A very interesting and inspiring experience I had a few months back which I recollect "now" thanks to my mediocre memory!
I live on my college campus. I have been accommodated in the Old Age home of our college's founding institute as there had been a vacancy there.
The incidence goes as-
Sunday morning, 7am, I heard a knock on my room door. Naturally, I started cursing under my breath wondering who the hell wakes up youths as early as 7am on a Sunday morning! When I opened the door, I saw a plump, short, white haired old woman with a box of sweets in her hand with one of the most broad and happy smiles on her wrinkled face. My irritation vanished in an instant and I looked at her questioningly. She spoke the following words (they are etched in my mind), "Good morning, Chaitanya! I had come 2 days back but you were not there in your room then and I was sure I will find you on a Sunday. I have completed my Ph.D few days back and can now write 'Dr.' before my name(notice the enthusiasm for I will talk about it later). I have come not only to present sweets but to tell you that education has no limit. At my age, 92('I was stupefied at this point'), I still wanted to learn and acquired a degree in the process. I wan't to tell you in your youth that never be afraid to learn and to enjoy learning, love your education not only from books and colleges but from life as well as life will teach you a lot". I took the sweets, congratulated her and closed the door. In standard circumstances I would have gone back to sleep and got up by 9, but her words struck a chord deep within me. Those 2 minutes on an early Sunday morning, taught me a lesson for life. Since that day, my hunger for knowledge, excellence and wisdom has grown and is growing.
At the age of 92, this woman was happy to learn and acquire knowledge. She still had that unquenching thirst for knowledge. I thought, if this woman at 92 can be so fond to know more and learn more why can't I be? why can't we all be? It has more to it than meets the naked eye. Her enthusiasm spoke of learning from life. We all have many chances to learn from life. I remember Aamir Khan's statement from 3 Idiots, "Chaaro taraf gyaan bat raha hai, jaha se mile, lapet lo!". According to me, its true to the last degree. Knowledge and Wisdom can be anything. Anything under the Sun an beyond comes under Knowledge and Wisdom.
She inspired me to know more, learn more and grow more so that I can be of some use to this great nation and its freedom. I am still in my youth, many of us are so and we have our entire lifetimes to make the difference. Anytime, anyplace, anyhow and in anyway, every chance we get to learn I believe we should grab it for it is an opportunity to be better than before and grow wiser than before. It will eventually result in the country growing better and bigger. Never should we underestimate the butterfly effect. The butterfly effect states that, "If a small butterfly as much as flutters its wings lightly in one part of the world, that power is enough to cause a Tsunami in another". One good action, thought or deed can snowball into a revolution of truth and justice!
There is a Bulgarian proverb which says, "Seize opportunity by the beard, for it is bald behind". Grabbing an opportunity when we get it is important lest we lose a chance to learn.
We have great opportunities to learn and they can be best handled when we have the power of youth within us.
William James says, "One who ceases to be a student, was never a student". The old woman I mentioned, she has not stopped learning. The flame within her has not ceased to burn. What she has acquired is still a great deal visible to the society, but what all of us need to acquire is much difficult to do so. We need that eternal fire of patriotism fueled by the desire to learn more and do more for the nation burn within us, to grow stronger by the passing moment and be Blazing to withstand any change and destruction that might come its way. Let us all decide to learn to restrain our fear to a point that it does not cloud our minds from taking the right decisions, choosing the right paths for the nation's future.
May that passion, that anger of unchanging trends in national issues focus to a point, to a single goal, the goal of a free and super power Bhaarat. We are aware of the Physics experiment of concentrating the Sun's rays to a single point on paper by using a magnifying glass. Using the simile here, I would compare all our positive, infectious, powerful and vibrant thoughts as the Sun's Rays; our values, principles and culture assisted minds and souls as the guiding glass to that 1 point on paper, our goal, our dream, the dream of "Akhanda Bhaarat".
Following statement sums it up beautifully I believe,
"Only as high as I reach can I grow, only as far as I seek can I go, only as deep as I look can I see, only much as I dream can I be"
Karen Raven
Jai Hind!
I live on my college campus. I have been accommodated in the Old Age home of our college's founding institute as there had been a vacancy there.
The incidence goes as-
Sunday morning, 7am, I heard a knock on my room door. Naturally, I started cursing under my breath wondering who the hell wakes up youths as early as 7am on a Sunday morning! When I opened the door, I saw a plump, short, white haired old woman with a box of sweets in her hand with one of the most broad and happy smiles on her wrinkled face. My irritation vanished in an instant and I looked at her questioningly. She spoke the following words (they are etched in my mind), "Good morning, Chaitanya! I had come 2 days back but you were not there in your room then and I was sure I will find you on a Sunday. I have completed my Ph.D few days back and can now write 'Dr.' before my name(notice the enthusiasm for I will talk about it later). I have come not only to present sweets but to tell you that education has no limit. At my age, 92('I was stupefied at this point'), I still wanted to learn and acquired a degree in the process. I wan't to tell you in your youth that never be afraid to learn and to enjoy learning, love your education not only from books and colleges but from life as well as life will teach you a lot". I took the sweets, congratulated her and closed the door. In standard circumstances I would have gone back to sleep and got up by 9, but her words struck a chord deep within me. Those 2 minutes on an early Sunday morning, taught me a lesson for life. Since that day, my hunger for knowledge, excellence and wisdom has grown and is growing.
At the age of 92, this woman was happy to learn and acquire knowledge. She still had that unquenching thirst for knowledge. I thought, if this woman at 92 can be so fond to know more and learn more why can't I be? why can't we all be? It has more to it than meets the naked eye. Her enthusiasm spoke of learning from life. We all have many chances to learn from life. I remember Aamir Khan's statement from 3 Idiots, "Chaaro taraf gyaan bat raha hai, jaha se mile, lapet lo!". According to me, its true to the last degree. Knowledge and Wisdom can be anything. Anything under the Sun an beyond comes under Knowledge and Wisdom.
She inspired me to know more, learn more and grow more so that I can be of some use to this great nation and its freedom. I am still in my youth, many of us are so and we have our entire lifetimes to make the difference. Anytime, anyplace, anyhow and in anyway, every chance we get to learn I believe we should grab it for it is an opportunity to be better than before and grow wiser than before. It will eventually result in the country growing better and bigger. Never should we underestimate the butterfly effect. The butterfly effect states that, "If a small butterfly as much as flutters its wings lightly in one part of the world, that power is enough to cause a Tsunami in another". One good action, thought or deed can snowball into a revolution of truth and justice!
There is a Bulgarian proverb which says, "Seize opportunity by the beard, for it is bald behind". Grabbing an opportunity when we get it is important lest we lose a chance to learn.
We have great opportunities to learn and they can be best handled when we have the power of youth within us.
William James says, "One who ceases to be a student, was never a student". The old woman I mentioned, she has not stopped learning. The flame within her has not ceased to burn. What she has acquired is still a great deal visible to the society, but what all of us need to acquire is much difficult to do so. We need that eternal fire of patriotism fueled by the desire to learn more and do more for the nation burn within us, to grow stronger by the passing moment and be Blazing to withstand any change and destruction that might come its way. Let us all decide to learn to restrain our fear to a point that it does not cloud our minds from taking the right decisions, choosing the right paths for the nation's future.
May that passion, that anger of unchanging trends in national issues focus to a point, to a single goal, the goal of a free and super power Bhaarat. We are aware of the Physics experiment of concentrating the Sun's rays to a single point on paper by using a magnifying glass. Using the simile here, I would compare all our positive, infectious, powerful and vibrant thoughts as the Sun's Rays; our values, principles and culture assisted minds and souls as the guiding glass to that 1 point on paper, our goal, our dream, the dream of "Akhanda Bhaarat".
Following statement sums it up beautifully I believe,
"Only as high as I reach can I grow, only as far as I seek can I go, only as deep as I look can I see, only much as I dream can I be"
Karen Raven
Jai Hind!
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