What if to What is

“Just this one increment and bonus that I am expecting in the next two months, and I am done with this Raichand. I think it is time for me to leave this job,” Swami declared and munched his muffin with gusto the other day.

Jigneshbhai and I noticed that his bites got aggressive every second as he saw his dream scenario unfolding in his head.

“So you have decided?” Jigneshbhai asked.

Swami looked up with a scowl. He doesn’t like such direct questions, especially when it comes to Raichand and his job.

“Am I speaking in a language other than English?” he yelped.

Jigneshbhai gulped a couple of sips slowly from his coffee. While it was hot, it wasn’t as hot as Swami today.

“No, of course. I understood what you spoke. I just rechecked,” Jigneshbhai replied.

“Rechecked what?” Swami howled.

“Well, that you are not in what-if land,” Jigneshbhai muttered in a cheeky tone.

Swami and I both wondered what he was talking about.

“What land?” Swami interjected before I could rack my brains on it any further. He was in a hurry.

“What-if land,” Jigneshbhai replied.

“Where is that? Or is it something you made up?” Swami asked.

“Oh! We live there most of the time,” Jigneshbhai affirmed.

“Where’s that? I live here,” Swami quizzed Jigneshbhai.

“Well, you know. That’s what we feel. But we aren’t here,” Jigneshbhai replied. Swami and I gave him a weird look to check what our friend had been drinking.

“Don’t worry, I am fine,” he declared when he saw our stare.

“Then what nonsense are you blabbering? What-if land, it seems?” Swami wasn’t going to take anything lying down.

“What if I get my next increment? What if I don’t get my bonus? What if I leave my job? What if I stay? The land of those thoughts. I call it What-if land,” Jigneshbhai repeated.

“Don’t make fun of me,” Swami warned. “These are serious questions. I have thought about it,” he added.

“Indeed they are. But they are imaginary,” Jigneshbhai insisted.

“Imaginary? How? I have to think about what if I leave my job? I have to think what if I can’t pay my bills and what if I don’t get another one. And what if my…, ” Swami rattled one situation after another.

“What-if land,” Jigneshbhai said again and focused his attention on his coffee. “Only in the mind. Did you get any answers?”

Swami wasn’t convinced. He wasn’t in the mood to get convinced. He was fully on the trip of what-if land as Jigneshbhai said.

“I have thought about the answers. But it is real. The worry is real. How can you say it is only in the mind?” Swami countered.

“Of course, it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” Jigneshbhai asked.

 “What-if land is unreal. But the emotions it creates are real,” he added. I checked if he had grown a beard like Dumbledore.

He continued getting back to his coffee and muffin every time.

“So then what is real?” Swami asked in despair.

“This coffee and muffin is What-is land. It’s real,” Jigneshbhai replied.

Swami and I pondered over it. That is when we saw that the wealthy old man walked over to our table. He seemed to be in a serious mood today.

He left us with more food for thought when he said, “It can be a long journey. From What-if land to What-is land. It can also be a journey that never begins.”

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