First things first

“Well, stay back.. I get to reach first. If you let me go, I promise to uphold the interests of all you fellows” bellowed a scrawny headed worm... A worm? Wait... what is it? Oh god. Not a worm but a sperm. Yes it’s a sssssperm. The race begins there. Who reaches the target, ahead of the rest. Hello Mr.Darwin, are you listening? It’s the survival of not just the fittest, but also the fastest. Welcome to India, where coming first, be it in a class or race or even to catch a bus or train, matters a lot.

Coming back to the sperm… Benefits of reaching first, it’s now a curious eyed baby girl, with teeth just starting to come out, coconut tree shaped plait jutting out of the head and busy observing other babies around. All of them were crawling in what seemed like a day care centre. The care-taker never asked for a race, nor did she prompt it. When one kid started crawling and the other overtook it, then the sight was that of a highway in which teenagers would probably have a bike race. Their little feet knew no bounds. Each one pushing another and wanting to reach the care-taker first, to be lifted by her and cuddled. And when the coconut plait baby did that, she had a smirk on her face!

Papa and mama were seated on a dining table. Little girls pulling and tugging at each other were chewing the roti made by mama. But wait. Were they actually chewing? Can you zoom in a little bit? Wasn’t half the digestion supposed to happen when you chew? Why were they in such a hurry? Oh. Mama dear has told them that the one who finishes first, gets to choose the tv channel that they want to watch. The one who “loses” gets to see what the other person chooses. Who else, other than our coconut plait baby could have finished her plate of roti first!

“First man to reach the moon?”
“Neil Armstrong”, pat came the reply from our girl. She was the first to answer. The whole class burst into a thunderous applause. The same smirk on her face again!

“And, the university rank goes to…..”
who else but our little girl. She has completed her post-graduation now.


“Listen beta, mama was always first in everything you do. You should also be the same. Remember, nobody remembers who came second. People always remember who came first.” ,she was advising the next sperm which had matured into a scrawny headed boy, like Virus does in 3 idiots. The boy listened intently and curiously and then asked “Mama, would you also die first then?”

S-I-L-E-N-C-E. Reality strikes. Introducing the coconut plait girl, who is now a grandmother of 4 little kids, who she carefully shields from the “I am first phenomenon” – Saritha.

Does Saritha ring a bell? There are Sarithas amongst us and within us. Question her on how does she feel today? What has she lost in life? Is it wrong to come first? What is the trade off? Is there a trade off at all? Well, that's for you to answer guys. To help you take it forward, I am going a little ahead of time, into the future.


PHASE 2:

Sperms are no more fighting with each other. They are playing. One has to catch the others. As they were busy playing, there was a call. One of them answered it. They had to rush. Before that, they stop and think. How is this family like. Will I be stressed if I go there? Will I have to keep running this race all my life? Should I write TNPCEEEE, JEEEE and other E’s if I get into this family? Then hell no. I am not running this race.

But one of them puts its head up and says. No. This is not such a family. They let you be yourself. Plus, TNPCEEEE has now been knocked off. So that makes it one exam less . :P You don’t have to run the race. The sperm had not even completed its sentence and all the others, started running a race. After all, if they run this one, they get a family where they don’t have to keep running all their life. The race stops there!