Waiting to Live
Nirmal was 24 years old, and he felt like life had already moved ahead without him. Not because he didn’t try. But because nothing he tried seemed to work. In college, Nirmal was a quiet boy. Not very popular, not very talkative, but sincere. He had a small group of friends, decent marks, and a simple dream — to get a government job, make his parents proud, and live a peaceful life. And in college, he also fell in love. It was not a dramatic love story. No big proposals, no long bike rides, no expensive gifts. They mostly walked around the campus, shared food, talked about the future, and laughed at small things. They used to sit on the college steps in the evening and talk about life after college — jobs, cities, maybe a small house somewhere, maybe a simple life. Nothing extraordinary. Just a life together. But life after college did not go the way they imagined. She got a job in a private company in another city. Nirmal decided to prepare for UPSC. “Just give me some time,” he ...