PHOENIX - The Rebirth Of Hope

Chapter 8 : Heal The World

Samarth adjusted the lapel of his blue coat. He redid his tie, leaving it a little loose. It was better than the previous tightness of a noose. At least he could breathe. He put on golden cuff links and stepped into his polished shoes.

In his expensive tuxedo, he appeared to be confident but, in fact, he was quite nervous which of course he did not show. Now, now, he was the head of a famous company.

After making sure he had everything, he locked his room before leaving. Samarth reached his destination fast enough. A gleaming, glass building.

He entered the building and walked past the guards, who nodded their heads at him. He returned the gesture and showed his ID at the reception. The woman that sat there, looked up.

"I am Samarth, the head of—"

"No need, sir. We have been waiting for you ." The woman smiled. She had light brown hair that suited her. Samarth gave a small nod and then he was being escorted to a chamber by a guard. Before leaving him alone, the guard said. "The seats are mostly full. You have ten minutes to yourself. After then, please proceed through that door—". The guard pointed toward a door in Samarth's front, which was half-hidden behind a blue curtain. "—And you will find yourself at the stage. Good day to you, sir."

Samarth muttered something in return. The guard left. To distract himself Samarth looked around. The chamber was the measure of an ideal room—metallic brown and black. It was empty with no furniture but the 3-D appearance it had gave it an artistic look. A flight of stairs at the end wall led spiraling somewhere upstairs. Where? Samarth couldn't see.

Shasta was here to give a speech. When Phoenix had ranked in World's Ten largest and richest companies, Samarth's history and his life before had also become an interesting subject. Some even called him 'The Miracle Man'.

So, today, here, Samarth was to give a correct account of how a small boy from a small family had stepped as high as to touch the sky. It was meant to be an inspiring speech and...Samarth had a plan to make it more than that.

But now that Samarth was finally here, he felt the familiar pang of fear and panic in his chest. He resorted to taking deep breaths and tried to keep his mind clear. He told himself. Focus on what you are doing. Focus on your aim. It is the only opportunity you will ever get. Don't let it go to waste.

After ten minutes had passed, Samarth walked out of the door with his back straight, and immediately he was blinded by the beaming spotlight falling on him. As he neared the center of the stage, he was shocked to see so many people. As Samarth looked approximately 1,40,00 tickets were sold. Shasta's gaze roved the crowd and came to rest on a screen. Samarth's eyes widened. If he was seeing correctly there were 1,48,480 online viewers. Had he become so famous in so short a period of time?

Cries from people and fans all around him rendered him deaf. He had never thought himself to be one in the spotlight. Fate really had a sense of humor.

Shasta went to stand in front of the lectern. Smiling, he spoke into the mic. His voice reverberated back to him through the speakers.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for this grand round of applause. I thank you for being with us on this show."

The noises slowly died down as if being lulled into sleep until there was only silence and everyone was focused on him.

"As you all know.", he started. "Today I am here to enlighten you to my journey through the ups and downs of life and how I reached success. To tell you the truth, it wasn't ever planned like that." The silence was uninterrupted.

"My family comprises of my father, mother, and grandfather. We lived in a slum. We were poor, very poor. My grandfather had a plot of land where grandfather and father used to do farming. Every night we would pray for the roof above our heads to get us through the storm and rain towards a brighter tomorrow that would lead us to a brighter future.