Perseverance

The heights by great men reached and kept, were not attained by sudden flight, But they, while their companions slept, Toiled ever upward through the night.-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

A farmer prepares the ground, plant a bamboo seed, water it & fertilize it for whole year and except for tiny sprout nothing happens. He continues to water it and fertilize it for second year and to his amazement, nothing happens. He tries to peer through soil to find something grown inside but did not find anything. In third year, he took care of small sprout, lovingly clearing weed away, but dint see any result. He felt very discouraging. He planted seed with love & hope in best soil & he was not getting any reward from it. Year fourth also passed away with futile effort & no result at all. He saw other plants in garden have grown up in leaps & bounds, pleasing eyes with their vibrant growth and life. For four years he saw a tiny shoot sprouting from a bulb, no bigger than first year. He sang to it, encouraged, challenged and finally got angry & threw up his hands in irritation. He wanted to stomp it out of life & when he was about to quit during fifth year, for six weeks the Bamboo tree grows as much as three feet per day, until it grows Ninety Feet Tall!

Greatness is not handed to anyone neither it reserved for few people. It is available for you & for everyone. The best performers practice long-long hours every day including weekends. Tiger Woods is a prime motivational example of someone who BELIEVED in the beauty of his dreams, followed his passion, worked hard to pursue them and ACHIEVED unbelievable success. He has been introduced to Golf at an extremely early age of 18 months by his father and has been encouraged to practice intensively. Woods had pulled ahead at least 15 year of practice by the time he became youngest winner of Us-Amateur Championship, at age of 18.  Even after winning many championships, he has never stopped trying to improve, devoting many hours of day practicing and conditioning. He's up at dawn and can stay out on the course for as long as 14 hours hitting balls again and again and again off the tee, out of the sand, or on the green.

 Life is like Bamboo tree. It seems discouraging. We seemingly doing things right by nourishing plant with utmost care and still we see no results. But during long years when there are no visible results, the bamboo tree was developing a mature root system that would sustain & nurture its explosive growth.

Failure is great Teacher

Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.~Thomas A. Edison.Thomas Edison was perfect example of Trial & Error. As a child he was thought to be dumb and according to his teachers he will never succeed in his life. He tried and failed 9000 times before creating a light bulb. When someone asked him that how he felt after failing so many times; he replied I did not fail, I just learned 9000 ways of not making light bulb. Failure teaches us the process. It is the clue to redirect our effort in different direction and to follow different set of plan.

Alan Greenspan dream was to become famous musician as Benny Goodman. Against his parents’ wishes, he left his studies to join Jazz band. Very soon he realized that he is not as good saxophone player as he thought of himself. His musical band recognized his money management talent and they asked him to manage their finance for fees. The failure in music forced Alan to rethink his career goal and he went back to school to become great economist & later Fed chairman. Failure teaches us about ourselves and our ability, our talent and our limitation and it highlights our uniqueness and what we are capable of.

Few of us know that Samuel Langley, born in 1834, had one aspiration in his life; to fly. Determined, he devoured knowledge to become famous scientist & professor of his time and secured $50,000 from US government to materialize his dream. At his launch of Aerodrome, people from different places come to see the wonder of flying, but he lost. He was declared folly in newspapers & he gave up and died as a broken man. Two high school dropouts had the same dream except they did not get any funding and support. While experimenting to fly, they crashed so many times and each time they learned from their failure. And by December 1903, they soar high through the clouds of impracticality with their 1000 dollar homemade flying machine.

Samuel Langley failed & he gave up, Wright brothers failed only to get back up with more strength & determination. The moral is if you want to fly, be ready to fall so many times. Accept that failure is parcel of journey which makes you tougher & stronger. Failure is discouraging, it drains energy and resources, but it forces us to do things right. Failure separates those who think they want success from those who are determined to win.

Even the most distant dream can be realized with determination and persistence.

Of all the engineering progress in the 1800s, the Brooklyn Bridge stands out as the most legendary architecture. It took more than a decade to build, cost the life of its designer, and was constantly criticized by skeptics. In 1883, an imaginative engineer named John Roebling was motivated by an idea to build a magnificent bridge connecting New York with the Brooklyn. The engineers all over the world disapprove of this idea saying that, it was not practical. Roebling could not overlook the vision he had in his mind of this bridge. After much discussion he convinced his son Washington, an upcoming engineer, that the bridge could be built. The father & son planned of how project could be completed & how barriers could be conquered. With great zeal and passion, they employed their team and started their dream project.

Just as work was beginning on the bridge in the summer of 1869, disaster struck. John Roebling severely injured his foot in a freak accident when he was surveying the spot where the Brooklyn tower would be built. He died and Washington was injured and left with a certain amount of brain injury, which resulted in him not being able to walk or talk or even move.

Negative comments were made as foolish people chase wild visions etc & critic suggested that construction project should be scrapped since only Roebling family knew how the bridge could be built. In spite of his handicap Washington was never disheartened and still had a headiness to chase his wild desire.

He tried to encourage his friends to fulfill his father dream but they were intimidated by the task. So, he determined to finish this daunting challenge by himself. All he was capable of moving one finger and he decided to make the best use of it. By moving his one finger, he built a system of communication with his wife. Washington used his one finger code to tell his wife to call the engineers and with his tapping method his could give instruction of what to do to his wife and she passed the information along to the engineers.

For 13 years Washington tapped out his instructions with his finger on his wife’s arm, until the bridge was finally completed. Today the magnificent Brooklyn Bridge stands in all its grandeur as an honor to the victory of one man’s indomitable spirit and his determination not to be crushed by circumstances. It is also homage to the engineers and their team work, and to their faith in a man who was considered crazy by half the world. It stands as a monument to the love and devotion of his wife who for 13 long years tolerantly decoded the messages of her husband and told the engineers what to do.

It is an example of never-say-die attitude that triumph over a dreadful handicap and achieves an unrealistic goal. The Brooklyn Bridge shows us that dreams can be realized with determination and persistence, no matter what the odds are.

Little Girl

I saw group of 5-6 ladies, wearing torn clothes, sitting at signal in front of KFC at Bandra. They were begging for foods from every passerby. Their hair & body were smeared with dirt, their eyes became insensitive to world's cruelty. They have spent torturous summer of Mumbai to unstoppable rains on the road & surrendered to their fate.

I had my evening meal in one of finest restaurant and was waiting for my husband to finish his conversation with restaurant owner. Many people, who came from KFC, gave those ladies burgers or coke. They were snatching meal from donors & ungratefully savoring that. Among them was a 6-7 year old girl. She was wearing an old frock too long or loose for her, reaching till her ankle. The neck of her frock was falling from her shoulder. She was running around in the traffic to get money or food, but was not getting anything. I saw hunger & desperation in her eyes. Those ladies did not share any food items with her.

So, I went in KFC to buy burger for her. Once I came out, all of them started asking and shouting for food. I refused them and gave that packet to small girl. Meanwhile, a small boy of almost same age also came from somewhere to ask for food. I directed him to the girl so that both children share that food. The next minute what I saw, totally enraged me. One elder lady among the group, snatched food from small girl, took more than half of it and gave her back the left-over. She also gave me  "you gave me plain burger, where is coke" look. The girl was too small to protest, started nibbling the burger.The boy understood the street code that he would not get anything, went back to his quest of quell the hunger. One passerby lady gave me know-it-all smile that leave them to their destiny, you cannot help them,

By that time, my husband was back from his conversation & we left for our home, But I could not stopped thinking, where is that girl's mother? What could be her circumstances to leave her little child on footpath? Why did she give birth if she could not afford to take care of her? Can government make a law that you can only become parents if you have means to raise and support your child? Am I suggesting that people with no food or shelter should be stripped of  the most primal right of any living being; giving birth.

3. Dhruv's Birthday

Alia with Sneha & Ashish went to Punjagutta market in Hyderabad to shop for Dhruv's Birthday. She wanted to plan surprise for him. It was sale season, hence Central Mall was crowded with teens bursting with energy, trying to hunt branded products with discounts. She dismissed the sales assistant haggling over her for special deals.While shopping, she preferred to explore various shelves & racks with her undivided concentration.She rummaged over various shops for 3 hours & yet was not able to find anything noteworthy. Finally in Nike stores, she found a little pricey T-shrit with Manchester United design. By that time, she had dragged her friends to almost every shop in that area & felt exhausted. She had faint idea that Dhruv is ardent soccer fan. She asked Ashish to try on that T-shirt hoping it would fit Dhruv perfectly.

Sneha chirped " I wish, after being tired, my boyfriend would buy remarkable stuff overlooking their price. Lastly she settled on black & red Flip-flop, belt, Nike t-shirt & a card with beautiful message.

On that day, Alia got tingly feeling of excitement & can't wait for evening. Dhruv came very late to pick her up after doing his office work.She wore white & black off shoulder summer dress & wrapped scarf around her neck with a tiny butterfly fluttering in her stomach.They went to small but exquisitely donned candle-lit restaurant situated on roof top of warm neighborhood, where delectable aroma of spices was wafting through air & pleasant staffs were politely attending guests .An old guy was singing romantic song on guitar.They had beautiful meal of juicy roasted chicken & garlic naan with smoothies over fascinating conversation and then she gave him her meticulously planned gift one by one. He was awestruck & it brought almost tear in his eyes.

Alia's hostel was 40 km away from city & it takes almost an hour or so to commute from city. The connecting highway goes through dense woods where after dusk hardly 2-3 trucks pass by with threatening speed steered by drunk drivers. While coming back, Alia can literally hear insect's humming & roaches crooning echoing amid dense gigantic trees. The massive sprawling branches knotted together made canopy over road & sides were dotted with unwanted weeds. Once she saw Punjabi Dhaba & carefree students walking alongside, she almost felt relieved. Dhruv dropped her at hostel gate & almost fled away desperate to reach back city safely.

2.When we met !!

It was breezy morning & air was carrying the hint of last night rain. The mighty Sun was rising slowly against rosy clouds casting its glow over dew-laden leaves & grasses. The alarm shrieked 5:30 a.m & Alia jumped from her bed. She bathed & dressed up looking all shiny & hopeful. She came out of her hostel & heard menacing howling behind her. All she saw was three-four dogs threatening her as if she was small stray cat landed in their territory. Somehow she managed to run away, withdrew money from ATM & there she saw him standing near College entrance gate, waiting for her.

He was very fair-looking, well-built with contagious smile spread over his face. She felt a bit drawn to him & a sense of euphoria enveloped her. He was wearing a white T-shirt but then she noticed, hundreds of tiny brown bugs glued on it.

 Oh Dear!! you are not able to pull-off your first impression & Alia started laughing.

They went to near-by garden of Taramati fortress. There was wide array of flowers & buds blooming ,unfolding it's petals to welcome the sunlight & air was thick with pleasant fragrance. The entwined twigs were whispering as they walked towards sitting area high on rocks.

They started chatting on various random topics. Dhruv told her that he gave one thousand to help some poor man, he met while traveling back to home & not sure whether he was fooled by that person or not. He came across very ambitious yet kind heart-ed & genuine person. His fair skin glowing that sometimes, Alia felt a bit complex about her skin color.She could not stop laughing that entire morning. Later she came to know that he wanted her to laugh & enjoy, so he deliberately acted funny. Seriously, as per Alia, Dhruv was best in terms of sense of humor.

While returning on bike, when Alia sat behind him, she thought that he felt very comfortable & warm being with her. So he held her hand & wrapped around his waist. She cried silently with emotions heavy in her chest that for her it is too early to be this close. He dropped her back to her hostel & rode away for his office. She joined her classmates for breakfast in hostel mess with mischievous thought of next date playing in her mind.

1. Lost

In the mid northern part of India, we have an under developed state, which due to poor administration & governance regressed & slumped into poverty & ignorance. There were no schools around to get education & no jobs around to be employed. Poverty was rampant & only health department thrived on expense of expanding grief stricken poor population.

In this scenario, one girl was born in Brahmin affluent family. Her family wanted her to complete the education & hence she has been sent to boarding school at very tender age. The hostel was very far away & she visited her family twice in year. She was never attached to her family & somehow felt that she was never given her share of care & love.

She spent her life in girl-centric Hindi medium hostel, where wearing traditional clothes were compulsory. No mobile phones were allowed which further limited her communication with her family. Girls were expelled from college for having boyfriends. They had access of one movie in a month at common place & limited internet connectivity which was mostly used to befriend with random guys.

Alia was good in her studies & since she paid huge price for her education, she wanted to achieve something in her life. She got admission in Institute of management & she wanted to make the most out of it. But joining new college was huge cultural shock. All of sudden her life has changed as if she was thrown from sunny dessert to very cold mountains & brittle harsh winds are blowing on her face freezing her spine. She was not able to be friendly with any guys. She was hardly fluent in English speaking. So far, she always shared her room with 5-6 girls, now she was allotted her own room. Of all the challenges, living in single seated room was biggest challenge for her. She felt uprooted, scared & very lonely. To make the matter worse, she scored average grades. She felt humiliated & cocooned herself in a shell & tried to save little bit self-esteem she had. she ostracized herself from the few friends she had.

In summer 2009, when a guy named Atul asked her out during her internship, she was so desperate to be attached with someone, she did not think twice. This affair went on for 4-5 month & left her very bitter at the end. Atul was very self-obsessed, unhygienic, tightfisted person & always looked down at her. It was she who spent money on him, traveled on local buses to be with him, but he never gave a damn about her.

Atul-“I come to girl’s hostel not to meet you only but to gaze upon other girls”

In January 2010, when most of her college mate got placed & left college, she was struggling for placements & trying to recover from her breakup, she saw Dhruv, walking in campus, smiling to her. He always smiled at her & she thought, let’s speaks to this guy & sent him friend request on Orkut, then a popular social networking site.

Few days later, a reply came-“I have no interest in being your friend.”  Alia thought, who knows, whether he will like me or my nature. She accepted his proposal only to distract herself from the reality & to bring back fun quotient in her life.