The Uneducated Old

"...because you have no say in my life, you uneducated man..and neither do you, old lady!", barked an extremely miffed Farhaan. "Dare you speak like that to your mom, Farhaan. I'm still telling you that you will fail to get investors for your business." The "uneducated man", incidentally the person who had brought Farhaan in this world, had just given his frank opinion on Farhaan's proposed business plan. This incident was the spark that led Farhaan Enayat to leave his home. He could not take his "uneducated" parents criticizing his business plan.

Fast forward to 2013 and Farhaan's Sports Management business was thriving after initial hiccups. The first 2 years had been extremely difficult with investors shying away from putting in their money inspite of impressive presentations being put forth by Farhaan and his trio of friends. All hope seemed lost and Farhaan was almost forced into thinking that his parents had been correct when news poured in about a bolt from the blue. A certain Mr.Kumar had heard about the business plan and had pumped in the money required to start off the business. Farhaan thanked his investor. In his mind, he wanted to meet his parents and tell them how wrong they had been, how heartless they had been in not believing in their son's idea and how he had proved them wrong.

Over the next few years the business did well and Farhaan made quite a living for himself. On the 3rd anniversary of starting off the business, a small party was thrown by Farhaan and his friends. Mr.Kumar was the last one to enter the party. He started a conversation with Farhaan towards the end of the party and asked him about his parents. "I don't want to spoil this moment by talking about them. They are nobody to me", Farhaan quipped. "Son, the reason you are here celebrating this moment is because of them. Your mother sold her jewelry to raise the cash for your business and your father handed me the cash. He told me not to tell you about it but I couldn't hold myself today. You are a somebody today because they preferred to silently remain a nobody in your life", retorted Mr.Kumar. Farhaan felt as if the entire world was staring at him. He immediately called up his father after 5 long years. After a couple of rings, an old voice answered "hello". "Dad, I want to thank you for whatever you did for me and I'm really sorry. I want you to come and live with me", Farhaan said, his voice shaking. The old voice, calm and unnerved, replied back "The uneducated man can still take an insult and forgive you but what he can't take is anyone insulting his old lady. All the best for your life my son. Stay blessed." The phone hung.

Written for Your Story, Entrospective 2015 by Akshay Dhar, Second Year MBA student, IMT Ghaziabad.