AM I A STREAM... OR, AM I AN OCEAN?

I was talking to one my dear students, Kavita, last morning. 

About twenty years ago, when I was teaching Kavita, I had found her not only good in studies but also in singing. She was a brilliant singer. 

Kavita went about doing ICWA, got married and then settled with her family abroad. Now, her two sons are growing up; and, as every woman has to deal with, she had to deal with the dilemma of doing the balancing act. A year ago, she decided to quit her well-paying job abroad, and they all decided to come to India and settle here. 

Presently, Kavita is not working. Rather, she is working – all twenty-four hours of the day – on raising her two sons!

So, almost two decades later, Kavita caught up with me, once again. This time, she wanted her teenager-son to under go the Personal Growth programme which The Dawn Club conducted every summer. 

Kavita adores me! Now, do I sound ‘shameless’ when I indulge in a statement like this? Even if you think I do, I would repeat what I just said. Last morning, Kavita did confess over the phone: “Sir, you have fired me up in my life!”

Well, NOW, I feel a lot shy… and I am trying to hide!

Even with such bulldog faith in me, this mother of the teenager wanted her ‘adorable’ teacher to tell her – how I would help her own son! Or, to put it in her own colorful language, ‘How I would ‘fire up’ her young offspring?”

“How did I do to you, Kavita?” I asked her without even waiting for my next breath. Then, I added, “All that we are going to do is: help the young man get in touch with himself… Help him recognize his talents and strengths… Help him have faith in himself… Help him to discover his authentic self… Once that happens, everything else happens. He will have zest in life; goals will fall in place… No one needs to coax him all the time; nobody needs to motivate him… He will speak from his soul… Because, he glows from within!”

Kavita was able to relate to what I was saying. Just allow the flower to bloom; just allow the bird to sing… Just allow the teenager to be!

I have told this endlessly, and, here, I am telling it again: 

An eagle has to fly, 

a whale has to swim, 

a nightingale has to sing… 

and a peacock has to dance… 

So, it goes, 

I have to teach, I have to write… 

I have to touch!

Makes perfect sense. Yes, it does!

Then, when the evening came, another dear student of mine, Sheela Krishnamony, commented on the day’s post: 

“Sir, you write so well! How come you became an Accounts teacher? You should be an English teacher!”

Yes, she, too, was saying this to me, almost, after three decades!

I got back to her even before the Sun could take the next step home:

“You know Sheela, (as the saying goes), every elephant has two sets of teeth: one for eating... and the other for showing! With my Accountancy set, I ‘eat’... and, with this one, I 'reveal myself'!

Well, that may sound as pun… or, as the closest answer to your question: 'How come?’

But, seriously, Sheela, in today's Post, I have told you... how ‘good’ I was in English!!!

Maybe, that, every stream has to reach the river, every river has to reach the sea... and, every sea has to reach the ocean…!

I think, the Nature is working, here, her plan... I am just allowing myself to flow... and, reach where I belong!

Thanks a lot...

Love.”

Often, I ask this during our training programmes:

 

“Do we know where we belong?”

Last morning, the teacher asked the student: “Dear, do you know where does your son belong? Do you know where lies his ‘ocean’?”

And, when the day ended, the student asked the teacher: “Are you a stream or are you a river? Are you a sea or are you an ocean?”

So, who am I?

Where do I belong?

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pics.: Vinod Korgaonkar