30 TEENAGE STORIES

A Matter Of Choice Cheryl Rao

Character:papa(dad)                                                                                                                                                                                 ma(mom)

"You are going to lose a loved one the astrologer said, "and together you will have to make a difficult choice. The path you decide to tread on will bring you pain..."

Ravi jumped up and refused to listen anymore. Much of what the astrologer had told him so far was true-The size of his family, his father's name, his mother's, his rivalry with his twin, Girish.

Papa was ill. Now the astrologer had said that Papa would die. 'How can I bear it? What will we do?' Tears streamed down Ravi's cheeks.

Life was already hard for them with Papa laid off work for so many months. The medicines and the treatment had eaten into their savings. Although Papa had medical insurance, he couldn't afford not to get his monthly salary. Ma had started taking in orders for meals and this had become a regular tiffin service. She was always busy and tired and the smoke from the kitchen seemed to make Papa cough even more.

Ravi delivered the tiffins each afternoon during his lunch break, cycling furiously to get back to school on time. He had thought it would be better to give up studies for a year so that he could save on his school fees and at the same time, by helping his mother, contribute to the family's income until his father was well enough to get back to work. 'But Papa is not going to get well. He is going to die. If I leave school this year, before completing the tenth, I will never be able to go back. That is probably what the astrologer meant.'

Ravi could not bear the thought of going home now. How would he control himself when he saw his father's thin cheeks and heard that hacking cough and knew that he was going to die?

He turned towards Deepak's house. It was he who had advised him to consult the astrologer. "He read my aunt's fortune so accurately, then my sister's-right down to the time of her marriage and the man she would marry. He will tell you whether or not you will pass. You can decide then, whether you want to carry on in school..."

Studying was one of Ravi's biggest problems. While Girish sailed through his exams, Ravi had to struggle with every subject. And it was not as though he was good in anything else, in Sports for example. There too, Girish was ahead of him. Girish was a House Prefect and one of the brightest stars of the school. He was a debater. He was in the school quiz team... What was there that Girish could not do?

Ravi had lived in his shadow for so long that he had begun to believe, like Ma and Pa, that Girish should not be given mundane jobs to do. "Girish is meant to do great things," everyone said. Girish had to play for the school cricket team. He had to practice in theylunch break... What about Ravi? What was he meant to do? What could he do? He never got a break from his job. He delivered tiffins, ran errands and made a bit of money by helping Ganga halzuai at festival time. When Papa was well it was okay, but now, with money so tight, did he have the right to spend a portion on his own fees?

Deepak tried to console him when he heard what Ravi had to report. But nothing helped. "I wish I had not gone to the astrologer..." Ravi sighed.

"But you wanted to know your future, whether you should carry on with school or not."

"All I know now is that my choice will be wrong. 'Painful' to be precise. That is no help, is it?"

"What do you want to do then?" asked Deepak.

"I want to carry on with school and manage somehow to work as well; spend as much time as I can with Papa..."

"That's three choices. You cannot have them all."