What you wish for…

It was a normal day. I woke up early in the morning as usual. Dad was preparing my morning coffee. The next half an hour will be spent skimming through the newspaper while sipping the hot coffee. After preparing me coffee, dad would be busy preparing breakfast and lunch. There was something about that man. He loves to be in kitchen. That was his meditation. I kind of have a love hate relationship with meditation.

I would like to blame it on my vivid imagination. I cannot sit and think of nothing. Or be aware of who I am and what I am to do in this birth. I just sit there and fantasize about the things that are out of my grasp. I wanted to live life king size. Whenever I close the eyes, that life of mine will spring up to the action. I would even remember the color of distemper that would fill my bedroom in my imaginary house. It was ultra rich. The luxury car, a beautiful girl friend and my unique flirting talents. Gosh! Why can’t I step into my dreams?

Dad realized that we ran out of sugar the day before. He rushed through the door to get it from the nearby shop and I was alone. The unscheduled power-cut pulled out all the light in the room. I cursed myself for renting a house which did not allow adequate natural light. But I was able to see something bright near my laptop. I thought it was my mobile phone, which should have stopped charging once the power went out. After two articles through the newspaper, I glanced at the direction casually only to find the glow getting brighter by each passing moment.

I walked up to my laptop to see something suspended in air. My initial thought was it was some kind of glowing insect. But it began to talk.

“Hey There!”

“Who is this?” I asked. Am I really awake?

“Call me whatever you want, People call me fairy”

“But you sound like a boy”

“Ah! This is a sexist society! Why do always people think fairies to be little girls?”

“I don’t know. I was taught like that”

“You always go by what is taught and not by what you experience right?”

Now I was very sure this was some prank from by my friends. I started searching for that secret microphones or speakers. I even went to the door to check if anyone was standing there. But there was no one.

I came back exhausted. I started to sweat. The truth was I didn’t know how to react. Should I be excited or afraid?

“You don’t have to be afraid. I am not going to eat you”

“What do you want?” I asked. I wanted to get rid of it as soon as I could.

“Well! That should be my question. What do you want?”

“Come on! I know somebody is playing prank on me. Tell me who”

“See if you just imagine wonderful house and beautiful girlfriends, it is not just going to happen. You must believe”

“Believe in what? How did you know that?”

“You still don’t believe that I am a fairy. Do you?”

“It is kind of hard. But I think I will get used to it”

“OK! You just dreamt about something you want in life. I must say, it is a bit mediocre but considering this hole you live, I don’t blame you. Which one do you want first?”

“If you are a fairy as you claim, you should have known it already”

The scene around me changed. Suddenly I was in my dream bedroom with silk bed sheets covering a king size bed. A bar counter was to one side of the bed and the other side of the bed had my favorite hard bound books. The color of the distemper was same as I had imagined. It was hard to believe it was true. What I thought as a prank few minutes before was altering the reality in front of my eyes.  In my shorts and briefs, I was the misfit in that place. Before I could get out of the shock, I heard someone ringing the bell.  I hoped it was my father.

I opened the door to find a man in his middle age staring at me.

“Sir! You need to pay 2500 Rs for maintenance” he asked me. I looked over his shoulders. It looked like huge gated complex. There was a swimming pool in the center yard. I should be in 12^th floor or something. The man cleared his throat. He had a receipt book.  It was 12^th of the month and I had already spent my salary.

“Can I give you tomorrow?” I asked him.

He gave me a weird look and left the place. I came back into my new apartment to find my laptop and the glow in the bedroom.

“What?” It asked.

“Somebody is asking money.”

“I know. When you get a house in a good place, you will have to spend something right?”

“What else should I know?”

“There is a car in your parking as you wished. It runs only on premium petrol. And your car is dry now. You don’t have a driver. You didn’t imagine yourself driving a car. So you still do not know how to drive.  You just imagined a girl friend, though you were given one with the same features as you desired physically, she is dumb and she doesn’t read. You will have to pay for the insurance of the car and other things you know”

“Wait! You are supposed to give me what I want right? You are making my life more miserable”

“Not at all! Whatever you imagined, you have it now. If you have imagined your wallet full of money, may be that would be granted. I don’t see any such thing in my checklist”

“No worries. My friends will help me.”

“Haha! You did the classic mistake like everyone else. I don’t want to blame you. But when you fantasized this life, you never included your friends in here. You just wanted to live a great life, sip wonderful drinks, own a collection of hardcover classics and enjoy life with your girlfriend. It is embarrassing to say, but you left your family and friends out. I don’t think they will be available to help you”

I just realized the mistake I had done. All these days I thought I had thought my imagination was crystal clear and that was what I wanted. All I wanted was a luxurious life without any effort put towards it. May be if I had to earn and plan for this life, I would have planned for maintenance and fuel. I hated myself to think that I had excluded my friends when I thought of this luxurious life. My father tells me often to be careful for what I wish for, it may come true. And there it was, staring at my face.

“Are you OK? Do you need anything more?” the glow asked.

“A cup of coffee prepared by my father would suffice I guess” I really needed it.

A flash of light cut through the room and when I opened my eyes, my father was standing beaming with a hot cup of coffee.

“There is no point in waking up early and sleeping again in few minutes. You slept off just like that. Here have this coffee and get ready” he said.

The coffee exactly tasted the way I had imagined in my fantasy but had no frills attached to it.