WRITING A BLANK CHEQUE BEFORE GOD

“My life is a blank cheque before God…

No strings attached.”

David Platt

 

I did not start writing because I was good at writing… It’s the opposite. I was very, very bad at it. English was not my medium… I was afraid to open my mouth before those who spoke fluently in English. I had terrible stage fear and I was filled with self-doubts. I had not read any self-help books or attended any such workshops…

This was while I was a teenager and studying in my college. All that had happened, I remember, was this: Prof. B . S. Raman had come to teach our big class (more than 100 students… all boys). I sat somewhere in the middle and got inspired by him. Next thing that happened was this: I was burning with the desire to become like him – a fine teacher and writer, and, of course, an idealist. He as that… and, I wanted to be that.

So, for sitting in Prof. Raman’s classroom for three years during my degree college - and without talking to him, one-on-one, even a sentence – I had a dream inside me. I started teaching my close friends after the college hours and on holidays. Believe me when I say this: Money was badly needed at home; but, I was teaching so many of my friends and young kids from our neighbourhood – yes, without charging them anything…

That’s the time, I had started writing a line or two in my personal diary to express myself and improve my English… I was reading relentlessly books to improve my language… I was writing notes, too, relentlessly. All the while, the aim was this: to feel good about myself… to build up my self-confidence.

What I did not realizes during these years was, that the acts done with no expectations of monetary reward – were like the nuts buried by the squirrels for their future – and which, invariably, they would forget about!

The mighty trees, that come up in the woods, look back and thank these forgetful squirrels … ‘For doing it and forgetting about it!’

Every day, when I write these posts and share them in public domain – the woods outside – I think of the forgetful squirrels and smile…

Look, money is a big thing, but not everything. It was so when I was a college kid, and it’s so now, as I teach these college kids…

“Keep writing and sharing… and forget about your posts, just the way the squirrels do in the woods,” I wrote to a dear friend, this morning. For months, she has been writing on her favourite subject and just sharing them in public domain. “Sir, appreciate if you could read today’s post and offer your valuable insights,” she had requested…

I had replied to her instantly, reminding her about the forgetful squirrels…

And, then, I wrote this Post and ‘buried’ it out there – in the woods…

Yes, I have already forgotten about it!

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

 

Pic’s: aliancepestservices.com  

Video: KSDK News