ATTITUDE Higher Than Altitude

It was 8:00 PM when Shiva was heading towards the Central Railway Station. He was informed by Akshaya that it would be CC1 coach and the train would reach the station around 8:00 PM. Shiva had called up the railway inquiry and was informed that the train was delayed by 15 minutes. Till that time he never knew that he was going to meet a relation of his life time.

Shiva's colleagues and Akshaya were flying to United Kingdom for a period of 6 months. The train arrived and so did the people he was waiting for. It was Akshaya's parents who had come to send her off to UK the following day. Akshaya had informed them that there would be a person by name Shiva who would come to receive them. Later in the evening Shiva and Akshaya's family had dinner together.

Akshaya was busy packing her stuffs for the journey and her parents were helping her in getting things arranged. They had informed her that they would be extending the stay for an additional day as they had some important work. (Well it was regarding her Wedding which they didn't want to share at that moment as they thought she was not yet prepared for that)

The next day Shiva accompanied them to send her and his colleagues off to UK. It was mixed emotions as everyone out there was flying together and that was the first time that everyone was leaving abroad. Once the flight took off Shiva accompanied Akshaya's family and got dropped at his residence.

The next day Akshaya's parents were constantly in touch with Shiva to know if their daughter had reached safely. It was a journey of more than 14 hours and Shiva was in constant touch so that they don't feel lost. Later that evening he had been to the guest house to meet them. He inquired about the work for which they had stayed back and they said that they were not able to make it as they were tired and got stuck at the guesthouse. Shiva got a message from his office that Akshaya had reached safely and the same was communicated to her parents. Later that evening Akshaya's parents had to leave and Shiva assisted them back to the Central Railway Station.

Couple of hours later Akshaya called her people and they felt very happy for her reaching safely. Later one day when Akshaya had called her parents they informed her about the reason for their extended stay. Initially Akshaya was angry for they had not informed her in advance, but as they explained everything she was speechless. They said, they were very happy to see Ramakrishnan and wanted to know if she was interested in the alliance. Akshaya pretty confused called Shiva to give him the surprise of the day that. Akshaya informed Shiva that her parents had come to look for an alliance for her and that was the reason for the stay. Shiva felt very happy and congratulated her, but at the same time remembered that they had told him that they were tired and were stuck up at the guest house. Shiva informed Akshaya about the same and tried to convince her saying, they might have probably thought of revealing it to you first before they inform anybody else. But the next was something unexpected as the guy whom they had intended to meet was also working in the same firm and it was none other than L. Ramakrishnan alias Shiva. Shiva was taken back for a moment but at the same time felt confused, disturbed and finally shy for congratulating her and went speechless. Akshaya explained him everything that had happened till then and it goes this way.

Shiva's parents had approached Akshaya's uncle regarding the alliance for Ramakrishnan as they were from the same native. Though Akshaya's parents were willing initially they turned it down as Akshaya was flying abroad. They had informed Akshaya's uncle that they would look for alliance once Akshaya returns and the same was communicated to Shiva's parents. But on the contrary Shiva's parents had assumed that they were giving excuse for rejecting the proposal and were extremely upset. In the meantime Akshaya's parents had thought of visiting Ramakrishnan as he was working in the same organization as Akshaya's without Akshaya's knowledge. So when Akshaya had sent Shiva they thought of consulting him about Ramakrishnan. But the moment they saw him, they recognized him as the person whom they had wanted to meet the next day. Questions arose like

- Why they wanted to meet Ramakrishnan? (In allaiancial terms, meeting a person means, enquiring about him/her using a spy like Shiva)

- Why they didn’t inform him when they met him? (It’s never communicated to the person rather it’s taken through their parents. Also here it was impossible as the person whom they wanted to spy on was the same person whom they had thought of using as a spy) well this was just the first twist.

Now Shiva communicated the same to his parents that Akshaya's parents had come to meet him and explained them everything. He also informed them that he was ok with the alliance. But being rejected once they did not want to continue with the same alliance and said they had looked for a new alliance which is his aunt's daughter Nithya. Now Shiva was shocked as to why they had done this without his consultation because Shiva just hated Nithya’s family from the bottom of his heart. But Shiva's parents was adamant that the wedding would happen with Nithya at any cost and was in no mood to listen to what was Shiva's opinion.

Nithya -- Shiva -- Akshaya

Nithya was a not bad, but her parents were so egoistic about their wealth and her studies. They used to insult Shiva in front of everyone that he was merely a Graduate whereas their daughter was an Engineer. Shiva never liked them from his childhood and neither liked the proposal. Shiva tried to explain the same to his mom and dad that he was not interested in the proposal but his parents were just not in sync with him.

When Akshaya's parents had called him and asked him his interest for her daughter he got convinced and accepted the proposal with pleasure but that was not the same reaction from his parents. It was just a mere ego that was stopping his parents from agreeing to this proposal. This continued for months and Akshaya returned from UK almost after 9 months. Now Akshaya’s parents were kept in darkness as Shiva didn’t want them to feel hurt about what was happening at his home. When Akshaya returned from UK, they thought it would be the appropriate time to initiate the talks and had approached Akshaya’s uncle who had communicated about the alliance.
Akshaya’s uncle had called up Ramakrishnan’s residence to proceed with the wedding plans. This time Shiva's parents said the same dialogue, "We are postponing for another 6 months" in spite of knowing the fact that their children knew about the proposals. With the kind of talks it was evident that they were no longer interested in the proposal and also got to know that it was their assumption that was the reason behind their distress. Now Akshaya’s parents didn’t want to look for a new alliance for it would not be fair from their end. On the other end, it was Shiva who was fighting for his sole rights as he was constantly being pressurized from his parents and Nithya’s relatives. It anger, bitterness, sorrows, frustration grew day by day and at one point his parents realized that it was their mistake to force him into a proposal that he was not interested into. But that was too late as Shiva started to stay off from them and Shiva got isolated from his family for not listening to them.

Everyone knew its mere ego that was not allowing this proposal to move further but something which everyone failed to understand was that the people who were impacted were their kids. Shiva was being isolated from his family because of false accusations from him own family and slowly Akshaya also got into the same circle. After the family feud it was decided to call off the wedding once and for all.

Shiva unable to concentrate on work lost focus on work and lost himself. Akshaya trying to meet both the ends ended up in a fateful situation. They tried all the opportunities they had to convince both the families but everything went in vain. In this process of convincing and consoling another 14 months passed away. They heard what they had never heard in their lives and saw what they had never seen in their lives. May be GOD was teaching them both a lesson about the people around them. With no one else to help them they decided to take a decision of their lives. They got married at a nearby temple, registered themselves and fled away to a different location which is not known by either of the family’s, not even to their friends.

Shiva and Akshaya learnt the lesson of their lives and decided to start their new life. They knew it’s going to be a tough path ahead and made their minds firm and at the same time determined. They found an accommodation for themselves and started to look for jobs. Shiva got a job in a software company and Akshaya got a job in a nearby school. Now both of them are happy living a life for each other and they have been blessed with two kids.

It may be called Assumption, Trustful, Thankful, Impatience, Tolerance, Understanding, Determination and Egoistic but when put together its ATTITUDE that plays the vital role in establishing a healthy relationship. Be it work or life it’s this 8 lettered word that either brings grace or disgrace depending on how we use it. This might be an incident in your neighbourhood but something which we need to understand is there is no life without problem and its all how we handle them. A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will never let you leave the battlefield till the last and make it worth the effort. "ATTITUDE is a little thing that makes a big difference".