Conflict of Desires

(Monday Dusk, 6:00pm)….. Alaya and her mother are walking down the streets of St.Thomas. It's Christmas Eve, roadside shops are filled with colorful toys, X-mas trees, Bells... Alaya is usually not very fond of toys but this evening is different for her. Her eyes stopped over a very attractive Toy. It's on the display shelf of “Gifts n Packs”. Alaya is too young to understand the numbers on price tag... She stopped her mother and asked her to buy that attractive toy. Mother could not resist her first request to buy her a toy. Sales person of “Gifts n Packs” welcomed them with a fake smile as they dropped into the nook center.

Sales Person: “How can I help you ma’am?”
Mother: Aaa.. that one..in the right Shelf, th…

Even before Mother could complete her sentence, Sales Person got what they wanted when Alaya pointed her finger at her heart throb. Sales person asked his assistant to get that Toy. The sales person was noticing that Alaya could not stop looking at that Toy until it reached his hands. Even before billing it, Sales person placed the toy in the tender hands of Alaya. Alaya’s excitement had no limits.. she was overwhelmed with Joy. This is the first time she ever asked for something from her mother and now she has it in her hands. Mother asked for the bill, Sales person whispered that the toy costs Rs.3,890 and there is no discount on it. Alaya's mother tried to bargain but the salesperson did not agree to the quoted price. The price is pretty shocking and mother decides not to buy it for two reasons.. First, she didn’t have that huge a cash, second, she didn’t want to spend so much on that little toy. Alaya could understand all of this and simply handed over the Toy back to the sales person. Alaya actually didn’t want to do that but she some how managed to suppress her feelings and walked silently along side her mother.

Mother did not have enough courage to console her as she is confronted with the world’s strongest weapon, silence. Although Alaya is pretty young, she is good in understanding situations and act accordingly without hurting anyone. She rarely speaks her mind or exhibits her desires. When things don’t work, she wouldn’t cry like most of us, but keep it to herself. They have just walked half the distance down the street. Mother decides to take her to another famous Toy shop which is just few shops away from them. It’s called “Toys Kemp”. Mother did not speak a single word but simply took Alaya to Toys Kemp and let Alaya move around to choose a Toy. Alaya was disinterested in it but was just doing it to oblige her mother’s efforts in keeping her happy. As she walked along the stand, she could find umpteen Toys of various colors, sizes, designs. Alaya didn’t find any of them attractive as she was still thinking of the other Toy. She finished her first round of glance and reached back to her mom. She could not tell her mom that she will not be interested in any of these Toys So, She kept walking to take a second glance.. This time her eyes stopped over a Descent but very attractive Toy. She had seen this in her last stroll but didn’t pay much attention to it. Now, she is a bit reluctant.. she is not sure if she should choose something and get emotionally attached to it for obvious reasons. But she could not stop her eyes getting hooked on to it. She walked back to that Toy and was starring at it for some time. Toys Kemp like Gifts n Packs did have sales persons but they wouldn’t intrude the freedom of walking and choosing what you want on your own. A sales person kept watching all of this silently from a distance.

Alaya is still confused whether to pick it up or not. She knows that her mother will buy her this time no matter how much it costs. The toy has all that she thinks a toy should have. Above all of that she likes it.. even more than the first one. Besides slight traces of fear of loosing it again like the first one, its irresistible for her to fall in love with it. There is no reason for her to leave the place without the toy. After fighting the battle of dilemma, she finally decides to choose it for her. The beauty of second Toy has almost made her forget the first one. She walked up to her mom and said “I would like to have this for me”. Her mom whole heartedly accepted and looked for the sales person to bill it. The sales person replied her with a smile as if he knew everything that happened in Gifts n Packs and whispered to the guy at the counter to give them a discount of 60% (which is really unusual at Toys Kemp). After the billing he walked up to Alaya, bent a little and asked Alaya to take it. Alaya in all her happiness stretched her arms and was about to take it…

“…. excuse me ma’am, sorry to bother you”

It's the sales person from “Gifts n Packs” who came running all the way holding the same Toy that Alaya and her mother did not buy last time. The sales person said..

“… ma’am, our proprietor thinks that you can buy this for the same price you had asked for”

Mother, is with money in her hands to pay it to the sales person at Toys Kemp..
Alaya, is with her stretched arms ready to receive the Toy she just chose for herself..
The sales person (of Toys Kemp) is about to hand over the Toy..
And the sales person (from Gifts n Packs) is also with stretched arms in front of Alaya and about to hand over the Toy she chose sometime back…

Readers, what do you think Alaya should do now??

Should she stop buying the second one and go with the first one?
Should she buy the second one?
Should she stop looking for Toys at all?

(for all of those wondering why such a boring story by Kbhbejti..)

Well, this is just a small thought on human behavior when confronted with conflict of desires made over a time in the form of a story.. In the story, If we can envisage ourselves in the shoes of Alaya, then we can easily relate toys to what we wish to "achieve/own/commit into a relationship with someone" in our lives... salespersons are like the external force (to us) driving those achievables/relationships, influencing them.. (could be a person's attitude in case of a relationship or a process in case of an examination). Alaya's mother is like everything else other than you and your dream.. say your friends, family, relatives, society..etc who may stop you or help you from getting what you want.

I will conclude the story in my next post after I receive a couple of comments on this. Let’s see what others think that Alaya should do about it.