Everyone is looking for instant gratification. No one wants to wait. Short queues. Short-forms. Short snippets. Short-cuts. Everyone is looking for something short in life. We don’t even want to type out the whole word anymore. It’s only LOL and BRB. Everyone is in a hurry to get there. Soon, instant gratification won’t be soon enough. What people should realize is that the beauty is in the wait. That is also what makes the destination more admirable. Don’t give up what you want most for what you want now. For something short. It’s really not that sweet. 

All she wanted was a pair of shorts. It was summer. She loved the freedom of wearing shorts. But as she scanned the store, every pair was at best mid-thigh length. She checked everywhere. It was as if one fine day, somebody decreed: Girls’ shorts shall be sexily short. You shall look good even if you have to deal with the wedgies. Your discomfort is your problem. You have to look your sexy best. Frustrated she headed into the boys’ section to pick a pair that she knew will not flatter her looks, but SHE didn’t care.

He sat dreaming about ‘space school’. That is what he called it when he was six, and it stuck. He wanted to become an astronaut one day. He loved physics class in school and always knew all the answers. He would sit up all night with his torch and read Douglas Adams under the covers. He would gaze into the sky and imagine that he was in a spaceship. The strident bell woke him from his daydream. Dinnertime at the orphanage. He checked his small blue ‘school fund’ box. He was only a few thousand dollars short.