The boy looks above. High up in the skies. Waiting for a chance. For an opportunity, to close in the failures he's finding it tough to fight with. The sky smiles on him. Lending a blink of hope amid the dark clouds of his ongoing agitations within. He wants a drop of rain to cool it off but all he finds is more of blistering suns. A warmth seen in the dungeons of struggle. The same warmth you get when you sleep on your mother's lap and sleeps dives in a flicker of peace.
The survival phase. The hardest part a man can ever face. That part, when you start seeing the cycle turning down. When failures overtake success. When people start looking down upon you. When some of them start believing the truest of you. When some are totally unaware of your noise. When you start looking into yourself more clearly, more practically and more modestly.
The boy is in a foreign land. Costs are sky-rocketing, transportation seems expensive that a 3 mile walk is better than paying a dollar for the same distance in an overcrowded, air-conditioned bus. Rents are going upwards and all he has is fifty-six dollars remaining. He cannot ask his parents to transfer. All he can do is save money and hope for the best. Money, so valuable, that he prefers to sleep by drinking water as his dinner, skips breakfast for that 2 dollar bread purchase and eating the same nauseating food at the university premises as the same costs thrice as much more outside.
He is struggling. Dreams shattered, all he now has is that one focus - being employed. Full-time. With whatever money is being offered for. Past experiences, enjoyment and fun make him silent and shed a tear during that nap, but all he can do now is hope. Hope for that one convert.
Fate can be crucial sometimes. You might be having everything in your hand and it just slips away in a whisker. Only to make you ponder over the mistakes you did in that interview. More rounds make him anxious, the same repeated questions get his head infuriating and a "We'll get back to you" response makes him nervous. Until he knew the real story behind of that rejecting response.
He had loans on his name. To fund for his university courses. To eat and pay rent for the house he stays in. Now, the time to repay had come. Every single dollar loaned was accounted properly, restaurant eating was a mirage and travelling was forgotten. All those needed money, stack load of money. A hundred dollars was equal to a million. Loaning this to others was out of the question. Switching over to the computer became necessary to take notes, stationery was consuming his wallet. Print-outs were stopped, every page printed lead to a cut in transport usage. A sugar candy, suddenly became a delicacy.
He had to do something for his payback time. He couldn't stay even for a minute longer in that foreign country. So, he decides to ask for a loan from a close friend. To survive. To eat and stay on ground. To pay the whopping expenses happening. His friend puts the requested money the next day. He can't stand that gratefulness shown. The pursuit continues.
And then suddenly, the internet goes off in his house citing tenure completion. Again, no money to extend the contract. Two hundred dollars. Makes a habit of getting up at 4.30 AM, walks all the way to university with his laptop and works. Free Internet. Doesn't reach home until five in the evening. Tired and frustrated, he crashes. The cycle repeats. Amid this, he even gives interviews to companies for that hope he's looking for.
Until the day of leaving the country nears.
And then, lands in that offer letter in his mailbox. Happiness has no boundaries for him. His hands shiver to call his loved ones about the news, eyes are moist and a smile, satisfactory.
Fate does play a pivotal role.