LEAVE THE BEEHIVE ALONE...

 

Tomorrow, our two-month PD course will come to an end. The students and teachers – I wish to be old-fashioned in calling them – are excited about the graduation ceremony which is planned for tomorrow. 

I am, as always, extremely excited. To me, the entire two-month experience provides a different kind of satisfaction… I feel extremely fulfilled each time the session comes to an end. I really cannot express this joy in my words. It is very, very emotional experience, very personal!

Each one of them has already spoken from the podium as to how the course has helped them. Tomorrow, while receiving the Certificates, they are, once again, going to share with us their experiences. It will be, as always, a very moving experience… 

Last Sunday, we had invited many professionals just to share with our young ones this: “How did I go about my life, my career?”

Every speaker had only one thing to stress on: “Be Passionate about what you do in life!”

If you are passionate about what you do in life, how can you ever fail?

Read again: “If you have that red-hot passion running through your veins, what in the world can stop you from succeeding in life?”

So, it doesn’t really matter, whether you will be employed or self-employed, whether you will run a company or run your home, whether you will be a doctor, advocate, CA or an actor, singer painter or a dancer… or just a teacher like me… Yes, it really doesn’t matter. If you are passionate about what you have chosen, that’s enough to motivate you. 

So, when the session was ending on last Sunday, I thanked all the guest speakers who had come to share, ‘touch’ our youngsters. Invariably, they were the ones who had, years ago, gone through the same programme. It was the ‘pay-back time’, now… What had gone around, had come around!

“Life is beautiful… So many good souls come and touch us as we come along,” I told everyone, quite emotionally, “ and, we touch so many lives as we go along!”

Every summer, when the curtain falls on our course, I feel very humbled, privileged and even liberated to get that feeling hovering over my soul. Many have touched me as I have come along my life… I keep touching many as I go along! 

How beautiful! How fulfilling!

 

Nikita, in spite of her good looks, charming smile and her wonderful supportive-parents, had her private ghosts haunting her all her life. She was frightened, almost paralyzed with fear, to say even a ‘hello’ to the one who sat next to her. Making friends, to her, was a killing proposition!

Tomorrow, she will walk out, not only with her two-dozen new-friends, she will also walk with her head held very… very high, And, yes, she will leave all of us inspired by her story!

I am really happy that I met her along my way… and, could ‘touch’ her life!

Sameer was a heart-broken man. He was chucked out of his job due to his low self-confidence, constant goof-ups at workplace and the ‘poor-me’ mind set. Swapnil, his elder brother, took charge of the situation. He did not want his younger brother, a well qualified one, to end up this way: feeling like a loser! So, Sameer would commute to our class, all the way from Dombivali, much before time… he would never skip a single session… Initially he wasn’t able to look into any one’s eyes… not able to say even one line clearly… 

But, what was endearing about this young man was his ‘I-will-bounce-back’ attitude.

I have rarely seen such commitment, determination and persistence. While, to others, it was a different reason to be there, for Sameer, it was a matter of re-gaining his lost honor!

Sesssion after session, Sameer has surprised us… I have so closely watched his transformation from being a ‘victim’ to a ‘victor’. I feel blessed to have been there for him along his way… And, yes, every time an ‘under dog’, like our Sameer, rises up, I feel very, very inspired!

Just a week ago, when they had to share with us one or two personality traits in us which would help us make friends and influence people, it was Sameer who brought back to me the famous lines of the original Guru on the subject: Dale Carnegie! “If you want to gather honey, don’t kick over the beehive!” he declared with vigor and charm.

“Yes, honey, please don’t!” I jumped from my seat and shared with every one as to how I had been gathering honey all along my own life… Yes, leaving the beehive alone!

I will be especially proud for this young man!

I am  looking forward to see tomorrow’s Sun… I can’t wait!

GERALD D’CUNHA 

Pics.: Shaila D'Souza