KILL THE INVISIBLE MONSTER 'ENVY'

ONE OF THE MOST evergreen moments in my childhood was renting a bicycle over the weekends and learning to ride it.

- SRIPRAKASH NADADHUR SRIDHARAN

After I started riding well with the rented cycle, one day my parents gifted me a brand-new red Hercules Captain. I was overjoyed and was so completely thrilled that I was with the cycle throughout that day; I just didn’t carry it with me to bed.

The next day was Sunday, and I decided to take my own cycle for the ride with friends rather than renting one.Those days, we used to rent cycles over the weekends on an hourly basis for a joy ride with friends in the locality.

My New Cycle

I got up early and rushed to my new cycle; I was shocked to see it scratched all over. I didn’t know how to react and could not stop crying. My parents were also shocked to see the state of the cycle. On enquiring into the issue, we came to know my neighbour was envious about my new cycle and had scratched the cycle with a stone.

She could not digest the fact that I would be riding a new cycle when she still was using an old one. Her parents apologised to my parents for their daughter's act. Though I could not overcome the pain, time started to heal my hard feelings, and I started enjoying my scratched cycle.

His First Mercedez Benz