TREASURE OF A LIFETIME

- Vittaldas Prabhu

Twenty-four years of my life and today I stand here in this city of sky-scrapers and untouchable Corporates, at a very crucial juncture, life yet to begin for a novice software professional and the tough world calling out to take up the challenge, there is one person that I must be ever grateful till the end of this life, to whom I owe a debt that isn’t repayable by any means possible. A person, I believe, would have impacted the lives of almost all individuals that survive upon the face of this earth, without whom life would itself have been non-existent. It is often acclaimed that, this person builds citizens for a nation. There is no suspense involved in this elaborate description of the individual, nor do I have the inclination of dragging it more, it is none other than the person whom we lovingly call "mother".

This individual, beyond a shadow of a doubt, had and will always have a tremendous and invaluable impact in my life; so much so that I have been raised in a manner where I find myself extremely capable of walking the streets with my head held high with humble pride. Today I am an individual recognized in my family as the one who can inspire others to do good deeds; the one to be set as an example to show how goals are to be met; and so much more.

"Character begins at home" – How true! I wondered! An infant just out of its mother’s womb is comparable to a notebook. It only fills its pages when it has been provided with the capability enough to define its own life; write its own destiny. The preface of this book is written by people who will come to admire the personality of this individual, for its good or bad deeds. When an outsider reads the initial pages of the book, it will reflect the character instilled in this person by his parents. I somehow believe that a strong character that defines an individual in this world is attributed to the character his mother had. The latter parts of this book only come to show how he wrote his own destiny taking away the values and principles he derived from his mother (parents).

My story is no different. I have been extremely influenced by the character of my mother. A character that is strong in the sense that is non-compromising and confident. A character that portrays perfection in all the things it does, and sets high standards for itself. A character that wants to see its acquaintances as strong as it is. An unrelenting attitude towards life that inspired many a people to realize that life is too good to be wasted. She showed that what we consider as a failure is only a setback, from which the only ingredient to be derived is courage and strength, courage to move on in life and strength to come back stronger and better than ever. One might infer an opinion from this description that it is nothing but exaggeration or distortion of facts, but I can only pity them for thinking so, because everything is a distortion of facts until you experience it yourself.

It is common opinion and very largely believed that parents that have single kids tend to pamper their kid so much that when the child grows up it grows up with a wrong attitude towards life, always used to acquiring things very easily, not striving to achieve anything in life, and ending up being a loser. But it was a different scenario in my case. I was a single kid, but my mother never compromised on her principles towards life. She loved me the way I had to be loved. She loved me and she showed that she loved me until I reached my teens, after which it was time to instill principles and values in me. It is at this age in the life of an individual where future goals are set and defined, an age when the individual becomes aware of his existence and starts to believe that he can write his own destiny, an age where he becomes defiant and brash. It needs character to keep him down from his insurgent activities. A character that is courageous, persevering, and a character that is equally defiant to the character of the child. To make it simple, a character that is tough from outside, but loving and compassionate from inside. This trait was perfectly portrayed by my mother, to keep me from taking the wrong diversion, at a junction with various diversions but only one leading to the right destination.

Just at the end of the teens the child now becomes an adult and gets a little less aggressive and more composed, matured with a better attitude towards life - provided he has imbibed the right values and principles in life in his teens. At this time of his life, it is time to treat him as a friend. And again, my mother never missed this. She would sit with me and discuss various aspects of life, often soliciting my concern and advice, and talking to me in a manner where I was made to believe that it was time for me to take life’s crucial decisions on my own, basically instilling a new quality in me where I am taught valuable lessons on how to take those decisions. I was taught that some decisions might backfire, and meet with failure; but as I mentioned before the only thing to be derived from such an experience is "experience," that will come in handy when similar situations are encountered in the future, that will better equip you to handle the situation better than before.

Having come from a family that provided more moral education than scientific education, she wanted to give me a better and secure future. The biggest responsibility she felt in life was to educate me well enough, so that I could get into a job that gave me enough monetary returns to lead a comfortable life where I might not have to suppress my desires due to budgetary concerns, a luxury that she missed in her younger days. I do not know whether it is the values that I inherited from her or the grace of God that I have been able to fulfill her dream until now and will always strive to do so in the future too. May be it is her charm and influence, because of which today I have been graced with a loving lady who wishes to be with me for the rest of my life - my life partner to whom I have submitted myself to, and the individual who will in the future will mother our child and raise it the way my mother did and make it a better individual than me.

I always feel and believe that life is beautiful, the beauty of which I have to come appreciate because of the education and principles that I have been blessed with. In the distant future when I look back into the years that I have lived, I will definitely sense the fragrance of the one individual that defined me, a priceless treasure that can never be stolen or never be lost, a treasure that will remain with me forever until I breath my last breath in this life, the individual whom I proudly say is my mother. A treasure of a lifetime - that will be locked down in my heart for me to feel alike at times of distress and joy.

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