Mr. Ideal's Ticket fare!

Long time ago when cell phones were not invented, people were interacting face to face and not on facebook, texting means writing a letter, not whatsapp ping. Emotions were explained with words not with the emojis. It’s a story of that period.

It is a story of Mr. Ideal, who used to work in office. A white collar job. Everyday he used to take a bus to reach his office. This was the period when a monthly pass concept was yet to introduce. So he used to stand in a queue every day to get the ticket. This was making reach office late. On one such fine day he saw his friend Mr. Friendly, who was as per his name was friendly in nature. Mr. friendly was about to reach the ticket window, Mr. ideal reached to Mr. Friendly and asked to take one more ticket. Saying  he was running late for his meeting. Mr. Friendly said “don’t worry, you stand near the bus stop, I will bring you the ticket” Mr. Ideal was so relieved. This happened again on the next day, this time Mr friendly said, “You don’t worry, we both are commuting the same route, and I have a habit of coming early, I will bring you the ticket every day.” Mr. Ideal was happy. He started reaching office on time, his boss was also happy with him. This went for almost six months. One day suddenly Mr. Helpful called Mr. Ideal, that he left the job, and from tomorrow onwards he won’t be able to buy ticket for him.

The next day Mr. Ideal reached office late. This happened for one week as a result his boss got angry on him. On Monday morning while waiting in a queue he saw Mr. Helpful was about to reach the ticket window, he went to him and asked to buy a ticket for him, as he was getting late for office. Mr. helpful as per his nature helped him with his ticket. Second day happened the same, but this time Mr. helpful showed some concern while buying ticket for Mr. Ideal. Looking at his face Mr. Ideal got a clue about this, to ease the situation and to show the gratitude for the help, Mr Ideal gave him a small fruit. This happened for quite a long time, but on one fine evening, Mr. Ideal got a call from Mr. Helpful about his transfer, and also mention about the inconvenience he will be facing from tomorrow regarding the ticket. Mr ideal got worried with the ticket issue.

On the next morning it happened again Mr. Ideal reached half an hour late for office. Buying ticket has become a serious issue for him. Next morning, he directly went to the Ticket officer from the back door, mentioned his problem of getting late to the office. Gave him the fare, and a small fruit and in return the officer gave him the ticket with a smile on face. This happened for long time. Some other people in the queue got to know this, and they also started to go via back door. Within few weeks, the queue shifted its location from front window to back door, with every person having different kinds of fruit with multiple numbers.

 Mr. Ideal was retired. He got a call from his office regarding some pending paperwork of his pension. That day when he went to ticket counter for ticket, he got shocked, as very few people were in a queue, and there was a big queue at the back door, people with fruits, some with bigger fruits, some with small fruits with multiple numbers. He chose to stand in front window queue because today he has no hurry reaching the office.  When his turn came, he gave the money to officer and asked for ticker. The ticket officer, yelled at him, for not bringing any fruit. Mr. Ideal got shocked looking at this behavior, because once upon a time what was a considered as convenience to a problem was now became the addiction. Ticket counter was occupied with different kinds of fruits in multiple numbers.

It is happening around us also, Isn’t it?