Face to Face

The floor suddenly felt too cold on my skin. There was an eerie silence surrounding me. Not able to bear the weirdness any longer, I finally opened my eyes. It was pitch dark all around and the walls bare. That was strange. I got up quick and looked all around me. The floors and the walls were plain.

There was a mirror on the wall directly across to where I was standing. I moved closer so that I can see clearly. There was a faded tube light on top of the mirror. My eyes then moved to the mirror and I was staring at myself. I checked the edges to see if there was a door but suddenly noticed that my mirror image hadn’t moved. I slightly moved away but the image didn’t budge.

I stood staring at myself trying to figure out different theories to explain what was happening. An idea at last ! I pinched myself hard and it pained pretty badly.

“I hope that it wakes you up now at least”

It was the mirror image talking. I moved away and tried to find a way of escape.

“You are stuck with me. You can take my word for it.”

“That will not stop me from trying”

“True. That is your choice. But it is my obligation to give you a heads up.”

After a while of futile search, my gaze came back to myself.

“What shall we call each other. We both cannot be Sam.”

“We both are. But you are right.”

After a bit of thinking, it said “I shall be Adaptive. You be Ruler.”

“I don’t dominate. Ruler doesn’t fit me.”

“What I was suggesting was that you are principled.”

“Whats wrong with following principles.”

“Nothing. Nothing at all. Which is why I gave you that name.”

“Hmm...”

“So what have you decided about HP?”

I was taken aback by surprise.

“How do you know?”

“I am you. Remember. So I will know what you know. My way of thinking will be different from yours. Thats all.”

“Oh. Interesting.”

“So? What decision?”

“Oh. HP? Its not my decision. It is just a guided path to destination.”

“Thats good. It will be a great start for your career.”

“Yeah. But at what cost?”

“Cost?”

“Yeah. At the cost of my morals, my principles and my values.”

“Huh ? What are you talking about?”

“My uncle, a vice president at HP, is pushing my application through. So basically, I am not winning my way through to the job. I am going into a field which has already been cleared for me. No battle, no competition, job being offered on a plate. Not based on my ability, but based on my influence. In short, this job is being given to my uncle and not to me. Not to mention about those many able people, more deserving than me who I would have kicked out just because of my fucking recommendation.”

“But you already tried for jobs on your own. For about 6-7 months right? What happened? Everywhere you went, they thrashed your application because you did not have work experience. Those idiots don’t understand a simple concept that if everyone asks for previous work experience as a prerequisite, where will you get that in the first place? Its not you, you know. Its the world that didn’t want to give you a job based on your ability and skills. This is how the world works today. The faster you accept that, the better it will be for you.”

“Just because the world works that way, that doesn’t mean that it is right, right? If I also behave like an animal what is the point in being labelled the more rational creature?”

“Why do you see as if you are letting go of your principles. Its just this one aspect. You can also see it this way that your uncle is trying to create a chance for an able and talented individual like yourself.”

“Even if I join HP, and my career goes on taking me to different places and different companies. Then one day when I look back on my career, I will find that the foundation stone was laid in a manner not so dignifiable and this will render my entire career worthless.”

“See. He just gives you a start. What you make of that chance is your own ability and your own skill. You are still building your career. You will always be the captain of your ship. Your uncle just provided you with your first boat.”

“HP is a great company and I would love to work for such an incredible company. I just don’t like the way I am entering the company. I will just be preaching about the principles by which one should live his life, but would have failed myself to live by what I say.”

“See, you cannot assign guilt to yourself for something that is beyond your control. That is just unnecessary baggage.”

Then Adaptive took out a coin from his pocket and said

“The way I figure things, we both can argue all we want, but we won’t go anywhere as we both are right. The only morality in this world is chance. Heads you win, tails I win. And then you should come to terms with which ever decision comes about. What say?”

After some thinking and checking whether it was a proper coin, I agreed. He tossed the coin. As the coin flipped above our heads, I did not know what I wanted it to show. The coin thudded to the floor and hid the heads away from our sights.

A loud sound broke through the sound barriers, and the room dissolved. I opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling. Looking all around, I found that I was back in my room. At that moment, drenched in sweat, the only thought that was running through my head was “Phew! I am back to reality.”