The different tomato..!

Georgie is a different guy. He is just not like the others. He has been like this since the time he was 5 years old.

When he was in the 2nd standard, he was different. All the kids liked to go home after school, and Georgie liked to remain in the school, and dig the playground, looking for coal mine under the soft sand. Roy, the principal’s son, used to assist him. And sometimes, he would hide in the rickshaw, trying to be the last to get off after the rickshaw had done the complete route. The rickshaw driver never understood what made Georgie do this.

The days went by, and before he realized, Georgie was standing at the crossroads, which will decide the future course of his life. He had finished 10th and had to make a choice whether to join the medical stream like some in the family, so the non medical stream, like most of the people around. All the maternal uncles, paternal uncles, cousins, elder sister, were science graduates. Georgie chose commerce. None liked the choice. But he chose commerce, and went on to live a carefree life, unlike his over burdened classmates who chose science.

After he completed 12th, again there was choice, and needless to say, he was thinking something different again. He joined the new course B.B.A. All in the family wondered what was going on. Why B.B.A and not B.Com? At-least they had seen some successful people who were not doctors or engineers, and were B.Com. But BBA it was.

This didn’t stop here. After completing his MBA Georgie decided to come down to Ahmedabad, while all other classmates went to Jaipur and other towns in Rajasthan. Georgie had to be different..!

Even today, Georgie’s colleagues wonder why he likes to come to work wearing Jeans and t-shirts, while all of them wear formal cloths. His mother wonders at his choice of music, food, everything.

Recently, Georgie realized this and wondered, why this was so. Was it just a coincidence that he liked to be different? And he got the answer.

Being different was a choice that he made when he was 5 years old. He was taking a paper. His friends were faster at writing, and finished earlier than him. So the kid decided to leave the paper, halfway, and go play with the other kids. All was well until he reached home, and mom asked how did the paper go. Poor kid, told mum that he left the paper incomplete as he wanted to play with his friends. Mum was furious. So was dad. Georgie was taken back to the school. Produced in front of the principal. And his father requested the authority to let him complete the paper. Principal refused. This was shameful, thought Georgie. It was embarrassing to stand and see the elders wonder at his innocent little self. And it was hard to bear the scolding.

So he thought to himself that day, I’ll not do what the others do. It is not right. And so he became a different guy, when he was 5.