Oddball

                        Yesterday I came a little early to college. The ground was smelling sweet, thanks to the untimely April rain that had drowned the city the previous night. That's when I laid eyes upon something that was both pleasing, yet inexplicably amusing to watch.

                        The bitch (No pun intended here, I seriously mean 'female dog') who hung out at the Nescafe stall in college stepped out of the Indi-Prod building alongwith a bunch of puppies, barely over a week old. It was fun to watch the tiny tots circumambulate their mother as if she was their entire world. They'd go where she'd go, turn where she'd turn, and sit where she'd sit, cozying up on her loving bosom.

                        That's when I noticed the last puppy, possibly the youngest and definitely the cutest of them all. It stood out because it wasn't following her, or its siblings. It went where it wanted to go, barked at random spooky-looking trees, as it took its tiny steps away from its family, and when all of them fled at my sight (I then realised how hideous I look), it was the only one who stood in its place, gazing at me with its bead-like black eyes, with the flaps of its ears resting peacefully on its furry cheeks.

                       In an attempt to reciprocate the gesture, I knelt to the ground and held out my arm, and as if that pushed a button jolting it into motion, the puppy broke into a run towards me, rubbing its back against my palm. It then sat down, pacified to the hilt, while its brothers and mother watched afar with eyes filled with a mixture of both awe and curiosity.

                      There's always an oddball like this one, in every group - Someone who chooses to act on his own path. He may not be a leader, but he surely doesn't want to be led, or blindly accept what is told to him as an empirical rule, but makes his own rules. He's not a sheep, he's a shepherd.

                     This is a lesson I've learnt in life (well, over the last 19 years at least) - Do what you want to do. I know this line's a cliché, but exactly how many of us actually follow our heart? Why lead someone else's life when you can lead an amazing life on your own? Why read someone else's success story when you can write your own? Why blend in with the others, when you can stand out on your own?