Let my liking LIVE!

The glance kept coming back again and again, till it became a glare almost burning my hand. I was filling the pay-in slip of a bank and I was feeling uncomfi with those glare. The glare that was burning my hand was those of the "pen vultures" circling those unfortunate nice souls who bother carrying a pen to the bank. As soon as I was finished with my pay-in slip, one of them approached me and asked whether I mind borrowing my PARKER pen to him. I reluctantly agreed to his request.

God... I HATE exposing my PARKER pen in banks and railway stations! Normally, when I enter these places, I take my pen out from my pocket and hide it. But at times, I can't help it. Like in this case, where I had to write a pay-in slip. To make things worse, the pen I carry would normally be an expensive one. So, the moment I give my pen, to make sure that I'm not going to lose it, I need to keep following the hands that are passing my pen. And boy... that is a tedious task! The vultures take their turn and sweet time, using and passing MY PEN... And the botheration that one of them will never return the pen would haunt me till I get it back.

Sometime back I arrived at a solution to the problem. No No... the solution was NOT carrying a cheaper pen. Carrying expensive pen is my liking. Why should I sacrifice my liking because of those vultures?

I decided to get the price of the pen from those who managed to "lose" my pen. Once I did flawlessly execute my decision. The person at the receiving end was one of my acquaintances and colleague. He borrowed it, and later when I asked for MY PEN, he gave me that sorry look and said: "Sorry I lost it". Ok... So if he is REALLY sorry, and meant every word of what he said, let him pay me the price of the pen. So I told him: "The pen costs me 400 Rupees. Please give me that amount". At that statement, his face radiated a mix of emotions, which was hard for me to comprehend. He pulled out his purse and gave me the money. I don’t know whether he took my behavior in the right spirit. I think he didn’t, coz after that incident, whenever we met in a lift or lobby, he never bothered returning a smile.

Some might think I'm nuts! But I'm NOT! I'm NOT trying to make the world correct. I'm NO evangelist. All I'm trying to do is let myself not get hurt by the irresponsible behavior of the crowd. Why should I pay the price of someone’s forgetfulness! All I'm trying to do is let my liking live!