Tuesday 18 June 2013

A REAL WINNER

        Karthick was a simple 17-year old boy with no big dreams and aspirations. He was a typical Indian student. He loved to spend time with his friends. He was an ardent follower of cricket. He was an atheist. Neither did he love his studies nor did he hate it. He was not a slow learner( though most of them believed he was). He knew he had the ability to be a topper. But he chose not to be one. Because he believed toppers wouldnt have the most creative of minds. He surely was not using this as an excuse to be lazy.


     Just like any other family, his parents had a huge expectations on him. They wanted him to earn a 6-digit salary per month. But Karthick hated his parent's pampering, he hated the melodramas of his mother, he hated the materialistic-thinkings of his father, above all he hated their expectations on him. He believed ONE SHOULD EXPECT SOMETHING FROM ONESELF, NOT FROM OTHERS. Not even from the closest of relations. Inspite of these, he loved his parents. (That is India. Children in India dont have the courage to hate their parents)


     Though he got pretty decent marks in his board exam, he didnt want to do engineering. When his father asked " What else do you want to do?",  he had no answer( Just like many people, he only knew what he didnt want. He didnt know what he wanted). After 4 years, Karthick was an engineer. He was not proud about it because  1) Even the lab assistant who worked in his college was an engineer. 2) He didnt want to be an engineer.


    Even his parents, for whom he did his engineering, were not happy because he didnt have a job. They wanted him to get placed in a MNC- work for a year-go to America- marry a wealthy Indian girl- have kids-work hard to leave huge assets for kids. Karthick could never understand the logic behind their expectations. Whats wrong with India? Whats wrong with a poor girl( if she has good character)? whats wrong if he didnt leave any assets to his children( if he gives them their freedom and allows them to chose what they want in their life)?


    He knew it was not his parents fault. The fault was with the society where father's friend's sister-in-law's uncle's words about him hurt his parents. For his parents, what the society perceives to be a happy life is THE HAPPY LIFE. But Kathick had his own idea of happiness. Just like the adage " Eat to live. Dont live to eat" , he believed in " EARN TO BE HAPPY, DONT BE HAPPY TO EARN". He believed, people could experience real happiness only if they do, what they love to do.


  He knew, the skeptical society would ask " What if you dont find what you love to do?" . Atleast, he would be happy trying to find what he loves, rather than doing things that he doesnt love. If people say " marrying a girl only for her money is immoral" then how come " Doing a job, that you hate, only for money is not immoral". Atleast in the former, we are cheating another human. In the later, we are cheating ourselves.


         Karthick doesnt want to cheat himself. He wants enjoy the real happiness that life has to offer. He is in search of finding what he loves to do. He is hopeful that he would find it. But before that he knew he has to face lot of struggles, he has to be strong, he shouldnt succumb to social and economic pressures. These are the phases of an ideal life.


           Not all who succeed in their career are winners. Some are lucky that they start loving what they do. The rest are good at cheating themselves that they believe they love what they do; which actually they dont. The real winners are people like Karthick who wait and find what they love to do.



                                                                                                                                               by  prem

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