Success and failure a love story...

Success and failure a love story...

Being a writer, I have always been into a situation most writers land up in, known as the “Writer’s block”. This block can disrupt the writer for a mere hour or may be a month. It depends from person to person. Stuck with one such block, I was sitting in the local coffee shop, staring at my laptop screen and thinking on all the practical ideas on which my mockery can create magic. I could not come up with any brilliant ideas after an hour of introspection and imagination.

Suddenly a man just entered into the cafe I was sitting in and approached me. He asked me “Excuse me. Is this seat taken?” I looked at him. Black suit, black shades, hair all jelled up in a sleek style, all this made him look very stylish and classy. His wristwatch was Swiss made, which was again in black color. (Yes, I am obsessed with such kind of clothing as some day I want to wear such clothes. That we can discuss later.) I just nodded in agreement. He pulled the chair and sat right in front of me. He was looking at me and I was staring at my laptop screen. “It seems you are working. I hope I am not disturbing you?” He asked politely. I looked at him and said, “No you are not. I am not actually working. I am just stuck at something.”  “Stuck at what?” He asked again. “I am a writer. I do not suppose you have ever heard of the term ‘Writer’s block’. Have you?” “Oh! That. Yes, I have heard about it. It’s a situation where the writer gets stuck and cannot create any magic with his words and whatever he writes he is not happy with it and not satisfied with it. Correct?”  I was surprised to know that people these days are aware of such terms but then I realized this man is a classy man and he probably is a knowledgeable one. Therefore, it is not surprising he knows stuff. “Yes, you are correct. I am stuck with ideas. I have written over 50 articles and none is successfully satisfying. Being a writer, I know if I am not happy with what I have written and if I did not enjoy writing it, no one will ever enjoy reading it. Therefore, I am looking for that spark of one successful article.” “It’s all about success isn't it?” He asked. “Yes. I mean who does not like success. Everyone likes being successful in everything they do. Who would want to be a failure?” He looked at me with a smile and asked, “Have you ever given a thought that success if incomplete without failure. Success and failure have a love story.”An intelligent man asked me an intelligent question and I had to give him an intelligent answer. “Success does not always have to be related to failure. Success in itself is beautiful. Success does not need any auxiliaries to define it and reap the benefits coming along with it in the package.” “Agreed that success is self-sustaining and it can solely survive. However, what if one never knew what failure is. Just think the complete equation of the statement you just used would change. It will only define success as a stale situation, which is going to be the ultimate result of every human being. Like the end, result for every life is death.” I was happy to hear an intelligent point. “It is an intelligent argument. However, do you feel people will enjoy failure or success?” “People are so busy in their daily stuff that they never realize the important stuff around. People like you and me, who sit down to get deep into the honeycomb of life devour the small things. We know that if we enjoy success, failure is also important too. Life will be out of balance if we lose the contrast in life. The balance is maintained with the contrast between positive and negative, failure and success, happiness and sadness, day and night and ultimate example is life and death.” “I agree the contrast is important and the balance is the most important piece of the puzzle of life. However, success and failure do not go hand in hand.” “Oh! Then let me show you. Can you come with me?” “Yes. Let’s go.”  We both got out of the cafe. As I said, this man was stylish and classy. He owned a BMW, and yes, it was black in color. (The obsession continues). We got in the car. I did not know where we were driving to; he had giving the driver instructions. The car drove into a pathway of a classy hotel. The driver drove us right to the main porch. The valet assistant came and opened the door of the car for us. The hotel received him in such a manner that it was quite evident that he was a VIP. Everyone was greeting him in a very respectable manner. People came running towards him to get his autographs. I was awestruck to the extent that I could not hear by what name people were addressing him.

We both walked to a conference hall. Many more people were present there. There was a restriction for anyone from the outside to enter this hall. Only invited guests had entry. This was a total private party. The man looked at me and said, “You will be stunned to meet people I introduce you to today. They are not the normal people you meet every day.” “That, I can imagine, from the kind of security here.” I said. He laughed, “You are just so curious and analytical.” He was right about me being analytical from the statement I made. However, I was stunned to know that he came to know my brain was having many curiosities now. Very few possess the art to read my brain. He first greeted two men and he introduced them to me. “Here meet Mr. Death and Mrs. Life.” He was right I was stunned to hear the names. Who in the world would have such names? “Yes, I know what your brain is thinking. It is no joke it is Death and Life. The same death and life we keep hearing about. They are here. These two have a love story. They are married to each other since the day of the existence of the humankind. None survives without the other. Where life goes death follows. There is neither a human who lives forever, nor who is never born. This is the amazing contrast of life yet they live together hand in hand. The first example, that the contrast is nothing but a relationship of love between the two. A bond inseparable forever, bound in marriage.” He then introduced me to Mr. Positive and Ms. Negative. (Not being gender biased here assigning negativity to women just that it suited my write up.) They were in a relationship though yet not married. Because there had been times that, a human had only been positive and never been negative. However, I could see that both Mr. Positive and Ms. Negative were madly in love with each other. One cannot deny though, that it could be an on and off relationship. Then we met Mr. Happy and Mrs. Sadness. Happily married since may be before the existence of human life. They existed since the time of Gods on Earth.  They were then married in the year when human life came into existence in the form of bacteria. Since then they have been playing games and enjoying each other’s company. Mr. Positive and Ms. Negative are their distant cousins respectively. I just tapped on this man’s shoulder and asked him when he was going to introduce me to Success and Failure. “Ah! I have kept the best for the last. Come I will introduce you to them.” We went to a table in the center of the hall. Decorated lavishly, it had all sorts of expensive silverware and dining table accessories on it, along with many food items. No doubt I felt a little tempted to eat stuff but I realized I was on a weight loss spree and my diet should be in track. There right in the most important seat was Ms. Success and Mr. Failure. Success was looking very beautiful. She was dressed like a fairy and it is now I understand why every man desires her. She was so tempting and adorable that I felt like sitting and staring at her and romancing her forever. Well, just for imagination sake I can term that she was looking like Anushka Sharma or Madhubala dressed up all like a fairy. (Both actresses are my favorite.) On the other hand I saw Mr. Failure all dressed up in dirty clothes. He had a beard and unkempt hair. He was probably drunk and was on the spree to get drunk more. He was aware that people were staring at him and calling him all sorts of names but he could not help it. He was trying every bit to look a little presentable and greet people with respect, but he was too shy and unconfident about greeting anyone or talking to anyone. Everyone came and greeted success, but no one even wanted to mention a small hello to Mr. Failure. I felt pity. I leaned forward to greet him. The Man held me back. “If you greet failure remember Ms. Negative and Mrs. Sadness would come along to seduce you. They will play all the tricks to make you fall for them. They will loot you of all your talents skills and leave you no option but to join Mr. Failure at the table, exactly in the same manner that he is right now. So choose wisely.” I could not leave someone so depressed and sad. It is my moral responsibility and my nature to cheer people up around me. I decided to greet Mr. Failure first. I took a seat next to him. Immediately, Mrs. Sadness and Ms. Negative started giving me seductive and tempting looks. (I wish that in real life some girl would do it. LOL) I however ignored them and spoke to Mr. Failure, “Hi!” He looked at me and was stunned. No one at the party was greeting him and he found suddenly a man coming to him and greeting him. He was overwhelmed. With teary eyes he said, “Hello young man. Who are you?” I was happy to see a smile on his face. “I am Kunal, just a normal human being.” “Normal, Dude you are lot more than normal. Who decides to greet a failure like me? No one wants to sit and talk to me. No wants to befriend me. However, you decided to talk to me. You are kind hearted and a genuine man. I will like to be your friend. Will you be my friend?” I was a little taken aback. I did not know what would follow if I made friends with failure. However, I never chose my friends based on looks or circumstances. I chose them based on my heart. If my heart decides to make friends with someone, my mind never objected. “Yes why not? I will be friends with you.” The Man immediately gestured Mr. Positive and Mr. Happy to guard me. He probably was worried about Mrs. Sadness and Ms. Negative destroying me. Nevertheless, I gestured him to relax. However, Mr. Happy and Mr. Positive were en-guard towards Mr. Failure and me. While chatting with Mr. Failure there were many things we shared. Many things he did not like and he wanted to change them for his darling Ms. Success. He was trying hard he said. He was crying profusely. I had no other option but to hug him to console him. Seeing this, The Man, Mr. Positive and Mr. Happy were all alert now. They all surrounded us. In his enthusiasm, Mr. Failure hugged Mr. Positive and Mr. Happy. They too did not object and hugged him back. The Man was now smiling. After an hour of talks Mr. Failure said, “Kunal you have become my best friend and it is important for me that I introduce you to my darling Ms. Success. Come with me I will introduce you to her.” He held my arm and took me to Ms. Success. She was sitting at the table chit chatting with other guests present there. All those guests looked very important. Therefore, I hesitantly told Mr. Failure, “Hey! We can meet her later. She seems busy with some very important people.” “No my friend she will meet us. The one who befriends Failure and makes it smile, laugh and dance is the most important person to success and she can never deny meeting him immediately. She respects the one who ignores Sadness and Negative thoughts and helps failure to embrace Positive and Happy thoughts.” With confidence booming in his eyes, he took me to be introduced with success. He called for her, “Success, my darling please can you come here for a moment.” Success did not waste a single moment and immediately came towards us. I was a little hesitant. Such a beautiful woman is coming to greet me and I was so under-dressed. My hair was undone and my beard not shaven. I looked like a roadside Romeo in my denim jacket and faded jeans. Failure looked at me and said, “Do not be shy. Look at me. I look even worse than you but she still loves me a lot.” Success came and hugged Failure. She placed a kiss on his lips and forehead. She then looked at me and in her sweet beautiful voice said, “Who could this handsome guy be?” I was overwhelmed to hear the word ‘Handsome’ that too from the one and only Success. She was so beautiful and she complimenting me with the word ‘Handsome’ was a dream come true. It is not every day that a beautiful girl looks at a fatso of 90Kgs and calls him handsome. She came towards me holding hands with failure. She placed her other hand in front of me. I held her hand and kissed on her fingers. (Just like the French kiss a Senorita’s hand) I then spoke in a deep voice, “My name is Kunal Dhiren Patrawala. I am a friend of Failure.” At this very moment, there was total silence around. It seems I spoke the words a little too loud in my excitement of meeting such a beautiful woman that everyone could hear my words. Everyone was staring at me now in an awestruck expression. There were whispers around. I could hear people pointing at me and telling their fellow mates ‘This man is a friend of Failure.’ Failure was all confident now, had his chest out with pride. His eyes were gleaming with happiness and faith. (Nothing to do with God here, I do not believe in God.) 

Success looked around. She was overwhelmed to see that people were now noticing Failure in a total different perspective. They were showing respect towards Failure. She then looked at Failure and found that he was very happy. She then hugged me and kissed me on my cheeks. People were again awestruck. Then she gestured the musicians to play music. She held my hand took me to the dance floor and asked me to dance with her. Soon Failure joined us and all the three of us had become the centre of attraction at the party. People were clapping and applauding. Failure had some amazing dance moves. No one was aware that Failure could dance so well. I was happy to see Failure dancing and happy. I gestured The Man and Mr. Positive and Mr. Happy to come and join us. They came and started dancing with us. Everyone was happy and I was satisfied. I was satisfied, because one more time I had justified my existence on earth making someone happy.

After the party was over, The Man accompanied me to his car. On the way back, he told me, “Now you know why Success and Failure go hand in hand. Success romances Failure. However, it respects those who change Failure and instead of letting it be sad and negative make it happy and positive. Therefore, without failure success is not at all possible. Success seems unimportant without failure. The man who knows how to change failure into everything happy is the man who knows success and always achieves it. You know how to make someone laugh, and the height of this talent is that you made Failure itself laugh, how you could imagine Success would not befriend you. You are now her best friend. So dude you are one lucky chap now.” I was happy to hear all this. I however had one query. He looked at me and he knew it that I had a query. We came back to the cafe. He got down and shook my hands. “I know you want to know who I am right.” “Yes, I do.” “Mr. Kunal Dhiren Patrawala, I am your imagination.” I was stunned hearing this. He just gave me a smile and waved good-bye. I was suddenly sitting at the cafe with my laptop in front of me. I could see I had typed the whole article. So, now I know my imagination guided my soul to the words I needed to carve the sculpture of my talents and vocabulary into a statue I enjoyed making and now adore looking at.