An Unfinished Story

An Unfinished Story

1987 9 September 18 An Unfinished Story (382) Mr. P.N. Pathak, joined the Hindustan Times Staff as an ordinary worker, in 1958, and, owing to his devotion and dedication to work, finally succeeded in securing the high post of Deputy Superintendent of its composing department. His early death of heart failure, at the age 50 on December 27, 1984 brought his career to an untimely end.

The note in the newspaper on this sad occasion, said, quite simply, “He rose to the present position by sheer hard work.”

(The Hindustan Times, December 28,1984)

After having completed his education in Allahabad, Mr. Pathak worked for some time with the Times of India and Indian Express, then he joined the staff of the Hindustan Times where he found the atmosphere conducive to dedicated work. It involved a long and laborious struggle of 25 years to reach this high post, but before he had time to enjoy the fruits of his labour, death cut his career short.

Man’s fate does, indeed, seem tragic and ironic. He works hard in this world to achieve some goal but, hardly has he been able to reap the fruits of his labours, than he is removed from the scene.

How distressing is this end to life! Yet no one stops to give it a thought. Everyone sets himself to repeating the same story as his predecessor. And how many of these stories reach a happy conclusion? There is no human being whose life story ever quite reaches completion. But no one seems to be concerned about discovering the reason. No one appears keen enough to find the path which will lead him to the successful completion of his story.

Every human being in this world is, in fact, a tale left half way. As one seems to near one’s destination, one is suddenly taken away. It is as if life were without a destination. Stranger still is the negligence of man towards gravest of realities.

But this is only a temporal way of looking at things. We have these feelings because we think of our final destination as being in this world, and not in the hereafter. It is only when, with the help of God, we change this attitude that we understand that completion, fulfillment and happiness belong to the next life, and not to this.