Let me begin with a confession: I once stole a pencil from my classmate in 4th grade. It was a Nataraj, freshly sharpened, with that glossy black body. Beautiful thing. I still remember the thrill — and the guilt — which lasted a whole 14 seconds before I used it to draw a mustache on my math textbook cover.

Fast forward two decades: I’m stuck in traffic, it’s 45 degrees outside, Spotify is buffering, and I haven’t had my coffee. That’s when it hits me: Karma. The universe is finally collecting payment for that pencil. And the mustache.

But here’s the twist — if karma is real, and it’s keeping track of every cosmic pencil theft and emotional drama, why do good people suffer? Why is my neighbor, Mrs. Sharma, who feeds stray dogs and prays more than Google listens, still dealing with arthritis and a leaking ceiling?

And why does that guy from school — the one who used to cheat in exams and steal lunch boxes — now own a startup, a BMW, and probably a yacht named “Destiny”?

The Cosmic Customer Complaint

If karma had a helpline, I’d call it.

“Hello, this is Karma Support. For English, press 1. To complain about suffering, press 2. To ask why your ex is thriving, press 3. To speak directly to your past-life manager, stay on the line…”

You wait for 12 lifetimes. Still no answer.

Turns Out, Karma Isn’t Amazon Prime

See, we’ve misunderstood karma. We want instant results. Bad action? Punishment by Friday. Good deed? Reward in 3-5 business days.

But karma isn’t a vending machine — it’s more like a very old, wise librarian with a really long queue and zero interest in your Instagram likes. It works on a time scale that makes glaciers look fast.

That headache you got this morning? Maybe it’s not from too much screen time. Maybe it’s your past-life self who ghosted someone in the 1800s. You just never know.

Suffering: Karma’s Weird Cousin

So why do we suffer, if we’re not all villains in disguise?

Some say it’s to balance things out. Some say it’s to learn. And some say it’s because we tried to eat roadside chole bhature at 11 PM. All valid theories.

But maybe, just maybe, suffering isn’t a punishment — it’s part of the human mess. Like uninvited relatives during wedding season, or that one friend who borrows your charger and disappears.

Maybe the point isn’t to avoid suffering but to go through it without becoming bitter. Maybe the point is to laugh at the absurdity of it all — like I did when I slipped in front of my crush and blamed the “uneven aura energy.”

In Conclusion (Because Every Blog Needs One)

Karma probably exists. So do traffic jams, heartbreak, power cuts during IPL matches, and neighbors who drill at 7 a.m. But while we wait for the universe to sort out our celestial report cards, we might as well:

• Be kind,

• Laugh often,

• Avoid stealing pencils (especially the good ones),

• And remember — the universe may be slow, but it never forgets. Not even that time you said you were “on the way” when you hadn’t left home.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to meditate, or at least pretend to — just in case the universe is watching.

Later.