NO GAINS WITHOUT PAINS

       It is not easy to gain success in life. One has to work hard and struggle to achieve what one wants in life. It is just not enough setting a goal or target for us in life. We must be prepared to strive hard to realize our dreams in life. If we make only half-hearted attempts, we are bound to fail. It is no use blaming others or factors like poverty, ill- luck and lack of opportunities in life because we have failed to achieve success in life. Rightly, therefore, has it been said that there are no gains without pains.

       In order to be successful in life, we must set a realistic goal before ourselves. This can be done by making an assessment of our past achievements, present situation, educational and family background, interest and aptitudes. In doing so, we may seek the advice and guidance of our elders and work towards the realization of our goal step by step. We must make an impartial and unbiased assessment of our strengths and weaknesses while doing so and are prepared to put in our best at every step. We must be single-minded in our pursuit of our ideals. There should be no distractions and diversions in our path. Once this is done and we are motivated and inspired enough, we have taken the first step in the right direction. Then we must climb the ladder of success like we climb each rung of the ladder towards our goal where a lot of effort is required.

      We may falter and fail on our way. But this should not dishearten us, for we must keep in mind the saying that failures are the pillars of success. They should encourage us to work harder. We must always remember that there is nothing like overnight success. There is no short-cut way in life. Very few of us are born with a golden spoon in their mouths. The rest of us have to work our way up.

       In this connection, reading the biographies of great men is of great help. For example, an ordinary lawyer like Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi who found no work in India had to go to South Africa to work for a client there. The difficulties and hardships he faced were numerous. He protested and demonstrated against the discrimination practiced by the whites against the non-whites, and his initial successes made him leader of the community there. He later put his methods of satyagraha and passive resistance to win freedom for Indian from the British rule. Note that he was always successful. He, too, faltered and failed in achieving his mission in life. His career can be inspiring and motivating to us all because we learn from his biography how to overcome our weaknesses and shortcomings to achieve our goal in life.

        In sum, there are no gains without pains in life. If we wish to achieve our goal, we must be prepared to make sacrifices and struggle hard, overcome all odds and obstacles in our way in order to be successful.

NOTHING SUCCEEDS LIKE SUCCESS

        Everyone looks up to a successful person. People do not generally question the means that he or she has adopted to attain success in a particular field. They only want to learn a few tips from him so that they can follow them and become as success, if not more. Nothing, indeed, succeeds like success in life.

        In trying to emulate the example of a successful person, we often overlook the factors that led to his success. For example, if a person rises above the social strata he was born into, we forget the factors that motivated and inspired him to do, the handicaps be faced on his path to success and the efforts he made to overcome his weaknesses and shortcomings in order to emerge on the top of his chosen vocation in life. What is more, we do not wish to learn of the efforts he is still making in order to retain his present successful position in life. We follow him blindly in whatever he does. In the process, we flatter him and seek favors from him so that his success rules on to us also.

       A successful person may be rude, hypocritical and unscrupulous in his day today dealings. He may lack the basic moral and ethical values. But we hero worship such a person without going into the flaws in his character and his weaknesses, for he is the epitome of success to us. He may be a scholar, a scientist, an engineer, a doctor or a management expert. Nothing else matters to us as his success. We forget that he is an individual with his own limitation, he is not a superman. He is an ordinary mortal like us who has made good in life because of some sterling qualities. He must have struggled and failed while climbing the ladder of success. He must have faltered and fallen in his efforts to be successful. Most of us are not concerned with all these things, but what impresses us is his present success. Such a person can do no wrong in our eyes simply because he is successful.

BRAIN DRAIN

          Brain drain was a serious problem that India faced till a few years ago. Thousands of trained engineers, doctors and technicians left the country every year for better jobs and facilities abroad. The huge amount of money spent on their education and training went down the drain and the country lost valuable manpower that could be of immense use to its people. There is still a problem of brain drain faced by India with highly trained and qualified people in information technology go abroad every year for better prospects.

         By and large, the problem of brain drain has been minimized now with the availability of better facilities, salaries and career prospects for the trained personnel available within the country itself. Very few people go abroad in search of greener pastures as their requirements are met in India itself. In fact, a sort of reverse brain drain has started. Many foreign experts in various fields come to seek employment in India. Moreover, many Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) who left India years ago to earn money in foreign countries are coming back to their motherland. They are setting up new enterprises through which their expertise is available to us.

         Added to this phenomenon is the process of outsourcing of business by advanced nations such as the United States and England to India. They find the personnel here better qualified and, of course, cheaper than the ones available at home to meet their business requirements. That explains the setting up of call centre’s in our metropolitan cities where foreign clients have an easy access to whatever information they require from the local railway and air timetable to medical expertise as well as information of a highly specialized nature-just a telephone call away. Such call centres are doing an invaluable service to the business organizations as well as their clients and to the country at large by bringing in valuable foreign exchange. In fact, it has now become brain drain in reverse. And there are loud protests in advanced countries about such a reversal.

         India has the second largest trained manpower in the world in China and has today become a global destination for business outsourcing. This is a tribute to the facilities and training available here. If the present trend continues, the emigration of highly qualified and trained people from India to other countries will soon become a thing of the past.

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

          In the present age of information technology, power does not flow through the barrel of a gun. It is knowledge that is real power. In fact, it is through the power that knowledge has given us that man has reached the present stage of civilization, development and progress. Without the power of knowledge man would still be in the primitive stage that he was thousands of years ago. Knowledge and its right use have enabled us to reach space and explore it today. Knowledge has been instrumental in man’s landing on the moon apart from other advances in science and technology.

       Knowledge is an invaluable weapon in the hands of the man. It distinguishes him from other animals that inhabit this Planet. Knowledge is an asset peculiar to homo sapiens only.

       But an indiscriminate use of this knowledge has also led to several wars because we have not been able to use the knowledge that we have acquired judiciously. In some cases, this knowledge has done more harm than good to mankind. What is, therefore, required is the use of knowledge for the betterment of our lives and improving the lot of human beings on Earth, for knowledge in itself is neutral. It is the use to which it is put that is more important. It should not be merely information. It should enable us to distinguish between what is good and what is bad. Knowledge should not be used merely to attain our selfish ends; it should enable us to work for the general good. In the right hands, knowledge can do wonders and make this world a happier and healthier place for mankind to live in.

      It is the foremost duty and responsibility of the teachers and the elders in society to impart the right kind of knowledge to students during school days so that knowledge is not employed towards destructive ends later. With the treasure house of knowledge in various fields at our disposal today, it should be easy to train and guide the students in the right and proper use of knowledge for their own good as well as in the larger interests of the society and the country. When this is done, knowledge will really become power in our hands.

UNWELCOME GUESTS

          Guests are always welcome in an Indian household. We believe in the ancient dictum of atithi devo bhava, a guest is god. We, therefore, try to make our guests welcome whenever they visit us. We look after their needs and entertain them lavishly if they visit us after prior information. But there are times when guests visit us without notice and thrust their presence on us for longer than is unnecessary. Such uninvited guests are always unwelcome.

          We had a similar experience last weekend when we are all set to leave town. We had decided to spend the day at a picnic spot and had made all the preparations. Suddenly, the door-bell rang and I saw half-a-dozen grinning faces forcing their way into the lobby. Since I did not recognize them, I was surprised to see them carrying their heavy baggage. The oldest of them asked me to call my father.

          My father could not recognize them also. He was told that they had come from his ancestral village to visit Delhi and that it was my father’s duty to take them round during the weekend. All our plans for an enjoyable weekend turned to dust.

          The unwelcome and uninvited guests soon made themselves comfortable in the house. They handed over to my mother an elaborate menu of what they would like to eat and drink during their stay with us. Forced to cancel our plans, we took around Delhi during the weekend cursing them in our heart all the time. But somehow they stretched their stay and were all over for the next week. Politely but firmly, my father asked them to make their own arrangements for visiting Agra and Jaipur as he would not get any leave from his leave from his office.

         These guests proved to be a great inconvenience to the entire family and our schedule went haywire. They would occupy the bathroom and the toilet for a long time in the morning. As a result, we were late for school. We could not do our homework in time as they insisted on watching all the television programs till late in the night. My mother could not cope with their unreasonable and untimely demands for food at odd hours.

         We were all happy and relieved when they announced at the end of their prolonged stay with us that they wanted to leave by the night train the next day. My mother prepared dinner and snacks to last them their six-hour train journey and we went to the railway station to bid them goodbye. Even though they did not appear very happy or satisfied with our hospitality, they said they would visit us again at the next available opportunity. That opportunity has not, thankfully, arisen so far.

POVERTY IS A CURSE

         Poverty is commonly believed to be a curse because of the traditional Indian faith in fate and karma. Most people believe that it is written in their destiny that they are poor. Others accept poverty as a punishment for the deeds in some past life and they have to undergo suffering. Such people do not do anything to better their lot. They accept poverty as a fact of their lives and consider it a curse to be born poor. They are jealous of the rich and those who better placed in life as a matter of fate or karma.

         With nearly one-third of India’s population living below the poverty line with hardly any basic amenities of life available to them, the situation is alarming. If people accept their poverty as a fact of life and do not make any efforts to improve their standards of living, their number will keep on increasing and India will continue to be a land of the poor. The percentage of people living below the poverty line increases as the population increases.

         The first step towards removing this curse of poverty should be to control the growth of population. A large population eats into the meager resources that are available and negates the fruits of development and progress. If the growth of population is controlled, the people will have a better access to the basic amenities of life like education, health and sanitation, employment. Soon, poverty will become a thing of the past.

         Those who are poor should not be merely content to remain poor because they are born so. They must make concerted efforts to rise above their present circumstances and make a determined effort to do so. This can be done through education or learning other skills so that they can earn more and improve their standard of living. This requires a strong willpower to spend their time gainfully and not idle it away in cursing their lot. Volunteers from educational and vocational institutions can contribute a lot in this direction by encouraging people in improving there existing lot. This can be supplemented by making people living in poor localities aware of the benefits of cleanliness, health, sanitation and hygiene. This will go a long way in eradicating poverty, which will no longer be considered a curse.

         Poverty is external as well as internal. While outward poverty can be minimized by effort, it is the inborn feeling of poverty being a curse that must be tackled. The mindset of the poor towards poverty must be changed through education and awareness. They must be told that they can rise above their present deplorable state not by pitying and accepting it as an act of God but as something that can be removed by their own effort. If this is done, they will find the world a better place to live and work in.