I feel that 26 years of my corporeal existence warrants some introspection. Therefore I am writing, primarily for myself. I am sharing this as people often travel on the same boats. I have structured this as lessons that I have learned through various people and incidents that I came across in my life.
First of all let me start with the person that I came across the first in my life- my mother.
1) Lessons from mother: perseverance and sense control:
It was in class 4 when I had given up on a section to be prepared for the Hindi exam in the school. It was elaborate details about the festivals celebrated in South-India. By sheer chance I told this to my mother. I expected her to console me and put me to sleep convincing me that I had done my best. Her mood, however, was contrary to my expectation. She sat with me, asked which was the part I was facing problem. She first read it herself and then divided the long paragraphs into small pieces. Then she made me swallow the pieces one by one. Then we repeated the whole thing in a flow, and then I had to repeat it without seeing. It was quite an exhaustive exercise. The next day the question appeared in the exam and I could answer it. The lesson: don't give up on things. Try hard with the right technique and you will make it through.
The second lesson is on sense control. Mom used to give great logic so that I keep my focus on important things in life. The first one was on movies. She used to tell that the actors sing and dance and enjoy themselves and take all the money and you simply loose your time you could have used productively. The second was on staying away from girls. Well it was simple: their hairs have lots of mites and they will get transferred to you if you stay near them!
2) Lessons from father: taking care of things: He stands out in this quality. He takes meticulous care of clothes, car, computer and every asset. Hope I will able to implement this in my life.
3) Lessons from bother: taking care of people: Giving importance to people is something I learn from him. The loads of care and encouragement he gave to his little brother is phenomenal. Also he extends himself to serve all the family members in their difficulty. Sure he stands out in his style and humor
4) Lessons from my teachers: success without pride: I had the opportunity to learn under some great teachers, not just in the class but also outside the class. This piece of lesson comes from Sister Dorrett. It was the time when she had told me that I am selected as one of the two head-boys of the school. I was standing near her, we were discussing about management of an event in the school. One of my class-mates came in and called for me. I replied "What's the matter?", she could sense the pride in my reply and commented "from now only". Meaning that I have not yet taken the post and I am so proud. I was struck and realized that with success comes responsibility of using it without becoming proud.
5) Lessons from IIT-JEE: dream and intensity: It was result of strong dream, intensity of hard work and total conviction about getting success and discipline and balance.
6) Lessons from devotees: share without selfishness: I remember still in the first year we were attending the Software training workshop and students from across India were present. I had the Herbert Schildt book of Java and a student from VIT wanted it too. I was quite particular about having my books with myself because I don't know when I would need it. The student asked it from me and I was reluctant. A senior Mukesh came and told me quiet simply that you should share what you have, it may cause some inconvenience but the act of sharing will enliven you. My protective shell of selfishness was broken at that time, and I realized that sharing indeed causes no harm and is good.
