As long as I remember, the only person whom I love and respect more than my parents is NANA (my maternal grandfather).
He has been my Hero ever since I was a small kid.
This post is about the principles and lessons that I can learn from his life.
He was use to say “Three things in human life are very important – the first is to be kind to people around you, the second is never compromise on perseverance and the third is to be a risk taker”
Kindness: Let us engage in random acts of kindness. Every day provides us an opportunities to help people with little things – to cheer people up who are upset, to talk with someone who is lonely, to help a colleague who is struggling with work, to give your seat to a stranger in the bus, to help your spouse or mother in the kitchen, to wash up utensils without complaint, to help a lady carrying a bag in supermarket and to give lift to the person standing near bus stand, to stop the lift when you see a person coming, to hold door for the person behind you, to fill up water bottle for your colleague so forth. Doing one kind act a day will give you a feeling warm and aglow, like a traveller in from the cold.
After all, “Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and a blind can see”
Perseverance: Let me ask everyone who is reading this post – ask yourself “Has hard work ever disappointed you?” Be honest to yourself. As a kid, we always envy the topper of the class for scoring good marks. Fifteen years later, the situation remains the same; we envy the top performer in our office. Ask yourself, what differentiates you from the top performer. A simple answer: hard work. The person walked those extra miles – he/she studies until the wee hours while you were playing counter strike until the wee hours, top performer is working late night in the office while you were watching new season of Games of Thrones. I’m not perfect either we all inherently lazy. If given a choice, I would love to spend my life like Richie rich (referring to the cartoon character) but reality is that we all need to work hard so why not work hard with a smile and without any complains.
After all, “Perseverance, secret of all triumphs”
Risk Taker: One of the biggest ironies of Indian Middle class family is that most of the parents admire the successful entrepreneurs of our country yet they always want their children to work in a comfortable and safe job.
My mama (my mother’s brother) wanted to start a business which was very unusual in any middle class family in 80’s era. My mom told me the story “how nana wanted mama to become an engineer. He even send him to give examination but mama bunked it and instead told him that he wants to start his own business (well, now we have a trendy word for it -‘entrepreneur’). In life, you don’t always need money to succeed but support and encouraging words from your love one. After completing his graduation, my mama started a cement dealership and he has been winning best dealership award consecutively from several years (every time I see those silver trophies, my face lights up). Like a typical Indian parent, nana could have said “NO” but he encouraged mama to take risk and follow his dream.
After all, “A ship is always safe at the shore – but that is NOT what it is built for”
prAts!
Superb !!! … Todays take away frm ur blog …. Kindness, hardwork by choice, calculated Risk ….. **thumbs up **
Its always said no risk no gain.. And success comes hand in hand with hard work.. Kindness is a virtue every human being must have.. An awesome piece of writing with all the needful lessons..
So you think that helping your spouse or mother in the kitchen is an act of kindness ?
In Indian society, majority of the women are still housewife and confined to the household activities. In rural areas of many states, the situation is worst where they are continuously suppressed.
Anyways, my point is “How many men help their spouse or mother in the kitchen?”
We talk about ‘Be kind to the people around you’ but there is a irony in it. We are not kind or supportive to our loved ones.