Tick tock... tick tock... I looked at the seconds’ hand on the wall clock. Time seemed to tick in a long row to hoe. Why the hell doesn’t it move fast? Like a shag on a rock at this time in the office, I just pulled down the lid of my laptop and proceeded to move pushing the reclining chair aback.

But I sat back....

I laid my hands on a foldable photo frame, the inner sides of which had the smiling faces of my son and wife. I ran my fingers across the photos and smiled when I saw my own reflection in the glass.

I have everything in my life. A luxury sedan, a bungalow in the heart of the city, a beautiful wife and an intelligent son, a well settled career. Perhaps every one would aspire to become like me. But...

I still looked at the ticking time when I closed my eyes and dozed off.

“You are such a wretch. You don’t even want to come home early on your wife’s birthday?” she screamed at me.

“Look da, I was already screwed up. I can’t take it anymore. Please try to understand,” I said and I tried to hold her in my arms and wish her when she pushed me aside.

“This aint the first time it’s happening. You never have time to spend with your wife and son,” she retreated.

“What do you mean. I am doing this all for your sake. So that you are.....”

“Just f@#^ing shaddup ....” she shouted, “I don’t wanna hear the same old story again and again...” and she banged the bedroom door behind her.

Thud and I woke up with a jerk. I looked at the clock. It was still ticking in its inanimate awe.

Her words still echoed in my ears. “You are working late proves nothing. It just says that either you don’t know how to work or your manager doesn’t know how to allocate work to his resources!!”

“And the cost of you guys inability, is ruining families over here!!!”

I still remember those days when I was too small when my dad used to take me for a ride on his Priya scooter. I still remember those days when I used to stand in the front of the scooter and when my dad used to drive with my mom seated in the back seat and holding my brother. My dad was a lawyer and he used to earn a meager 400/- a month but still we were content. They provided us with everything. Everything including their time.

In those days when he just had a tape recorder, he even recorded me singing and saying all those kiddy words. Those cassettes which I cherish even to this day.

I still remember those days when I used to sleep off on his shoulders drooling and when he would wipe it off to his shirt. I still remember those days when he hurriedly rushed me to the hospital when I wounded my knee very badly and when I held his hand when the doctor was stitching it up.

Did my son miss all this? Have I missed out all those antics of my son when he was growing up? Have I ever bothered to share some lighter moments with my son rather than asking him about his marks when he showed me his progress reports?

I have earned more than sufficient in my life. I have a luxury sedan but it’s me who drives it all alone. I have a bungalow, but it’s me who stays all alone. I have a beautiful wife and an intelligent son and I get to see them daily but on a webcam and I miss the touch and the feel of their love.

More than twenty years have ticked right infront of me with me no looking back. In search of greener pastures I have chosen my career over my family at the peak period of my life and when my family needed me the most. And now when I needed them, it’s out of my hands.

My son has gone to pursue his education in Australia and my wife went along. Not one or two, twenty years she waited for me every night at the porch of my house. And I never turned up.

Tick tock tick tock... I heard the sound when I looked at my wrist watch. Life had just passed by me.

P.S. This story may be an exaggeration. If you still think you are working your head out at your office, Please think about the quality time you had been working. As long as you don’t realize that, there is no point in switching companies or doing your MS\MBA. You would still end up working your head out, there too.