story: lost in talent

                                                    Lost  in talent

It was the summer of 2010, mercury rising upto forty five degress May was  considred one of the hottest months in delhi.  Rahul alone in his room was practicing dance as he was all set to participate in under eighteen national dance competition which was to be held in delhi. All his room contained was a music system ,  water bottles as he required ample space to practice dance  this room was especially kept empty by his parents so that he can practice dance without any interference.  Dance was not new for him neither this was the first competition for him, he had won several prizes at school and state level.  Rahul had been practicing dance since he was five dancing has always been a passion for him. Love for dance was more than anything.  After all ten years of his life was given to dance. From Indian classical dance to mambo, jazz and salsa all forms were on his tips.

As years passed he saw increasing craze in eyes of parents for his success . Aarti mother of Rahul could never face any failure in his life. By every passing year pressure had been increasing on him. on Sunday afternoon call from Sumit to Rahul “ yaar chal aaj picnic plan karte hai “ sumit was his best friend and he liked spending most of his time with Sumit and Ashwin, three of them were classmates. Rahul was all ready for picnic on Sunday evening asking his mom I have plan for outing  in the eveing with my sumit and ashwin. Aarti shouted inbetween “ are you crazy or have you gone nuts totally how can you even think of such stupid plan when competition is about to take place in a month”  Rahul said I know and iam practicing hard for it. But a big no came from her side and she walked out.  Rahul was disappointed sat alone and got into deep thoughts, how his life has changed from fun to hectic routine his wishes are being suppressed relizing the fact that he was just fifteen. After a while he again started practicing as he thought nothing much is left , with thoughts in mind is this what he really wants.

Days passed and practice continued . mom and dad were always there for support and encourage him that he can be better than this, ignoring the fact thar are they really being supportive. Perhaps this was one question which was always running through Rahul’s mind .iam important to them or may be its dance. Rahul loved attending school because that was the only time where he could have fun these days. Sitting in play ground all the friends started discussing that how they are enjoying life. Ashwin talked about his recent trip to Shimla and Manali and showing photographs. At the same time other classmates were busy telling their stories of fun. Most of them spent evening playing. Rahul started noticing that his friends are enjoying much more then him he felt jealous inside. He never wanted to show people that how is being hurt by all this. He was a clever boy he started boosting about his dance forms and how he enjoys his dance from the core of his heart he added that you cant imagine that how much fun it is. But these explanation was a mere away to satisfy his ego he knew he breaking by every passing day. But the irony was most of the students was jealous of his success but he was unaware of this fact,

Coming back home he again got into deep thoughts , remembering old day, knock at the door of his room “ you fool open the door  don’t you have anything to do except dancing “ his big brother Arvind  who spent most of his time doing all sorts of masti ( leisure activites) other then this he loved irritating his younger  brother  Rahul. Though aarti and his husband considered arvind good for nothing, so nothing much was expected out him. this thing had become a major reason of rift between two brothers it had been years that they ever sat together and talked. Giving all the importance to rahul by his parents created a feeling of hatred in his mind for younger brother and parents. Such enviornmet had been created that  arvind became non existant in the family. Rahul was still lost in his own world that god save me all expectations from me again. Iam not god why iam meant to do everything. Don’t I have a thing called will. He said may be not their never was. From scoring well in school to dancing why only me why? This was one question that he kept on asking himself.

Only 15 days left for competition , dance practice continued so did the pressure from the parents. As the days passed rahul started noticing major changes in his life, he enjoyed watching shows like scrubs and how I met your mother instead of his favourite show so you think you can dance on axn. He was missing his outings with friends. Continous leatures from parents about dance  were getting on his nervous, I wonder if there exist another thing in my life except this stupid dance thought rahul. As time for competition was coming near, tension in the family increased, rahul would be the best or not . aarti was more afraid then anyone else in the family and of course such expressions iriated rahul all the more. Missing school for practicing became a regular business. It made rahul think again am I entertainment starved oh yes iam. Iam not doing anything except completing this duty. Problem was he never got a chance to share his thoughts. Parents never bothered to understand that how he was really feeling.  Talking to friends had become like a dream no hope.irony of the situation was rahul was thinking all this just before two days of competition. While everyone else from family to neighbours were exited . only thing people talked about was dance.Aarti loved boosting talking all about what rahul is capable of was her favourite job, though he never liked this habbit of his mom.

On the other hand arvind as ususal was busy with his pranks. Calling rahul pathetic  all the time. Aarti and her husband came from shopping brought all the necessary items that were required for the competition. Arvind was jealous that how his parents were spending thousands just for a competition. And of course making rahul feel guilty cause he knew if dint perform he is dead. Rahul asked himself its just a dance performance why it has been turned into a battle field as they say do or die. Arvind and rahul had been much close if this dance obsession wouldn’t have been there. In all this arvind shouted do I eben exist for you people. I don’t deserve ant attention. You people are unbelievable he said that much and walked out of the room.  As a matter of fact younger brother had sympathy towards elder brother as he knew he was not getting enough attention as much as he deserves. But this was nothing new in the family. It had become a daily drama.

Month had passed today was the completion that all where waiting from long time with mixed feeling of excitement and nervousness. Completion was to be held in rohini so family travelled in car to cover the distance between rohini and ashok vihar. Competition was to start at 11 A.M  in the morning. Stage was all set. Thousands peope gathered there. Stage was beautifully decorated with lights and flowers . ambience created was wonderful.  Everyone eager to perform participants waiting in the backstage. Big hall for audience. Everything seemed perfect. Aarti and family couldn’t control their emotions that how much this competition meant for them.and everyone knew obviously this it mattered a lot for every participant. The winner was goin to get the prize of ten lakh along with chance to learn from bollywood choreographer who would want to miss this opportunity. Rahul was all set to rock the show. Everything in place from costume, makeup, hairstyle . dance steps were well practiced, rahul had practiced every step thousand times so there was little chance of any mistakes.  Competition started and back to back amazing performances audience were enjoying the show to the fullest.  Participant number 15 rahul please come on stage so finally it was rahul’s chance to perform, but aarti in state of panic. She could not understand what has happened, rahul was nowhere there. She searched for him everywhere but he wasn’t there. Her dreams shattering . after 15 minutes of time message on aarti’s phone which says “ dance don’t make me happy anymore I loved dancing it was my hobby but there no happiness I see in this anymore you turned it into a curse iam sorry I cant do this anymore. Just go back home.” Aarti sat on floor crying feeling hurt and betrayed.