WHAT SAVES US FROM GOING 'BANKRUPT' OR 'INSANE' IN LIFE
Pic.: Tandra Chakraborty
A
lady called me up this morning. “Sir, my name is Anjana*,” she said, “If you
remember, you had taught my brother-in-law, Uttom* many years ago.”
I had difficulty recollecting the name. By then, Anjana
had already asked me this: “Sir, do you still teach?”
“What else will I do, Anjana, if I don’t teach?” I asked
light-heartedly.
“Just asked sir,” Anjana sounded a bit apologetic, “it is
really a long time – almost, thirty years since you taught my brother-in-law!”
Anjana wanted to enroll her son for the twelfth-standard…
But, she wasn't sure whether I was still in the profession of teaching!
I
know someone who has a shop, not very far from my office. Over the last ten
years, I have seen the sign-board outside his shop changing at least four or
five times… Which means, every two years, he has tried a new venture… And, he
is still trying!
After a certain stage, every person and every business
has to re-invent himself or itself. Else, stagnation comes in. Diversification,
therefore, is good. But, not until one finds his niche, his area of core competency…
Simply put: If you do not know what you are best at, you will keep testing and experimenting
all your life!
The other day, I was reading what Amitabh Bachchan was
telling when asked about what had saved him from total bankruptcy. “My passion
for acting and bringing focus back on it,” he had replied.
That sums it all… Imagine Amitabh Bachchan without his
acting prowess… Imagine him doing everything but acting! Yes, his downfall had
come – in a career spanning over four decades – only at a time when he had strayed
away from acting, when he had lost his focus on it!
What saves all of us from going ‘bankrupt’ or ‘insane’ in
life is the same thing: the passion for our respective professions and the
focus we give to it…
Some thirty-five years of teaching has kept my
self-confidence in life alive. Because I love teaching and because I am able
focus on it, I am not afraid to face my future… “I can teach and I can survive,”
I keeping telling myself.
Yes, Anjana, what else will I do, if I don’t teach?
* Names changed
GERALD D’CUNHA
Comments