* It seems like yesterday * I was at work, slogging away like always, typing useless e-mails asking my client for more information. I had three pending excel reports to send to my boss, and my uneaten lunch was still lying in my bag, begging to be eaten. My phone rang. It was from home. Dad hadn't been well. He had been discharged a month ago from the hospital after getting treated for stroke. He was a heart patient, and had suffered from three heart attacks and had undergone three different surgeries on his heart in the past one decade. After getting discharged from the hospital a month ago, he had been unusually inactive and had been spending his days mostly in bed. Since it was February and the cold was still biting, we thought he was alright, and that he was merely taking rest. The phone kept ringing. I was in the middle of an excel chart that had eaten into my brain completely. Answering the call would have meant wasting at least a minute of the little time I had left. It was already 9 pm, and I was sure my mom was calling me to check if I had left yet. I decided to finish my work in the next five minutes and then call back. Finally, the excel sheets and the e-mails were completed. I shut down my system, picked up my bag and proceeded towards the lift. The phone rang again. I answered it expecting my mom's voice. Instead, it was dad. "Son, when you will come?" "I have left office just now. I will be home in an hour." "Okay son, I will ask your mom to warm up the food accordingly." "Yes dad, I am now walking towards the bus stop. I will reach soon. Bye." That night was exceptionally cold for mid-February. I got the bus after a ten minute wait at the bus stop. The bus had very few passengers, common for that time in the night. I sat on the back seat. I was tired. I was angry. I was sad. I wanted to cry. I was stuck between my responsibilities at home and at work. I had no siblings, and there was nobody to look after my parents at home. I wanted to quit and spend my time with them. I couldn't do that of course. I needed the money. I was the only one earning. And even after that, I just had thirty rupees in my pocket that night, just about enough to take me home in a bus. I sneezed. That had me mortified. I could not afford to fall sick. There were things to do. So many things. At home and at work. I wrapped my muffler tightly around my face and neck and hoped I had not caught the flu. I tried to hold back my tears, but the stress was too great. I cried. ~ Abhijit Chakraborty