Imperfecto Finds A Way

It was a cold rainy winter day that Imperfecto stepped out to connect with the career counsellor. He had identified the bus route numbers that would take him to the posh locality. Accordingly, he boarded the bus from the nearest stop. A change of buses and about an hour later he got down at his destination. The main road was lined with leafless trees made lifeless by strong gusts for nearly a month now. The rain has died to a drizzle now and Imperfecto navigated the puddles and the bora to branch into the streets. The expansive houses with imposing gates made a striking show of grandeur. Imperfecto walked slowly admiring the architecture of each bungalow, the next one seemed to improve upon the previous! The whole street was straight out of fairy tales stored in his distant memory.

 

He had memorized the house number and it was easy to locate it right in the middle of the second street. He was greeted with a signboard 'Beware of dogs' with a small black dog photo on the high black gate. There was a smaller door for individual entry but Imperfecto would not risk it. He waited for some time wondering what to do. He looked around to see if there was a way to communicate but could not spot anything. He peeped through the narrow gap between the hinges of the smaller door and could make out a driveway surrounding a garden. Not a soul in sight either inside or outside.

 

The wind was howling now and the drizzle had again turned into rain. Imperfecto tried to protect himself under a small tree a few feet away and observed passersby huddling under umbrellas. About an hour later, one of them sauntered from the street and merely nudged the small door open! Imperfecto was off in a flash and his shrill call startled the entrant, who froze in his tracks. Turning around in sheer surprise, the middle aged individual in a guard's uniform, encountered half drenched Imperfecto's smile, which calmed him for the moment. Imperfecto quickly asked if he could meet the career counsellor. The guard merely nodded in refusal and took a step inwards. Imperfecto braved the rain and leaped in his direction and politely requested for an audience. The man was clearly not used to being pushed around like that and closed the gate in Imperfecto's face. Impefecto's pleadings fell on deaf ears but the commotion caused another gun-toting guard, much younger and sterner, to come out. He looked at Imperfecto, who had taken a step back now. The young guard asked in a crude local lingo if Imperfecto had an appointment. Imperfecto's heart sank on hearing this, but he quickly asked if the guard could check once, just in case Ma'am was free now. The guard asked him to wait only to return a minute later to inform that he had checked over intercom and she was not available.

 

Imperfecto quickly concluded that she was at home and made the obvious choice. He told the guard that he had come from very far and since she was at home, could he atleast speak to her over the intercom. With a fair bit of cajoling he was put through.

 

"Hello," a commanding voice

 

"Hello Ma'am,' came a meek reply.

 

"Yes?"

 

"I I came from…I heard about you…I actually got your refer…"

 

"Can you be a bit more precise?" the commanding voice cut him short.

 

"I heard about your excellent track record and wanted to meet you to see if you could help me," the meek voice blurted out in one breadth.

 

"Can you please take an appointment?"

 

"I will surely take that Ma'am, but I have come from very far."

 

"I understand that, but I already have an appointment for this time."

 

"I can imagine your busy schedule, but can I request only five minutes of your precious time?"

 

"Look, I do not disrupt my sessions."

 

"I can wait till you finish Ma'am."

 

"But I have not yet started."

 

"I can still wait. I have come all the way with the hope to speak to you."

 

There was a brief pause. Imperfecto thought that the line may have been disconnected, but chose to keep quiet.

 

"Okay. You can come in, but remember, only five minutes is what I can spare."

 

Imperfecto jumped with joy on hearing this. He handed the phone to the bewildered young guard. A smile had replaced his stern countenance when he kept the phone. He asked Imperfecto to walk down the short driveway and enter the house through the side door.


Imperfecto shed his shyness since his target was to meet the career counsellor. He had a good reason to push his case despite a lot of objection at the start itself. Most people in Imperfecto's shoes would have retreated when the rain came pelting, citing destiny or luck or it was not meant to be today. Such people rarely achieve any target if they are deterred by obstacles in their journey. They want to walk down the path of least resistance. The moment barriers become visible on their path, they tend to turn and walk back. It takes a lot of courage to overcome the odds in life but such efforts have benefits to look forward to. The best thing about persevering is that very often it leads to sweet success. Hence, it is definitely worthwhile to use our thinking caps to remove stumbling blocks and march ahead towards one's target.