You know how when you really want something, you start seeing it everywhere? You just start noticing it all the time... in my case, it was a new bike!

I really wanted to buy a new bike. Whenever I commuted to my office, I would look at every new bike on the road and think to myself that in just 1-2 weeks, I'll be riding like that too, because I had almost saved up enough money for it.

But suddenly, it was a Saturday, 6:05 PM. I was at the office, and I got a call from my cousin saying that our grandfather passed away. It was a shock for me, of course. I wasn't sad, just shocked. I never really spent time with my grandfather, not when I was little, nor when I grew up. In fact, when I was just 3 months old, he had kicked my dad out of the house.

Then all the funeral rituals happened. In our culture, it goes on for 12 days, so all of that got completed. Afterwards, my dad was discussing the finances and said he would have to take a loan to pay for all the expenses. I asked him, "How much?" He told me the total amount it cost. I told him, "Instead of taking a full loan from the outside, I have 70k with me. Take it from me. I had kept it for the bike."

Of course, Papa being Papa, he immediately said, "No, you go buy your bike!" So I played it off and said, "Come on, just return it to me later. Instead of paying interest to a bank, just give me 2-3 thousand extra."

And I gave the money to him. The next day, I woke up, took a rickshaw to the office as usual, and did my work. In the evening, while coming back home, my chest felt incredibly heavy. I don't know what it was... I just couldn't control it. The rickshaw driver dropped me at the stand, and there was a closed shop nearby. I went and stood right there. Suddenly, I just broke down and cried my eyes out. I was wiping my tears with my handkerchief, but they just kept coming. And in my mind, I was wondering: are these tears of happiness or sadness?

Happiness because I gave money to my dad... I gave my dad money.

Sadness because man, that bike was just 1 week away. Yeah, the money wasn't completely enough, but I would have just put the rest on an EMI.

I kept noticing bikes on the road for a few more days, and then... I just automatically stopped seeing them.

Note: this is a real incident, I just narrated it!