Gratitude complements Humility

Derek was shell shocked and looked irritated.'Gosh! this connectivity sucks' he muttered. He was repeatedly calling the customer service of the service provider but due to COVID lockdown they too had a limited service. Long hold on the phone call and piling unanswered emails on his mailbox made him worried. Derek was working from home and the set up he made at home looked perfectly like the one he had in office-reclining chair, a laptop, connecting cables, cellphone at his right on table, a box of cigarettes and five thin lines on his forehead.

A video message flashed on his cellphone. He played the video which had depiction of mass migration of labors from their respective cities to their home towns. Distressed faces, panic stricken eyes and swollen legs- they had a tale of trauma and agony amid their arduous journey back home. There were no transportation- buses, trains all have been halted due to the spreading virus. On the video they can be seen narrating stories of their difficulties. Some traveled on foot for more than 500 km with their belongings, some with their families even with kids and some cycled back home covering 1000 km and more. 'God help these poor guys', Derek mumbled. He closed the video as he was equally worried about his Internet connection. 'I guess this would not improve for now.' He unlocked his phone and dialed a number.

He had a long conversation with his boss explaining his connection issues and delay in the completion of the critical activities. He was in the troubleshooting team, as a result any delay had lot of repercussions with the client's reputation. He unplugged the network wire from the laptop and tried connecting with his phone through a hotspot. It was slow but he could resolve the issues gradually. He had a sigh of relief. His mom's voice can be heard from the other room. He responded affirmatively. His dinner was ready- Hot Soup, Fried Rice, Warm chapatis, Paneer Masala, Dahi Kopte and Kheer. His eyes looked illuminated like a hungry Hyena. 'Wow, you cooked Kheer and my favourite Dahi Kopte', Derek's voice echoed in the spacious dining hall.

'Are you upset on something? I heard you banging the chair.' Derek's mom asked while having a portion of Fried rice from the bowl. 'Yes, the internet, internal connectivity, the chair not sliding back, cellphone beeping with unnecessary videos, messages and so on'. His frustration was visible on his face. 'Thank god, you are at home, safe, having scrumptious dinner'. Derek looked at his mom while she intentionally said this. He ignored it while eyeing on the bowl of Kheer. 'Mom, they are all fake videos and messages', he replied after a while. Derek's dad gave him a blind look.

After an hour his updated his 'status' on whatsapp with the pictures from the dining hall and his message box was overwhelmed with the comments of various forms-'wow, looking tasty', 'your mom cooks well', 'don't add so much calories while at home', 'beta! thoda workout bhi kar le' ... and so on. He had a peachy smile on his face. He replied on all that had appreciations and ignored the critics. The clock hit 1 am in no time and he still had mind boggling unresolved email queries. 'Now what's wrong with this power supply?' He yelled as suddenly power outage happened. His power back up had issues and this concerned him badly. His laptop would die after an hour and then what if the power doesn't come back, he mused.

After an hour he heard a knock at his door. It was his neighbour, an IT employee with his laptop. 'Can I get a power back up for a while, I know you have an invertor at home.' The guy made a surreal look.
'Sorry, dude my invertor is dead, I am too at the struggling end'. The guy smirked and left. When he was back at his room his laptop was dead. He had a sigh of frustration. He updated his status as 'Getting Bored at home' after a while. He went upstairs to his terrace to get some fresh air. He could see the flyover nearby, no smog in the air, clear black sky with stars and some homeless people sleeping under the flyover and some still awake, looked restless. He looked at them for quite some time. Just then the power was back. He went downstairs and picked up his cell phone. His neighbor had updated the status as 'No power at home, all alone, thankful to be alive'. He immediately deleted the status which read 'Getting Bored at home' and updated a new one 'Homeless, alive by hard work'.