BETRAYAL - A Short Story by Ranjith

" I wont spare you the next time !! "...the gardener was yelling at me. It was the umpteeth time I had to scale the 6ft wall to fetch my cricket ball from the garden on the other side. I soon took to my heels, running through the plush greenery, with my feet sailing over the dew ladden grass.

"May i sit here ?"...the voice brought me back to where i am....in the highway express travelling to South kansas. What am i doing here ? I feel completely out of place...only until the reality dawns on me. Choosing the software field as my profession has changed me entirely over the years. It has made me greedy, over ambitious, and further more taught me betrayal, or is it just a misconception ? How nice it was, playing in Indian land ! Drat..haven't i betrayed it ? Will i be forgiven ?

U.S was a fantasy, land of fairies until i landed here. Little did i realise that i was going to miss all my "indian" days or, did i know and thought it wasn't worth staying back in india? But then, I was a box of tricks trying to prove my mettle at every opputunity thrown to me. The software boom has given birth to many wealthy NRI's, but how many are happy ? U.S has given me everything I need for a luxurious life....food, shelter, money - lots of it, nativity errrrr no ! Have i lost the smell of my home soil or have i sold myself to the foreign land ? Wasnt mine an act of betrayal ? Setting out in search of fortune in the bright countries, laying to dust the support my country had given me, all the yester years! Is the question between me and the country ? Isnt it a shame to know that i have chosen the former ?

Past is Past...can i and if possible, will i make it back to my home down there? The question again raises my heartbeat and the thought of losing whatever i had gained in these years quivers me.

Then am i to ponder over this problem all my life, and the funniest part is that...i am ready to do so..though i have a chance to go back ! Once out..never to look back. Isnt this, is what an example of "Oppurtunity knocks only once" ? or have i assumed it to be ? Whatever may be the case, haven't i decided upon my future ? Yes i have ! You do know it...dont u ??

Thanks for bearing with me !! See you later...