In the family of a debt-laden
father and a bed-ridden mother, I am the elder sister to a 16 year old brother.
Life has never been compassionate to my parents. Business never worked out,
health never supported and finances were never sorted. Luckily, I qualified the
entrance test and got myself an undergrad seat in one of the government college
away from my hometown. Though the fee was way less than that of the private
colleges, my parents used to struggle paying up on time. However, my mother
made sure I completed my graduation, taking financial aid from her brothers. At
the outset, I finished my studies with a fair result.
Post graduation, mother’s health
started deteriorating further and we did not have sufficient money to give her care
from a private hospitality. I was offered a job at a distant city, which I refused,
only so I could give utmost attention to her. There was a list of expenses and
liabilities laid in front of us, but no assets, no income to cope up with it.
Father’s retail shop was of no good.
We were in a fix... Until one
day, I saw our President, Dr. Kalam, delivering a speech to the students of a
university. The moment he said ‘thank you’ and got off the stage, I knew who to
seek for at this moment of disgust. I started following him.
The challenge, my young friends, is that you have to
fight the hardest battle, and never stop fighting until you arrive at your
destined place. What will be the tools with which you will fight this battle?
They are: have a great aim in life, continuously acquire the knowledge, work
hard and persevere to realize the great achievement.
My aim was pretty clear, but
I started wondering how to channelize hard work and perseverance. Being the potentially
stronger in the family, I was expecting my father to figure out everything. I
fought with him for his negligence, cursed him for not working enough and
almost murdered the respect that I had for him. But it wasn’t bringing out a
change. Rather, it was worsening the situation.
When it comes to us actually making a positive
contribution to the system we lock ourselves into a safe cocoon and look into
the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr. Clean to come along &
work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand.
It struck me hard. What was
I doing? I felt silly for pressuring and cursing my father. I finally stood up
to be the magician myself. Mother’s medical urgency was prompting me again and
again; and I knew I could not wait any longer. I started stressing on the
different things that I should do to bring in some help. I asked my peers,
teachers and relatives but no one showed enough concern. I applied to a number
of jobs in my hometown but there were no vacancies. I personally visited them
too, but the hiring season had gone past. My mother asked her brothers for help
again, but they refused this time as the previous dues were not cleared.
We were slowly losing hope.
In the process, my mother started undergoing mental traumas. I was running into
a distressed state where everything was turning black. I could not see any rays
of hope, recovery or sanity. I found myself staring at the ceiling with a blank
mind. Doubts started creeping in; will we be able to make it?
We are as young
as our faith and as old as our doubts. We are also as young as our
self-confidence and as old as our fears. We are as young as our hopes and as
old as our despairs.
I got
up. I needed more of it, I needed inspiration... before it was too late.
Creativity is seeing the same
thing as everybody else, but thinking of something different.
All I
could see was an end. What was beyond the end? A door? But where was it? I was
sitting with my mother while we were going through old photographs. The smiles
that we were adorning in the pictures made the moment nostalgic and saddening
at the same time. There were pictures of birthdays, anniversaries and other insignificant,
but memorable milestones. We came across a picture in which I was holding a big
smile, a trophy bigger than my face and a certificate. Mother and I simultaneously
remembered that I was awarded the ‘Artist of the year’ at school. She remembered
how I used to draw on all the walls of my grandparents’ home, how I repurposed
wedding cards into birthday cards, how I made gift boxes out of cardboards of
used products....
Just then, my mind started churning. She was
in a happy state of recollecting the long-gone happy days but I was suddenly not
paying attention anymore.
That
was my moment of creative being.
I realised,
I was not putting my talent to work. Graduation business took away my zeal of making
paintings and creating new things out of nothing. I started missing all of it.
But keeping everything apart, I knew what to do now. I knew now, that there is
a door beyond the end- I had to paint it myself!
Excellence
happens not by accident. It is a process. You have to work hard to achieve it.
I ordered stationary supplies and started off. I took as much
time during the day and worked nights together. Some days, I got only a couple of
hours of sleep in total. My mother started worrying but she knew I wouldn’t
stop.
I worked hard with perseverance.
Finally, I came out with a series of paintings, collectibles and gift items. It
took time, a long time; but it was worth it. I approached a few galleries and
they agreed to buy them at a handsome price. My creations were sold out within
less than a month and I was left with a pocket full of solutions.
Everything started to fall into place. My mother recovered, I
arranged a small toy shop for my father and little brother acquired his degree
too. Things were not super great but we were just okay.
I owe my success, my
mother’s life and family’s stability to the finesse, Kalam. His words were
enough to kindle the light in me. In short, he saved me.
I would like to
ask you, what would you like to be remembered for? You have to evolve yourself
and shape your life. Write your dreams down on a piece of paper. That page may
be a very important page in the book of human history.
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