THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF SHEIKHS IN THE DESERT

 



“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”

Benjamin Franklin

 

“You are not your father’s care-off.” This line has stayed with me for over three decades. One of our senior trainers would nail it into the skulls of our young  boys and girls, to drive home the point, “Dude, don’t live on your pop’s wealth… Earn your own.”

As I write this, I have a couple of my eleventh-standard students, who are still on a long holiday-mood. Normally, this is the time, they write their Prelims and get set for the Finals. But, this has been such a crazy year, here in Maharashtra… Till the other day, these kids were not sure of their eleventh-standard admissions. Finally, just a few days ago, they learnt about their respective colleges. Following this, some colleges stared their online lectures; some, didn’t. Some of these boys and girls are under my tutelage. There are two categories here: Those who are conscious of the uncertain times in which they are starting their junior colleges… and, those who think, they are on a long, cool holiday…

So, the first category – mostly, whose parents have felt the shock of the pandemic – are doubly determined to build their strength and resilience. They are self-motivated and approach their commitments as if there is nothing there to rest on… that, everything has to be ‘self-earned’, afresh…

The other category – mostly, whose parents have sufficient in their storerooms and lockers – are just chilled. “What pandemic?”… Yes, they haven’t felt the heat of it… Nor have their parents. Holidays to Goa and God’s Own Land are still on… Both, parents and their young children, live as if there is no tomorrow…

I have been having some tough time telling this second category, this: “Hello, the storerooms and the lockers will be soon empty… Better wake up… Better gear up!”

But then, it’s never easy to awaken either the Egyptian Pharaohs or their offspring. The result is there to see in today’s Egypt!

The Sun did set on – does set on and will set on – every empire… Leave alone the little Sheikhs, here around us…

‘Easy come, easy go’… Right?





Just last night, a dear friend of mine, whose family is quite well-off because they have worked very, very hard, sent to me this famous quote attributed to Sheikh Rashid. For the uninitiated, Sheikh Rashid is the visionary who has built the magnificent modern-Dubai:


“My grandfather rode a camel; my father rode a camel;

I drive a Mercedes; my son drives a Land Rover;

his son will drive a Land Rover; but, his son will ride a camel.”

 

Dubai was a God-forsaken desert till 1966. She woke up to her oil treasure in that year. Just after three years, when the digging began, the chief of this land, Sheikh Rashid, became conscious of the reality, that the oil-wells would soon be died up, and they would have to be back on their camels. Thus, he went about developing a parallel economy – an alternative treasure – in the form of modern Dubai…





There are two kinds of Sheikhs in the deserts: Those, who live as if there is no tomorrow… and those, who know, that tomorrow their oil-wells will dry up!

 

 And, there are two kinds of ‘Sheikhs’  everywhere, you see!

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic’s: 1. Denys Gromov/Pixels 2. Getty Images

Video: Zem TV

 

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