AMBITION - OUR DRIVING FORCE






Pic: Umang Pahwa

Ambition is ambition! Whether your ambition is to do well in your exam, job, business or profession... Whether you are an Ambani, Subrata Roy or Baba Ramdev... Whether you are an Amitabh Bachchan, Sachin Tendulkar or Srinivasan... Yes, ambition is ambition! It is a very powerful force that propels you to each and every kind of accomplishment in life. Money, fame, power and, even, sainthood... all come from it.

As kids, we loved to possess every attractive toy our eyes would fall on. And, as grown-ups, we are no different. So, it is the ambition in us that gives us – the eternal kids – our every ‘toy’ in life!

When a goal is single-mindedly pursued, with robust faith and dogged determination, it becomes our ambition. Nothing in life is achieved without ambition. Nothing. So, if there is no other road to reach to our goals, except through our ambitions, then ambition, in life, is good.

It is greed that is not good...

It is the crooked intention that is not good...

It is the blatantly aggressive and manipulative path – which, one, sometimes, adopts to achieve his goal - that is not good...

What Dhirubai Ambani did, from being a petrol-pump attendant in Africa, or what Subrata Roy did, from being a salesman on his Lambretta scooter, or what Narendra Modi is now trying to do, from being a tea vendor in his village in Gujarat, and, here, what I am doing on my computer, now... yes, all these things are born from our respective ambitions...

If the burning ambition to become our country’s PM is what drives Narendra Modi so restless, it is to make my own mark as a good writer, teacher, mentor or whatever it is... that drives me restless, every day...

So, I say, there is nothing wrong with our ambitions... as long as we are conscious of our roots and careful about our means... as long as we avoid short-cuts and cut-throats all our way... and, yes, as long as we stay away from the illusion called ‘More’...

When our ‘more’ remains, forever, ‘less’, that’s the clear indicator that our ambitions are fatal! 

If the empires built by mighty Hitler and Alexander could last only that long, it would be the same fate for Ambanis, Roys and  Mallyas... the same fate for  Gandhis, Thakreys and Modis... Same for Chopras, Khans and Bachchans... and, yes, it shall be so for you and me, too!

Perhaps, this realization – that, our ambition is good as long as our intentions and means are good – might help us stay grounded, through our journey called ‘Success’...  Else, ambition in life is a fatal intoxication...  driving us to our Waterloos!

GERALD D’CUNHA

Comments

Darpan Gupta said…
Ambition is a powerful driving force, which can make or break us!!!
----- Darpan Gupta
April 3, 2014 at 6:47 PM
Sudhir Bedi said…
Ambition is behind every man's rise and fall!!
- Sudhir Bedi
April 3, 2014 at 7:10 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MUTHU KODI KAWARI HADA

Image
Pic.; Ashwin Mohta M y Hindi was always bad. It still is. One reason for this was, that they introduced Hindi for us only in 6 th standard. Or, was it in 8 th ? I don’t remember… I only remember struggling to write and read… leave alone speak! But, I loved Hindi movies, and, strangely, I could understand the dialogues and the lyrics of the songs… I used to sing those songs (of course when no one was around me!) as if I was the lyricist… One of the songs was a very funny one. ‘Muthu Kodi Kawari Hada’. It was from Mehmood’s super-hit comedy – ‘Do Phool’. I was a 15-year-old high-school boy when I had heard that song (not watched the movie). I could grasp the meaning of two words – ‘Muthu Kodi’… which meant ‘Give kiss’… But, what ‘Kawari Hada’ meant, I have no clue till date! It was just like ‘Why this kolaveri di’... Yes, why ask? Simply enjoy the beats… And, the beats are great… The rest... Who cares? Really! So, whatever bit of Hi...
Read more

SELLING MIRRORS IN THE CITY OF THE BLIND

Image
“I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty. I laugh when I hear that people go on pilgrimage to find God.” - Kabir T here is a universal human weakness – and it dates back to the days of fallen civilizations – and it is: to place people on pedestal and trying to be smothered by them, feel loved and protected in their company… worship them as mentors, heroes,  gurus, Mahagurus and Satgurus… Make these mortals larger-than-life cut-outs, worship them as flawless, pure and give one’s all… And, then, ‘take’ everything from them blindly as divine… Give everything to them blindly… Eventually, what happens is:  one more dangerous bondage… What was supposed to free you now becomes a new prison… It’s sad to see this happen! T his room, where I am writing this Post, has no image of any deity. I have no image of any Guru or Master around me… My question is: “Am I not able to feel close to Almighty God?  How ...
Read more

"HAPPILY EVER AFTER IS NOT A FAIRY-TALE... IT IS A CHOICE"

Image
“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone… It has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.” – Ursula K. Le Guin,  The Lathe of Heaven T welve years ago, when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie got married, the world began to hail the couple as ‘Brangelina’. It became a fashion for couples around us to call themselves so… Norbert and Teresa renamed them as ‘Noresa’…  Amol and Vishaka baptized their relationship as ‘Amoshka’… and, Salman and Nargis became ‘Salgis’! I and my wife, too, got tempted to re-christian our matrimonial relationship as ‘Germa’... That is, Gerald and Anima, to be precise! B efore I proceed any further, let me make it very clear, here… that, I have no business to judge on the break-up of Brad Pitt and Angelina’ Jolie’s marriage. I have no inclination to go into why, how, what when etc behind it… The couple ‘chose’ to split. And, it’s their choice… Only they know how good or bad… how joyful or pain...
Read more
THE WILD, WAYSIDE FLOWERS
There is, always, something extra-ordinary in the wild, wayside flowers...