WHAT WE MAKE OUT OF GOD'S GIFT


 

“Your talent is God’s gift to you.

What you do with it, is your gift to God.”

Leo Buscaglia

 

Recently, when I had been to my hometown (to attend my younger brother Harry’s funeral), I was happy to meet Alwyn, one of my schoolmates, after almost five decades! It was just after I had spoken a few words in my eulogy for Harry. This friend of mine introduced me to his young daughter, who seemed extremely shy and overwhelmed by things around her. I could easily empathize with her, because I was exactly like her when I was of her age… feeling caged and tongue-tied! So, without being asked to do it, I was making her feel comfortable and reassure herself: ‘It’s okay’… ‘It’s okay’!

Three days earlier, on the night of the funeral, when a few close family members and friends had gathered at Harry’s place, Kenneth, Harry’s son, brought his close friend, Roel, to introduce me to him. We quickly got connected, as our interests matched. Roel loved writing short stories, which he regularly shared in his Blog. Kenneth had already told Roel about my daily writings. Yesterday, after reading his latest short story, I felt like talking to Roel. For a long time, I spoke to him about my own experience on the writing process. Unwittingly, I was sharing a lot of my own experience with this young man. He hadn’t expected it; but, still, it was there for him. He was profusely thankful and let me know how elated he was feeling!

Now, I am not mentioning about these two mundane episodes to tell you all how ‘Mahaan’ I have been. But, yes, I am doing it, here, to tell you this: Teaching, guiding, mentoring, motivating others – these things come very, very naturally to me. I know, today, that it is my talent – a gift from God!



As a young boy, I wasn’t aware of the presence of this endowment from God within me. I was constantly battling with my inferiority complex… till one day, when I watched my own teacher - who became my idol – Prof. B.S. Raman, and woke up to the dream blazing silently within me. Teaching and mentoring, from then on, became my sole mission… I did it to feel good about myself… I did it to come out of my own fear and inhibitions… I did it, because, I realized, that was the only thing God wanted me to do in my life…

So, what Leo Buscaglia says is absolutely true:

“Your talent is God’s gift to you.

What you do with it, is your gift to God.”

 

In my daily writings, I still see myself as a teacher, a mentor. It has enabled me to reach out to hundreds of my fellow-beings – little ones, young ones and elderly – from near and far. I earn nothing from this daily activity. But, paradoxically, that’s my most priceless earning, too! The thought, that I am useful to someone… that, I am able to still contribute through my Gift… yes, this thought is incredibly empowering one!

Many years ago, someone had given me a beautiful gift: The gift pack contained two CDs of the film ‘Taare Zameen Par’ together with the iconic souvenirs from the film – the Flip-book of Ishaan Awasthi (Darsheel Safary), his prize-winning painting and, most importantly, the surprise portrait of Ishaan by his teacher and mentor, Ram Shankar Nikumbh (Aamir Khan). For many years, I would play those CDs in our Personality Development sessions. Little ones would sing along all the songs… the young ones and old ones would get choked watching some of the scenes from the film… Everyone knew why so!

After a couple of years, I simply gave away the items from this precious gift to some lucky little-ones – The film CD went to one of them, the music CD to another, the Flip-book, and the two paintings, each, to some others…

The glow on the faces of the lucky recipients still warms my heart!



Blessed are those who wake up to their talents early in life. And, even more blessed are those, who keep honing their talents as their fine skills… And, Dhanya Ho… Dhanya Ho… when, what we do with God’s gifts, goes back to God as our own gifts to Him!

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

 

Pic.: Taare Zameen Par

 

Videos: 1. Heavy Graphics Marketing 2. Taare Zameen Par/Arun Sudarson

Comments

Roel D'Souza said…
Wow!!! Loved this post
January 3, 2021 at 2:08 PM
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