It was a day in summer solstice. I was on my way back home, feeling the heat of scorching sun. Having done tedious work at my classroom, I got exhausted. Much to my chagrin, the blistering sun, not taking exception, pronounced my irritation even more. As I was completely debilitated, I took off the road to a tree where I thought, I could relax.

When I was loosening up myself, under the tree, one of my friends, going through the same way, saw me and came to me. He looked happy, he was drinking some kind of fruit juice, holding it in his right hand loosely and holding a memento in his right hand firmly. He told me that he was awarded with that memento just before half an hour, as he won first prize in some competition. Though I am not in a position to revel with him, I congratulated him. I was not in a position to speak to him much, due to my tiredness. He was frolicking in joy. Inadvertently the juice he was holding loosely spilled over my shirt.

Much to my vexation, Getting exasperated by this act, I scolded him very much. Even though he was apologising, I didn’t listen to him, and went on upbraiding him. He felt insulted and left the place.

After that, I eased myself and got back my composure. Then I thought, I should not have scolded him too much for such petty mistake. I thought of telling him a “sorry” when I see him next.

When I was thinking about all these, I saw another friend who was running hurriedly on the same road; I stopped him and asked him what had happened.

I was taken aback, after knowing that the person whom I just scolded had met with an accident and died on the spot. I too rushed to the spot and eventually after seeing him dead, without my knowledge, my eyes started tearing, and in a few more seconds my eyes got brimmed with tears.

I could have been the reason, for piquing him, as it should have had led to the accident, and also I may not be. I cried, feeling hatred upon myself, for my helplessness, for not getting a last chance to apologise myself to him. I know that this feeling of hatred upon myself and my acrid acts will not leave me till my death.

I was crying for hours, and feeling for days, after this incident happened. I thought and thought, then, with my intuition, I discerned one of the greatest lessons of life-“sometimes, you don’t get a chance to regret.”

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: – G.R.SAI LOHITH – By profession, I am a student, pursuing by B.Tech in my final year. Fascinated by the meanderings of life, I always had the sense, that life is teaching me some or the other lesson. I have a habit of analyzing every single incident that happens to me and learning something from it. It is my usual habit to share my knowledge with others who didn’t had the experiences, which I am fortunate to. In this process, i found writing short stories about these experiences and lessons of life intriguing. So, this is me.