I have been
a failure in most of the things I have tried my hands at so far. I have never
tried to be a model father. I am one of those unfortunate fathers who have never
had much of a hand behind the success of their children. One reason may be that
children who get gloated over by their parents invariably turn out to be the
pampered ones in the real sense of the term. But I know I am not uncaring or
unloving or whatever.
So, when I
found my daughter, Akanksha, a little worried about the topic of her morning
speech, despite the huge pile of the answer-scripts of the trial, I decided to
write something for her in order to help. So I took hold of my diary and
started scribbling at a break-neck speed. My father-in-law was lying in bed
next to me. I could not have taken more than 15 minutes to write hurriedly about
whatever came to my mind. The title of the writing I decided to write at the
end. I entitled it “Making A Difference”. I called my eldest to our bed-room.
She came quite reluctantly as she was busy watching one of her favourite TV
serials and said something like: “I can’t give you more than 5 minutes …”,
knowing full well the reason why I had called her in.
As I started
reading out from the page of my diary, I could feel three pairs of eyes (including my wife's as well) and
ears hanging onto each word I uttered as if my very survival in this world
depended on it! Now let me share with you, reader, my latest writing entitled: Making A Difference.
{ I have
deliberately omitted the first few lines as I had scribbled it as a morning
speech with all the usual formalities and all.]
Now, you all
know, that god meant this world of ours to be a heaven on earth. Unfortunately,
it is anything but, and what is really sickening is this unimaginably beautiful
world of ours is turning from bad to worse with every passing day. Therefore,
it lies on us, the future denizens, to try to make a difference in our own
small ways, To do all we can to keep the world the way it was meant to be!
Talking
about problems is quite easy, but finding some quick-fix solutions may be the
need of the hour. So before dealing with the solutions, let me briefly hint at
some of the stumbling-blocks, the so called problems which are hindering our
progress, both internal as well as external.
Firstly, it
is our Ego and Attitude. Whenever I think of these two complimentary words, I
am always reminded of the story in Shiv Khera’s You Can Win. It is a story of two brothers who preferred to go separate
and completely opposite ways, following their father. One was a drunkard. The
other, a very successful entrepreneur. You see, both had the same father, but
it was their attitude of looking at things from their own perspectives that
made them what they were!
Secondly, Hypocrisy.
Today this world has more hypocrites than aristocrats! We are such hypocrites
that we always invariably say one thing when we mean exactly the opposite. It
is like preaching what we are never serious about practising. We tell our wards
not to smoke and never fail to run out for a puff, when the party with its fare
share of liquor, gets going!
Thirdly,
Hatred and Jealousy. This great evil is eating into the very roots of our
being. In this context, let me share a very popular story from The Aesop’s Fables ….
Once there
lived a two-faced crane. The two faces became so distrustful and jealous of
each other that they simply could neither stand the sight nor the thought of
having to live life with the other. Consequently, one face decided to get rid
of the other by taking poison. You can very well guess the outcome, my dear
friends. And we are no better than this two-faced bird. Our hatred and jealousy
of others very often leads to our downfall!
Finally, our
Timidity. Timidity is lack of courage. We, human beings, the greatest gift of
The Almighty, have become so timid, so cowardly that we have forgotten how to
stand up for our woe-begotten rights, let alone doing so for the rights of the
others! I simply cannot help sharing another story of a brave Indian king in
this connection. It is the story of King Purus. When he was captured and
brought before Alexander the Great and asked how he expected to be treated by
the Emperor, the King with his never-say-die attitude answered: As a King is supposed to be treated by
another. This impressed Alexander, another ruler with a brave heart so much
that he set King Purus free with full honours!
I would have
loved to talk about some more such vices and evils, but owing to time
constraint, I shall not. So let me now wind up my speech by talking about the
important qualities that go a long way in making a difference and this
unimaginably beautiful world of ours, a little better and brighter.
Love, Compassion, Sacrifice and Selflessness are some of the essential qualities that we need to
cultivate in ourselves in order to be able to make a difference. You will find
these qualities present in almost all the great religious and secular teachers
and preachers of the world, starting from the Buddha to Gandhiji. So, dear
friends of mine, let us try to imbibe some of these noble qualities for making a
difference, for making a better and brighter world. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE
AND TIME.
[By the time
I had finished reading out my writing, my father-in-law got up from his old-age
slumber and even Akanksha, a very hard-nut to crack just like her father,
looked impressed.]
