#358 Published in Issue IV of THE QUIET LETTER

#357 From the pages of my diary

From pages of my diary

It has been seven years that I’ve come closer to this inanimate thing called Diary which I regard as a prized possession. There’s a very thought provoking piece of article that I found in one of the pages of FB dedicated to IAS aspirants and thought of translating it in English to as to make it accessible to a wide range of readers. I hope that all of you should get immense motivation out of it. The real credit always lies with the writer of this original post which was written in Hindi for obvious reason. A big round of applause to the original writer [ I’m unaware about the writer of the original piece. I will update about him/her once I get an idea]

When you don’t feel like studying then just try to recall the face of your parents who keep announcing in the locality that my child will become a collector one day.

Your biggest wish, your real happiness, life, world are your parents; they are your first love. How can you ever think of cheating them? Remember, the one who’s loyal to his first love is the one who deserves his second love.

 Friends! Whoever has helped you to dream, put their hands over your head in every adverse situation, who has helped you to walk and those eyes which never cease to dream that one day my child will do wonders, what I couldn’t do, he’ll/she’ll do . They have happily forgotten all reasons of their sadness just by glancing at your face.

When they have trusted in your abilities then tell me why aren’t you trying to step forward to make your dreams come true?

Oh! my friend, when you don’t feel like studying , just recall the face of your father who keeps on repeating that my child will never degrade the glory of my family. Recall your mother who has made countless sacrifices but has never let you know about it because she didn’t want you to be sad. She kept sacrificing so that you should get what you want the why are you quiet about working hard?

Why do you forget that for all our happiness, they’ve sacrificed all happiness of theirs so that you suffer no deprivation.

Enough said! The right time has come for dedication, hard work and sacrifice, willingness to do something and to fulfil those dreams to bring smile on the lips of your parents.

Then pick up your books and put your heart and soul into it. Read history, geography, politics and everything you want. Don’t worry about the electricity as you’re the source of electricity.

Spread your identity on the cover page of every magazine; work hard the way that your result will create the loudest noise and thousands of journalists with cameras will die to get a glimpse of yours. Needless to say many media persons will be anxious to converse with you about the journey of your success. Everywhere there’ll be discussion on you and every parent will give the example of you to their kids.

Friends! We can never repay the debt that we owe to our parents but we can bring smile in their faces.

Then pledge today to do immense hard work whose result will create a noise and your parents will say, “I wouldn’t have got a better child than you.”

  

Then pledge for the thing that “your parent’s dignity will be greater than your wish.”

Jai Hind!

©Swati Sarangi

12.05.2018

#356 Interchanging perceptions

Interchanging Perceptions

It’s Mother’s Day. So wishing every motherly figure a very Happy Mother’s day ! There’s absolutely no concept of life without you all, be it a mother, sister, aunt, grandmother, friend, aunty, teacher. All of you hold an important part in my life. I just can’t imagine my life without the presence of even one of you. I don’t know if I can ever express my gratitude to you all for everything that you’ve done for me; a single life won't be enough for it.

Is interchanging perceptions an easy task? I mean to put ourselves in the shoes of others to analyse the situation. For that we need to have knowledge about the conditions that the other one is into. I’ve been the elder one in my family and apple of everyone’s eyes. My parents have worked very hard to meet all my requirements. I always take care that I maintain an economy of my expenditure so that I don’t burden them with my expenses.  

Let me do an experiment of interchanging the souls (like one of the stories of English book of school days where Mrs.Fritzgerald exchanged her soul with her neighbour) to place myself in their positions for a while. What I see now are the loads of responsibilities on their shoulders; the activities of their workplaces, household chores and discussing the issues of our lives. They have other responsibilities and tasks to perform with many important duties as parents to discharge.   

I wonder if it’s the patience that has evolved with time in my parents to handle an ambitious kid like me who sometimes get intimidated or insecure at the fierce competition of the world around.  Sometimes the series of failures put me into a state of self doubt about my abilities or strength or in the state of anxiety, that’s quite common to speak about.

For so many years, I realise that I’ve only viewed every situation of my life from my perspective only. Now, the time has definitely come to shift this lens of perception to the ones who have sacrificed everything for me and are still sacrificing.   

I remember one of the bad days when I called my father to say that I would never settle for less than what I deserve in my life , to console me he said that he believed in my abilities and knew that both of us would always leave an imprint wherever we go.

At the end I just want to make a promise to my parents that “I will never let all your sacrifices in raising me the way I’m today down in any condition”. May the guiding forces of this universe support me in my future endeavours.

©Swati Sarangi

12.05.2018