Life isn't always fair, we need to fight it out!

This post is my life’s almost realistic story I could write here. It’s a tribute to the Almighty God and my will power which empowered me to resolve my life’s complex problems and overcome critical situations and bring some sort of stability to my daily life. Life is not fair to all of us but we can with great efforts and vision make it fair and fine.

My childhood years were spent in a one room tenement which my father had rented after coming to Mumbai from his native place, I was the only child of my parents and Dad used to have a hard core travelling retail salesman's job and therefore he remained absent most of the days and my mother used to be with me all the time hence I became more attached to her as Dad only came home on weekends and disappeared again for rest of the week.

We had to use common toilet which was only one in our 8 families residing in the one story building and my mother had to fetch water from a common tap on the ground floor as we never had tap of water coming directly in my home those days. I have seen mother climbing those wooden damaged stairs with a handa on her head and a bucket full in her hand and kalsi on her waist. I could help her with small vessels filled up at home.

I went to a municipal school where education was free and we used to served a bottle of milk and 4 Marie biscuits every morning in the school which was the main attraction of going to school. We neighbourhood kids used to walk up 1 km to the school and return while the road crossed an open Hindu Cemetery where we could see corpses burning.

Luxury items were cup cakes and khari biscuit or paav the vendor used to bring home on his bicycle, mother had to go to her school walking up to railway station and then come home in the evening after which she cooked our dinner and served me hot rice and daal as chapati we ate in the dabba in the morning school. I used to play with the neighbourhood kids till mother reached home.

Sundays used to be a relaxed affair as Dad used to be home and he took us to the park or beach in the evening and we enjoyed bhelpuri or chat items followed by a kulfi candy which was our items of luxury. On some special day we used to go to Dadar by train and do some road side shopping and eat in the restaurants and by the time we returned home at night I would be asleep in the train.

But as I reached high school level I was admitted to a private school and I started using school bus as the school was far from our home, our standard of living slightly improved as we bought our first flat when I was in 10th standard with our own toilet and water tap at home. Slowly life improved and as I went to colleges the family income went up and my parents ensured that I went to a good college and complete education with flying colours.

First job onwards I started as a Medical Representative in a good company going to doctors and chemists to sell our medicines and rose to the level of General Manager Marketing in the years to come. Life was tough as a Rep just like my dad used to go shop to shop to sell tea I went from clinic to shop to promote our medicines. Dad had to take early retirement due to his poor health and by then I had started earning pretty well so that they could enjoy their retirement.

Looking back today sitting in our large terrace flat in a tower in a plush locality and feeling happy that my kids were born in a flat and enjoyed all the luxury of life we could afford and they did not have to use the common toilet and common water tap as I had to suffer. Every generation gives us chance to improve our life style and as the generation of my parents came from native place to Mumbai every one has a similar story to narrate. Life is not fair to all of us but we can always make it fair and successful with sheer hard work and dedication. Cheers!