scratched my head. I closed my eyes to get going but all these gestures went in vain. In addition to that time was ticking away. I decided to leave this question and jump to the next. I was frustrated. I thought I would not get the maximum marks and lag behind in the class.

I started solving the next question. I solved it till the end but I forgot the last step. My horror multiplied. The last step would have fetched me full marks. I tried very hard to get the job done. I prayed to God and asked for his help but I was not able to finish this maths sum. The examination was over.

I came back home. I was very angry with me. I was on the bed to get some rest. My thoughts took me in the past. It reminded me of my father who used to tell me practice makes a man perfect. I never took it seriously. Today the same thing came back and haunted me. Now the same thing was coming back. My grandmother was not following my word. The person to the blamed was me. If I followed my father’s advice, she would have followed mine.

I learnt a lesson which I try to follow in my daily life. If you want other to take you advice seriously, take others advice seriously.