SWEATING IT OUT FOR OUR OWN DREAMS
Every generation tries to provide the very best for the next!
I remember my grandfather… His
world was revolved around our village paddy-fields, plows and oxen in the shed.
Still, when it came to his eight children, he worked hard to provide them a better
condition in life. So, my father was placed in a better position compared to my
grandfather… Then, came the turn of my father to provide even better things to
his own five sons, which, to the best of his capacities – and wisdom – he did.
So, I was placed at a much better station in life compared to my own father.
The baton was handed over to me to do the same for my only son. I am proud that
I have placed him at even more privileged position compared to his own dad!
That’s how Life has been, all
through the ages… Every generation trying to provide the very best to the next!
But, one thing would never
change, no matter how many generations have come and gone, and how many more will
come and go... And, that’s what God had commanded when He had sent, forever,
Adam and Eve out of Eden Garden, the Paradise
on Earth: “By the sweat of your brow, you will have food to eat until you
return to the ground…”
Till that moment, everything was
‘provided’ ready on a platter to Man and Woman. Food came on the plate on its
own… No worries about a tomorrow… about the next meal or about the next desert.
Life was in a Paradise… It was an endless
feast!
All this changed when God’s
maiden children disobeyed. The Holy Book says that God was enraged and was
compelled to throw Man and Woman out of the Paradise…
“Go, and earn your daily food by the sweat of your brow… Yes, by slogging very,
very hard… and, do it until you die!”
So, this is what, I say, has
never changed and will never change…
No more Paradise
for our children… No more worry-free tomorrows!
Man and Woman have to sweat it
out…
They have to worry about their tomorrow,
their next meal!
Well, even though it is so, we
coolly forget it… and, try to provide to our children their Eden Gardens:
from the best Play Schools to the best Management Schools, from best toys and
gadgets to the best cars and mansions, from the best spouses to the best
Honeymoons… We yearn to provide them all, so that they can be happy and proud,
and we, too, can be!
The
24-year-old Prema Jayakumar, who hails from our Mumbai suburbs, is suddenly in
news… and, for a happy-good reason: She is the All-India topper in
CA-finals-2012. And, to add some icing on this cake, her 22-year-old brother, too,
has passed the same exam, together. The story is told by every Newspaper, TV channel,
Social media… and, why not? She deserves every bit of it... perhaps, with a
21-Gun Salute!
Yes, an auto-rikshaw driver’s
children are these two…raised in a 300-s.ft tenement! He provided them with
best he could… But, in my view, the ‘best things’ he must have provided to them
must be: ‘Self-belief’… and the ‘Value of dreaming and sweating it out to
realize them’!
Today, when we are so obsessed
with sending our children to the best of the best Schools, Activity classes,
Coaching classes, Gyms and Gymkhanas… Sports, Singing, Dancing, Acting,
Modeling, Exchange Programmes, Foreign tours… and, yes, an air-conditioned personal-room
for each one of them at home… a private tutor, a Governess… and, the latest of
the latest gadgets and gizmos… all in the name of providing the ‘best’ to our
Next-Gen… and, all in the name of love, care and concern… we need to think
hard, and, now:
Do we remind our children enough
about the value of dreaming and sweating it out to realize them?
Do we remind them enough about the
importance and the power of ‘Self-belief’?
And, this: Do we need to raise
them in a Paradise… or, teach them to raise
one on their own?
Ladies and Gentlemen, please
stand up for the two, who weren’t raised in a Paradise,
and, yet, have raised their own!
Here go the Guns!
GERALD D’CUNHA
Pics.: Manoj Nair
Comments
- Navin
Very Very inspiring post for me.
.
Thanks for sharing with us.