DOING IN LIFE ANYTHING BUT WORK

The phrase ‘Gadha mazdoori’ has a ring around it! I use it several times in a day to tell my students, “Dekh beta, if you think, that hard work alone brings success, the donkey would have been crowned as an Icon long time ago!”

“Stop doing the donkey work,” I hammer them, “Do smart work.”

And, whenever I find a young one self-pitying with the thought, “I work very hard,” I shake him hard and yell, “Bachha, you work hardly!”

But, no. The Bachha still loves to believe, that he works very, very hard!

A couple of days ago, in one of my sessions, I reminded my bachhas about what Einstein had said:

 “Success is one percent perspiration and ninety-nine percent inspiration.”

Not a soul tried to correct me!

So, I hope, they went home with this ooltah theory of Einstein: that, to be successful, their work needed to be an inspired work, and not just hard work…

I had, also, reminded them about what Abraham Lincoln had said referring to ‘work’:

 “My father taught me to work, but not to love it. I never did like to work, and I don't deny it. I'd rather read, tell stories, crack jokes, talk, laugh -- anything but work.

Well, I hadn’t twisted, here, what Lincoln had said. But, I wonder, how many of my bachhas went home, that morning, grasping what he had meant!

“In life, if you do what you love, you do not have to ‘work’ at all!”  Did an eminent soul say this?

We need to work hard… as hard as a donkey. We need to possess the same donkey’s patience… The asinine patience, they call it. But, our hard work alone won’t help us. Let our work be smart and inspired one, too. Let it be an outpouring of our heart!

This, I have noted: The people who work insanely hard and long seldom complain about it. Be it anybody from any field… Corporate heads to roadside vendors, Architects, Advocates, Auditors, Doctors, Engineers, Artists, Actors and Teachers like me… You name it, and he or she is there in that long list of people who work insanely hard and long!

Yes, they all love their work; and, they do not call their work ‘work’ at all… They call it what Lincoln said - ‘Anything but work’!

Just last night, I had the follow-up visit with my Oncologist, Dr. Boman Dhabar. He is an eminent Cancer specialist and people come from near and far to consult him. He is attached to several good hospitals in Mumbai, such as Jaslok, Breach Candy, Fortis, Wockhardt and so on. Besides, he has his own cancer-treatment centre in Mumbai. In his private centre, his consulting days are Saturday and Monday; on both the days, it’s after 8 in the night till almost 4 in the morning! The rest of the time, he is busy in various hospitals and in his own centre with Chemo or Radiation therapies. Last night, our appointment time was 11 at night. We reached by 10.30. But, by the time, we were called in, it was 2.15 in the morning!

Patients and their relatives wait there with asinine patience till their turn comes. And, finally when it comes, they get half healed on feeling the energy composure of this doctor!

It is ‘anything but work’, Sir!

Today, my wife and I wanted to watch the latest Hindi movie, ‘Badla’. Partly because, the reviews tell, that it’s a finely-crafted thriller. But, the major reason is to feel the energy of the never-say-hard-work ‘young man’ – the Amitabh Bachchan!

Is it ‘work’, or is it ‘anything but work’?

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: Aparna Deshmukh