Bitter Steps to better life

Chapter 11: If one is ambitious, no one can stop them from achieving

My brother graduated from the tenth grade. From his hostel, he returned home. He had scored good marks in which he could have chosen the science stream, but he chose the vocational stream. My father was wishing that he could have taken science. Science and commerce have been viewed as high and valuable streams, whereas arts and vocational are viewed as low. I was in 10th grade when he came home from hostel. I didn't even know how to cook, and I had extra classes every day. At that time, he was the one who had prepared lunch for me to carry. Though he was a little lazy, he would prepare at the last moment, and it would be the tastiest lunch.

He went for some part of the job of catering service. He worked till late at night until 4 or 5 am in the morning. I was the one of them who was scared of loneliness. Until he arrived home, I would keep all the lights on and watch the Crime Patrol show. I wouldn't sleep until he arrived. I was too scared to sleep alone. By seeing my behavior of madness, he shouted at me, "Why are you damaging your eyes by watching TV and playing games until this late night? Why can't you sleep on time". From that day on, I tried to go to sleep before he arrived, but I still couldn't. Sometimes I would just shut my eyes to the creaking noise of the gate, pretending as if I had slept long ago.

He did his part-time job along with his studies. He rarely went to college and studied, but still he would score higher marks. Whereas I was the one who studied a lot but still couldn't score much. In 10th grade, I would be so serious with my studies that I didn't even consume my food properly. He would sometimes tease and taunt me, telling me to eat food, but I still never listened to him. He completed his higher secondary level of education and did his admission into a one-year course in hotel management.

During that time, he couldn't skip classes due to his attendance, and college was too far away from home. A lot of time was consumed by traveling. He would leave home at 6:30 a.m. and return at 7:30 p.m.In the meantime, he taught me to cook. I was never interested in cooking; whenever he tried to teach me, I would just pretend to learn, but I never did. He completed his course and joined training in a 3-star hotel. He was paid too little and made to work 12 hours a day.

Still, he never complained about his work. After 6 months of training, he shifted to another 5-star hotel, where they increased the payment a little. He had lots of dreams of going on a cruise.
Once, when everyone was present, my father asked him whether he'd meet someone whose fame could take him on a cruise. He ignored me and said, Whatever I will achieve, I want it from my hard work." Whatever he learned from others, he would experiment with it at home. He had failures in his experiments some time, but most of the time whatever he made would make my mouth cheesy. He had love for music. Through him, I fell in love with music, and I would spend my days with the musings of music. After his hard work, hetried for a walk-in interview in Mumbai, where he got the opportunity after eight procedures to go on a cruise. His hard work led him to this achievement. He was selected to work on one of the cruises.