Never Too Late

In the year 1995, I attended my graduation silver jubilee at the University of Roorkee in the month of November. It was a very healthy tradition of the University (now IIT) and it continues to be till date. Along with the silver jubilee, there is a tradition of celebrating golden, diamond and platinum jubilees also. It is a time of great joy and fun, in addition to the introspection when all the batch mates meet. The same was the atmosphere during the celebrations of the silver jubilee meet also. There I met my first year room-partner also who used to be a very smart and intelligent boy. He was from a middle-class family and became my room-partner in a double-seated room. Soon I noticed that he was falling into wrong habits like smoking, which subsequently graduated to drinking. He used to look very handsome while smoking and this fact used to encourage him further for the indulgence. Initially, when pointed out not to indulge so much, he used to listen, though he never followed the advice. Soon, he started raising objections against the counsel of good friends and gradually everyone stopped advising him. As a result, he became a chain-smoker, started watching movies more frequently and also started missing classes. I don’t remember if he could ever reach the mess for breakfast thereafter and, at times, missed lunch too. For the rest of the university days, his habits remained more or less the same, though being intelligent he could clear his examination and passed them with all of us. After great difficulty, he found a job.

Thereafter, we met only occasionally but his career graph was not going very well. His habits also started showing up ...it is never too late to make a resolve in life. on his health and he contracted several diseases, which are dangerous to human life. It was in this condition that he attended the silver jubilee meet. It was painful to see him in such a condition.

Fortunately, he had developed a feeling of guilt and confession by this time and met me in person to tell all of this. He almost shed tears when he said that he should have paid heed to mine and other friends’ advice right in the beginning. By not doing so, he paid a heavy price in terms of the quality of his life but it was too late. He also showed a firm resolve to undo all that had been done.

This made me very happy. I assumed that his resolve would take care of half his problems and the rest would fade with time, at least substantially if not fully. Fortunately, it went exactly the same way and today, he is doing well. For me also, it is a matter of great relief because somewhere, I also felt guilty that being his room-partner in the initial days, I couldn’t help him. Truly, it is never too late to make a resolve in life.