My wife called, 'How long will you be with that newspaper? Will you
come here and make your darling daughter eat her food?'
I tossed the paper away and rushed to the scene. My only daughter
Sindu looked frightened.
Tears were welling up in her eyes. In front of her was a bowl filled
to its brim with Curd Rice. Sindu is a nice child, quite intelligent
for her age.She has just turned eight. She particularly detested
Curd Rice. My mother and my wife are orthodox, and believe firmly in
the 'cooling effects' of Curd Rice! I cleared my throat, and picked
up the bowl. 'Sindu, darling,why don't you take a few mouthful of
this Curd Rice?Just for Dad's sake, dear.
Sindu softened a bit, and wiped her tears with the back of her
hands. 'OK, Dad. I will eat - not just a few
mouthfuls, but the whole lot of this. But, you should...' Sindu
hesitated. 'Dad, if I eat this entire curd Rice, will you give me
whatever I ask for?'....... ....Oh sure,
darling'.... 'Promise? '........ .........
'Promise'. I covered the pink soft hand extended by my daughter with
mine, and clinched the deal.
'Ask Mom also to give a similar promise', my daughter insisted.
My wife put her hand on Sindu's, muttering 'Promise'.
Now I became a bit anxious. 'Sindu dear, you shouldn't insist on
getting a computer or any such expensive items.Dad does not have
that kind of money right now. OK?'
'No, Dad. I do not want anything expensive'.Slowly and painfully,
she finished eating the whole quantity.
I was silently angry with my wife and my mother for forcing my child
eat something that she detested.
After the ordeal was through, Sindu came to me with her eyes wide
with expectation.
All our attention was on her......... ....'Dad, I
want to have my head shaved off, this Sunday!' was her demand.
'Atrocious!' shouted my wife, 'A girl child having her head shaved
off? Impossible!' 'Never in our family!' my mother rasped.'She has
been watching too much of television. Our culture is getting totally
spoiled with these TV programs!'
Sindu darling, why don't you ask for something else? We will be sad
seeing you with a clean-shaven head.'
'No, Dad. I do not want anything else', Sindu said with finality.
'Please, Sindu, why don't you try to understand our feelings?' I
tried to plead with her.
'Dad, you saw how difficult it was for me to eat that Curd Rice'.
Sindu was in tears. 'And you promised to grant me whatever I ask
for.Now, you are going back on your words. Was it not you who told
me the story of King Harishchandra, and its moral that we should
honor our promises no matter what?'
It was time for me to call the shots. 'Our promise must be kept.'
'Are you out your mind?' chorused my mother and wife.
'No. If we go back on our promises, she will never learn to honor
her own. Sindu, your wish will be fulfilled.'
With her head clean-shaven, Sindu had a round-face, and her eyes
looked big and beautiful.
On Monday morning, I dropped her at her school. It was a sight to
watch my hairless Sindu walking towards her classroom.She turned
around and waved. I waved back with a smile.
Just then, a boy alighted from a car, and shouted, 'Sinduja, please
wait for me!'
What struck me was the hairless head of that boy. 'May be, that is
the in-stuff', I thought.
'Sir, your daughter Sinduja is great indeed!' Without introducing
herself, a lady got out of the car, and continued,' That boy who is
walking along with your daughter is my son Harish.He is suffering
from... ... leukemia.' She paused to muffle her sobs. Harish could
not attend the school for the whole of the last month.He lost all
his hair due to the side effects of the chemotherapy. He refused to
come back to school fearing the unintentional but cruel teasing of
the schoolmates. 'Sinduja visited him last week, and promised him
that she will take care of the teasing issue.
But, I never imagined she would sacrifice her lovely hair for the
sake of my son!
Sir, you and your wife are blessed to have such a noble soul as your
daughter.'
I stood transfixed. And then, I wept. 'My little Angel, you are
teaching me how self-less real love is!'
Prakash
Iyer, Managing Director, Kimberly-Clark Lever and Executive Coach
shares two important management lessons he learnt from a 500-rupee note.
Read on.
1. It happened some years ago but I can recall the evening like it happened just last week.
I was in an audience listening to a motivational guru.
The speaker whipped out his wallet and pulled out a five hundred-rupee note.
Holding it up, he asked, "Who wants this five hundred rupee note?"
Lots of hands went up. Including mine.
A slow chorus began to build as people began to shout "Me!" "Me!"
I
began to wonder who the lucky one would be who the speaker would
choose. And I also secretly wondered -- and I am sure others did too --
why he would simply give away five hundred rupees.
Even as the shouts of "I want it" grew louder, I noticed a young woman
running down the aisle. She ran up onto the stage, went up to the
speaker, and grabbed the five hundred-rupee note from his hand. "Well
done, young lady," said the speaker into the microphone.
"Most of us just wait for good things to happen. That's of no use. You've got to make things happen."
The speaker's words have stayed with me ever since.
'Simply thinking about doing something is of no use'
Our lives are like that. We all see opportunities around us. We all want the good things.
But the problem is we don't take action.
We all want the five hundred rupee notes on offer. But we don't make the move. We look at it longingly
Get up, and do something about it. Don't worry about what other people might think. Take action.
2. Several years later, it was another day, another time.
And another motivational guru.
As
I watched him pull out a five hundred rupee note and hold it up for all
to see, I thought I knew what he was going to do next. But he just
asked a simple question. "How much is this worth?"
"Five Hundred rupees!" the crowd yelled in unison.
"Right," said the speaker. He then took the note and crumpled it into a ball and asked "How much is it worth now?"
"Five Hundred rupees!" screamed the audience.
He then threw the note on the ground, stamped all over it and picked up
the note and asked one more time: "And how much is it worth now?"
"Five Hundred rupees!" was the response.
"I want you to remember this," said the speaker.
"Just because someone crumples it, or stamps on it, the value of the note does not diminish.
We should all be like the five hundred rupee note.
In
our lives, there will be times when we feel crushed, stamped over,
beaten. But never let your self-worth diminish. Just because someone
chooses to crush you -- that doesn't change your worth one bit!
Don't allow your self-worth to diminish because someone says something nasty -- or does something dirty -- to you."
We are born into this world. When we enter to the world everything is new. Whatever we saw makes us happy. We also cry in the beginning when we have a challenge that we have not faced before. And after some period we begin to learn to handle the challenges in life. We are not crying for small things. Then our life goes on.
Years pass by. For some who face challenges in life in the beginning itself, he began to set a goal and his mind is focused on to achieve it. He dedicates everything and with hard work he achieves it. When you start growing. That stage youth is the biggest stage. Whatever you read will sit in your mind. Whatever you think at those years will shape your life. Your brain is at the fastest growing stage at this age so is your body. If you try to enjoy your life at that stage, then your life will be miserable.
This is a stage where Whatever you do can be made happen. New Ideas will start popping out. The stage where you can take risk. So what is being said to you at this age will have an impact on you. There is a famous proverb. "If you did not bend on age 5 you can’t bend at age 50." So understand this and start doing activities which will improve your knowledge and doing things which will shape your life.