#167 The tranquility of competitiveness

The tranquillity of competitiveness

Today’s world is a place of competitions. There are several competitions in every field. To prove one self, one has to face a series of competitions. Even toddlers have to appear in entrance exams to get admission in a play schools let alone adults. The concept of competition has improved the quality of outcome in one way but in other way it too has amplified the level of stress associated with it. From one of the internet sources, I was shocked to find that today’s kids carry the stress of an average psychiatric patient of 1950s.In the midst of competitiveness, and fast paced life, we don’t realize about the sacrifices that we are unconsciously making in terms of relations.

This post is about my first competition at school. I was in nursery and it was my first year at school. There was a competition of arranging beads over a given pattern. I and my twin sister both participated in that competition. I sat next to my twin sister and we started arranging beads as soon as the signal for the commencement of the competition was given. During the process, my hands accidentally hit the bowl containing beads and a sea of beads flooded my progress. By then, two students had already completed the task. So, first and second prize winners had already secured their places. Luckily my sister had secured a second place. Now, the competition for third prize was on its way. My sister encouraged me to stay on the race but my level of impatience dominated over my spirit to win. So, I gave up.

It was on Independence day, the prize distribution ceremony was conducted. My sister’s name was announced and we felt so proud of her achievement. She ran to the stage to receive the prize from the chief guest. We clapped with pride. She unwrapped the prize and found a beautiful pencil box. Later on, my father took a lot of pain in searching for similar pencil box that my sister received as prize and he was lucky to find the one he was searching for. In the evening, at my home a similar function was organized. My grandfather became the chief guest and my uncle the commentator. My name was announced and I headed towards my grandfather to receive the prize. The sound of applause made me feel as if it was the same stage of my school.

 

The intention behind all this was simply to develop the concept of equality. The speciality of our upbringing is that my parents have always treated both of us equally. There has never been any incidence of discrimination in treating us. They never supported the concept of favouritism. Children are the most innocent soul and they learn most of the things from the surrounding they live in. The stage of a child can be compared to the moulding stage of a clay pot whose initial shape is decided by craftsman himself. As a result of very careful and wise parenting of my parents, we never suffered from ‘sibling jealousy’. I always feel so blessed for that. I always pray for my sister’s happiness and feel very proud of her achievements. This holds true in case of my sister also. The material connectivity of marks, position etc are not that strong enough to weaken the eternal bond existing between us. ‘Touch wood!’

 

In 70^th Independence of India, We all should pledge to be independent of ill thoughts. We should always try to have an independence from internal devils of anger, jealousy, lust, avarice etc .We have attained an independence from the invaders ruling our country but what about those invaders who are still ruling our minds? It’s good to be competitive but amidst the competition, we should not forget to retrospect about our real competitors.

Jai Hind!

Vande Mataram!

Swati Sarangi

15.08.2016