NOT BEFORE A HARD AND LONG FIGHT











A few hours ago, one of my dear ex-students, and now a dear friend, Vikas, called me. “Sir, I ‘finally’ cleared ‘it’… I am a ‘full’ CA now!”


Vikas is a truly hard-working student. He has a razor-sharp and practical bent of mind… His grip on technology is praiseworthy… He has been working for a CA firm, where he is immensely liked by his boss… He already has several clients whose IT and GST returns he files.


Yet, for Vikas, the road to Chartered Accountancy was not a smooth ride by a chartered plane… It was tough, hard and long! Students, much below his caliber, have become Chartered Accountants with less struggle and frustration… Some of them, even, in the very first attempt!


“That’s luck,” I hear some reasoning out...


Maybe.


But, I have known Vikas for too long a time. So, I, always, felt bad for him. Every time, he would tell me, “Sir, I couldn’t clear, this time, too,” my heart would bleed from inside… “Is it worth all that frustration?” I would, often, ask to myself. In fact, a couple of times, I had advised Vikas, that he should not hesitate to ‘re-think’ his goal… “CA is not everything in life,” I had counselled him, “You can be happy by following your heart in anything else, too.”


But, Vikas did not quit. He proved: “A winner never quits, and a quitter never wins.”


So far so good!


New challenges await Vikas, just as they await all of us. He is wise enough to realize, that becoming a Chartered Accountant is not the end of life… Life still lies ahead!


Some days ago, a dear friend of mine was telling me an interesting story… It seems, right across the CA Institute in Chennai, there is a Church. Outside the church, there is this promise displayed: ‘JESUS NEVER FAILS’.


Apparently, some CA aspirants, had commented below: ‘ASK HIM TO APPEAR FOR CA EXAMS!”


“It isn’t about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done.” Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) hammers this message into his young son’s skeptical skull…









Yes, it’s how hard you can take the blows, that determines how great a fighter and winner you are!



Today morning, another dear friend of mine had shared a popular video with me accompanied by these words:

“This video is not about badminton game alone. In life, there will be people who will smash you… constantly hit you. But, every single time, if you respond perfectly, if you respond sensibly, you will be rewarded at the right time…

Incredible video… How a strong defence can frustrate an aggressive attack… Worth watching.”





This friend of mine had lost her husband after a very long, hard and frustrating battle with bone-marrow cancer, But, a mother of two young daughters, this woman did not give up the battle… It’s too tough a battle… which, eventually, she lost…


But, did she?


I wrote back to my friend: “Yes, it’s very inspiring and it brings out the message. Some weeks ago, when I had first come across this video, I wanted to blog on it… but, adding to it: ‘Along with it, we must have the wisdom to let go, too.’ Acceptance comes only after fighting hard and long… as you did. But, then, you let go… Said, “Thy will be done.” I have done it, too… and, I still do it… but, not before a hard and long fight. It’s also called ‘The Path of Least Resistance’. Thanks for sharing this video, my dear friend. Love”


Whether it’s a Boxing bout, or a badminton match, and whether it’s a CA exam or bone-marrow cancer… fight we all must…and fight as long and as hard as we can. As Jesus Himself, as a human in this world, did when His end was nearing… He went down on His knees and cried out to His Father… ‘Thy will be done’!


Did Jesus fail?



GERALD D’CUNHA


Pic.: Rocky Balboa


Videos: YouTube/Vimal Kumar


Comments

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...