THE STORY OF MY SOUL

A JOURNEY IN WONDERLAND

2007-02-20T04:33:00.000-08:00

- Vittaldas Prabhu

There he stood at the door, the sun staring him in his eyes, hoping to explore a new horizon, with dreams and ambitions in his eyes. His mother comes to see him off. He turns around and looks into his mother’s eyes. He could see the twinkle in her eyes. She knew that her son was going to discover a whole new world for himself. She was astounded by his exuberance watching him wait at the door and thinking very hard about something. Clearly he was thinking about the surprises the day would hold for him. He could not wait to step out of the house and go where he wanted to go. He bows down to touch the feet of the lady who gave him strength, who bestowed upon him all she had to give. He said in a gentle tone, "Bless me!" She gently caressed his hair and said, "May you find success in life, son." Seeking the lady’s blessings he sets out on a journey that he would never forget in his life and probably would define his destiny.

It was the day when life would give him a new perspective. He was going into a realm, the wonderland no less exciting than that of Alice’s, the place where he always wanted to be. His dream had come true and the hour had already come for him to step into this wonderland.

During his travel to this wonderland, he sat with his eyes closed and wondering how he spent all those years, yearning to get to the place where he was going. He opened his eyes once in a while just to make sure that he hadn’t fallen asleep! On either side of the road he saw lush green fields. He was so elated at the moment that everything around him looked pleasant and appeasing. He felt that the green grass where beckoning him, the blades nodding as if saying, "Go ahead! Your destination lies ahead."

Finally, he had reached his destination. He thought, "Is this my destination?" He stood there for a while gazing and gazing hard at the monument that had stood the test of time and had given a new meaning to the lives of thousands of young aspirants who wanted to prove something to this world, and most of all wanted to prove something to themselves. Still standing and watching at the sign board that read "MIT", he thought, "This is not my destination. The journey has just begun and destination lies far ahead. This institute is my carriage, the years I will spend here will be my journey, and, at the end of it all it would just be the beginning of another journey towards my destination." He wondered will the years go by as they went on very smoothly during his school days or would the years ahead open up a Pandora’s Box of unprecedented surprises.

Life isn’t as easy as it seems to be. But life sure throws challenges which when taken up in the right spirit always makes the individual feel larger than life. Sure this boy had a lot of dreams and was ready to take up the challenges lying ahead. Little did he know what was in store for him, but, he liked surprises! As mentioned earlier the Pandora’s Box might have been already opened before him.

Still wanting to admire the beauty of the monument he stands there a few hundred yards away. Then he decides to take a stroll around the premises. Taking short steps, having a look around, and enjoying the beauty of the place; it was not very hard for him to realize that the monument that stood on a hillock, was overseeing a marvelous creation of nature. Nature had carved itself a masterpiece. The beauty of the sky that encompassed the entire surrounding was just amazing, and what about the plants, and the trees and the clouds. Ah! Wasn’t it a wonderful sight to see? It was a treat to the eyes. Looking at the sky he realized, "The sky is infinite and has neither beginning nor an end. We can see as far as our sight permits us to see. May be that is why they say that, there is more to it than it meets the eye. And that would easily be his slogan for the rest of the journey at the institute."

As if trying to awaken him from deep slumber, he hears a deafening siren, indicating the beginning of "just another" day for the monument that had stood there for 43 good years serving mankind. But it was not "just another" day for this young man. It was a special day, arguably the day of his life! The day he always wanted to live for to tell about it another day, and he did!

He takes his first step inside the institute desperately searching for his hall. Alas! There it was on the second floor. He walks towards his lecture hall only to find nobody in the hall. Of course, the classes for the day were starting only at 9 and his wrist watch showed 8. Not wanting to waste time he decides to take a walk around the park. He was trying to soak up the environment, trying to get that air into his lungs, the air he longed to breath. It felt different; he could feel the tingling sensation in his lungs. He wanted more of it! He felt happy for himself; after all he was in a professional institute, a different level of education of which some people can only dream of. It was an awe-inspiring moment for him when he stepped into the campus and he realized that he had been endowed an opportunity of a lifetime and had to make it count. He made a resolution, punching the air, he said to himself, "I am going to make this count! I am going to make this count for my mother, my father, my relatives… I am going to make this count for all those who believe in me and have faith in my abilities. And most of all, I am going to make this count for myself!"

He looked at his wrist watch and it was close to 9 o’clock. He decided it was time for him to go back to his hall now filled with his classmates. He walked in and took a seat in the first row, right where he liked it! At the stroke of 9, he watches a short and stout figure walk into the hall. The air felt like integration and differentiation! Why, of course, it was the hour to give the brain some exercise, it was a mathematics lecture. There began the journey for this young aspirant!

There were times when the going went tough. But then it was time to show some great character. This life tested him time after time, day in and day out. But even when the going got tough he never gave up hope, he never showed fatigue, and he never allowed frustration take the best of him. The challenges only made him stronger mentally and that was what was required to survive in a world that was merciless on the lesser people.

Years passed, lecture halls changed, professors changed, departments changed, people changed, and life changed! Life changed, and it became better. It became more organized and disciplined. To put it in simple words, life became professional. One must realize that there is a very thin line between life being professional and mechanical. But this institute instilled dignity in the souls of all the individuals that walked into its realm. It taught its students dignity of labor. It added life to life and made it worth living. Life became professional. The end of education is value and that is what this great institute always gave to its young aspirants and is still continuing to do so in its own glorious way. Never ceasing to give out knowledge and always true to its motto, "Knowledge is Power." Empowering every individual with knowledge was its aim and has never failed to attain it.

The day finally came for this young boy, about whom we have been talking the entire time, to depart from the premises of this great institute. He again stands there where he stood before he stepped into the institute. But this time he was not amazed to look at the monument; this time he was full of gratitude and was very grateful for what it had given him, and for having transformed him into an individual who can now stand on his feet and take the world head-on. The wonderland he dreamt of once as a kid was as exciting and adventurous as he dreamt it to be. The ride was bumpy but what it brought out in him was priceless. It required character to endure the ride and that was what he showed. All the surprises had been faced and the Pandora’s Box was now closed. May be this box would open a different set of surprises for another young aspirant who would start his journey from this great monument of time.

The young boy had spent four quality years of his life at a great institute that never failed its believers. Today when he sits alone, he has a flashback of things long gone. He relives every moment of it and cherishes it from the bottom of his heart and wishes if he could go back and spend the same quality time in this wonderland. He is determined that he would go on a journey to this wonderland again, perhaps in his rebirth.

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I AM NOT A THIEF!

2007-02-20T04:25:00.000-08:00

- Vittaldas Prabhu

It was another jolly day for me at my school. Everything was normal and fine. I was then in fourth standard I guess if my memory is not failing me to recollect the exact time of the incident I am about to narrate to you. It was the second half of the academic year. Classes were going on just fine, and I was listening to my teachers teach us the elements in elementary education. Within no time the school bell rang. Why, of course! It was lunch time! We had a separate dining hall in the school, which was also our auditorium, where all the kids who did not enjoy the luxury of going home for lunch would bring in their lunch boxes.

I was casually and very leisurely eating my lunch, when from out of the blue I could see the boys of my class come barging into the dining hall. I can only recollect that there were five or six of them. I didn’t know what the urgency of the matter was that made them come into the hall rushing, as if going to start a big riot. They were walking with a purpose. Suddenly they spread out. It was too late when I realized that they were coming for me! I thought it would be wise not to do anything silly and show even remote signs of hostility from my end. It could save my life! I just sat there flabbergasted and comprehending what must have provoked them that made them come in search of me with such malicious intents.

In no time, they were all around me. I was finishing the last of the grub in my box and was about to pack it and go out for my routine afternoon play. But it seemed remotely likely this day. One of them caught hold of me and starting dragging me along. The others joined in and started dragging me like a dead animal being dragged to its doom. I soon found out that humanity hadn’t died completely when one of them actually showed some mercy and allowed me to pack my boxes. No sooner had I completed packing they started dragging me again. I was trying to reason out the reason for this reprehensible behavior. But all my efforts to reason out went in vain as the boys were only concerned about dragging me along to a place which only they knew. It seemed as though the goons of a big mafia don were kidnapping a victim for ransom.

None of them responded to my questions. Rather, they were very busy pulling and pushing me all the way. I didn’t understand what on earth was going to happen to me and to what part of this world were they dragging me to. It became evident a little later that they were dragging me towards the staff room. I was really frightened by the sight of them pulling me towards the staff room, because for kids like us at that time going into the staff room was a huge expedition. At the same time I was wondering, what great crime had I perpetrated that I was being dragged so ruthlessly towards the staff room. Finally when we were at the doors of the staff room, they just pushed me into the room where there were many prying eyes looking strangely at me, disgusted to see my face!

As a kid such hostile behavior from everyone could have only one effect on me, and that would be to shed tears. But I was holding onto my nerves until I could figure out the reason for such hostility. Just then, one of my teachers came close to me and looked into my eyes with an inquisitive expression on her face. She asked, "Did you steal money from the printers outside the campus?" I was dumbstruck! I didn’t know what to say. I was being accused of theft, the thought of which would never ever remotely cross my mind. But my silence was not working in my favor. Her voice now raised, she asked the question again, "Did you steal money from the printers?" I could not hold it anymore. I could feel a trickle of tear running down my cheek. I burst out into tears and wailed, "No. I did not steal the money. I did not steal any money…"

Everybody in the room as purposely trying to hurt me even more kept asking me the same question, "Did you steal the money?" And I kept crying, shaking my head in denial. Even though I reiterated the statement that I did not steal any money nobody was in a mood to heed to my innocence. It seemed as if they had decided that they were going to stick a label of "thief" on my forehead for everyone to see. Amidst all the commotion I wondered as to who might have given such a preposterous complaint. This question was going to be answered very soon, when the boys of my class dragged another boy into the staff room. "Oh!" I exclaimed to myself. "No wonder, it should have been this guy," I pondered. Now it was all falling in place, and I slowly understood what must have transpired for all this to have happened. The money had definitely vanished but it was not me who was involved, it was the other boy who just got dragged into the scene. I looked at him with disgust, but he had no guilt on his face. He was quite unfazed by the accusations. While I was crying my heart out, he stood there with absolutely no expressions on his face.

It later came to our notice when the owner of the printing press visited our school, when he narrated the incident. He had seen one boy stealing the money, and the people who were around suspected that the other boy who was with me in the staff room had stolen the money. It also became apparent to me that he had already agreed to have stolen the money but instead of taking all the blame on himself he decided to drag in somebody as his partner in crime. Friendship is a relationship where the people involved in the friendship look beyond each other’s shortcomings. Nobody had told me this quite incomprehensible thought, at that tender age, but it seemed to come naturally to me. The reason why this point has been raised here is to make you aware of the fact that even though I knew he suffered from kleptomania I still chose to be friends with him. Little did I know that I would be rewarded for this act in this manner!

While I was going through this ordeal, by the grace of God, came to my rescue an aunt of a very close friend of mine. She managed to convince my teachers that it was not only a false accusation but was absolutely preposterous to remark such a kid to be a thief. She spoke very highly of me and my family so much so that the teachers started repenting for having accused me of such a heinous crime. They now actually started to witness my tears which were still flowing and would have flooded the city in no time if they had gone about their accusations for long. But they weren’t totally convinced yet. That day they did not allow me and the other boy to attend the afternoon session and we stood outside the headmistress’ cabin embarrassed to having been accused of theft.

We stood outside that cabin overlooking the entire row of classes on both sides of it, looking at each other. Even after what the other boy had put me through, I still talked to him and kept him company! Finally my ordeal came to an end when the owner of the printing press visited us again and he told that there weren’t two people involved in the theft but only one, and it was the other one. It was easy to come to this conclusion because the other boy had already agreed of having perpetrated the crime and the story he portrayed of having a helper was turned down by the owner of the printing press.

But my test of grit was far from over. The next big test I had to face was my parents. I thought that it would be wise to tell them about the whole story before they come to know about it from anyone else. The unfortunate thing about telling at home was that a relatively weak father of mine, who had just been discharged that day from the hospital after a brief illness, had to listen to it. My parents listened to me patiently and then rebuked me for making wrong friends and they made me realize that life had taught me a lesson about the importance of being friends with the right people. Even though at that time all these words of advice had little impact on me, more or less I can say that those words fell into deaf ears, today I realize the significance of the words that came out of their mouth.

But, that day my tears and my friend’s aunt came to my rescue. I found out my own worth and the trust and belief my friends and my elders put in me. I thanked God for saving me from getting a bad name as I proudly walked back to my class acquitted of a crime that I never perpetrated.

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THE PERFECT DATE

2007-02-02T04:27:00.000-08:00

- Vittaldas Prabhu

It wasn’t the usual dull and dusty self in the next to dead city of Bangalore. For a change, the weather decided to be pleasant and romantic. I decided to keep myself as pleasant and romantic as the weather for on this overcast yet cool day I was going to meet my sweet friend. Destiny had brought us together and I was the most benefited, I must say. Little did I know that after the ordeal that I went through after "playing the game," life had now put me at the receiving end.

Just to give you an insight of what has been narrated later on, it would be only fair on my part to provide a concise description about how it all started. Tracing back to my initial days in Bangalore, I had come to the city for my project work as part of my post-graduate curriculum. One of the extended weekends that I got very early in my internship days (due to Independence Day which was just around the corner because of which the weekend extended from Friday to Tuesday), I decided to go back home and reunite with my near and dear ones. It was on Monday afternoon when I received a message on my cell phone from a lady who claimed to have read my profile on a friend finder service. She claimed to have liked my profile and the testimonials that my buddies had most graciously and generously written for me.

She asked me, "If you aren’t doing anything important, is it possible for us to chat for a while?" I was, at that moment, with my mother at a restaurant we would regularly visit, because of its most delicious sea food cuisines. I decided to strike a conversation and replied to her saying, "I am absolutely jobless right now. So, I guess I will talk to you." From afternoon till night we conversed over cell phone messaging trying to know each other, arguing and counter arguing on different issues, agreeing and disagreeing on various opinions, and then at the end of it all we wished each other, "Good night," promising to continue the conversation the next day.

As promised we resumed our conversation the next morning. We would talk on various topics; trying to know each other’s dreams and aspirations, suggesting solutions to each other’s problems, and much more. We chatted the whole day. That night I had to leave home and come back to the city. Time flew, and within a wink of an eye it was night already! It was time for me to leave. I gave my mother a warm hug and bid her good-bye until next time. I messaged my new found friend that I was going to leave for the city and would continue the conversation the following day.

There was no looking back after those two days of healthy conversation. The legend of messaging over the cell phone continued, but now the conversation was also powered by the mighty Internet. She worked for another corporate and hence we both had a corporate mailing id which we used to exchange long and informative mails over the Internet. Everything was going on smooth; when suddenly I asked her if we could meet. As if waiting for this hint she readily agreed. Now the problem was to find a very nice location to meet, a location where the friendship would possibly take a new turn and from where it would probably thrive to new levels.

After a lot of debating we decided to meet at a sacred place. Why, of course, we decided to meet at a temple. At first it would seem very vague to me why she stressed on meeting at a temple when there could be more scenic locations (like a park). Later did I come to know that we were victims of the same disease, a disease caused by "playing the game." All that she wanted was to start a new friendship on an auspicious note. We met on that auspicious Saturday (the day we decided to meet) at the location that was agreed upon. That day we would walk a thousand steps together and yet not feel the burning afternoon sun, neither would we feel hungry. We were completely engrossed in knowing each other and evaluating the new found friendship. We thought it would be nice to go to a restaurant and have lunch for it was getting very late in the afternoon and skipping lunch was not a good thing to do.

After we had lunch at a roof top "expensive" restaurant, we walk towards a mall that attracted not many people, but yet was a pleasant place to sit and talk without any interruptions. We sat there for hours looking at each other and trying to know each other, trying to gauge the intensity of the new found friendship, trying to understand why destiny brought us together. The hours flew away like it were seconds and it was time to depart. Not wanting to leave each other but still constrained by the places we needed to reach we had to make the tough decision to bid each other good-bye and promise to meet once again.

As days passed by we could clearly see what each other had in mind about our near future and also the distant ones. The days marked a tremendous growth in the friendship but not without certain minor yet heart-breaking setbacks and misunderstandings. The days definitely had a lot of misunderstanding popping up every now and then, but they would get resolved in the most graceful manner. Nothing seemed to deter us from keeping the relationship from moving on.

A series of weekend dates followed after the first one. With every date getting better than the previous one; we could only imagine how far this would go. Once when we were at a botanical park enjoying nature’s glory and the peaceful atmosphere, I decided to ask the inevitable question, "Where do you think we are heading?" The question was followed by a long silence, with none of us daring to utter a word. I wasn’t going to justify myself asking the question and she wasn’t going to answer it. Was it that we didn’t dare to picture the future, or was it that the question was asked at the wrong time, at a wrong place? I would think in the following days if it was necessary for me to ask that question? Was it necessary to be blunt while I asked the question? Did I lack the diplomacy or had I forgotten how to behave with a lady? For me the following days would bring back flashbacks of the moment I asked the inevitable question.

The thought would come to my mind every time I would sit idle. Finally I decided that it was time to let go of the feelings. It was time to take the burden off my chest. I wrote her a mail, apologizing for having been very mean to her. I had realized that off late I had been behaving irrationally with her and she had been tolerating me all the while. It wasn’t fair on my part to hurt the feelings of a lady who cared for me so much. I put out to her all my woes and apologized from the bottom of my heart. Not only did it make me feel light, it also gave me the satisfaction that I finally ended the series of constant hurting.

After all this, life took a new twist. The roads that seemed to have nothing but desert land on both sides and the scorching sun beating down on the earth mercilessly seemed to have lead me into a new territory that had its first rain of the season. The sweet smell of the earth, the beautiful sight of lush green fields, the tall trees that stood the test of time, all seemed to be welcoming me. It seemed that life like nature was at all its glory. I was enjoying every moment of life. Then on one Saturday we met. We had little hint how things would turn out for us on that day.

I should say that that was a concise enough description for you to understand the rest of the narration. Calling it concise would look more funny than logical, but I must stress on the fact that without the rather "elongated" concise description the rest of the narration would just bounce over your head. But the only thing that wonders me about the story so far is what would have been going through in her mind all the while. I could never fathom the reason behind her being so patient and tolerant towards me. Sometimes I feel that it is all natural for women to be kind-hearted and understanding, but for us (men) it seems to be a profound weakness that has to be exploited at all times. Well, I might be wrong on this one, but how much ever the world claims to be equal to all races, it would still remain a male-dominant world for a long time to come. Let’s stop the philosophy here and move on with the all important topic!

The Saturday morning finally came. It was the day of our regular weekend meet. I woke up a little late for on weekends there is a taboo (in my personal life, I must say) on waking up early in the morning! After having a refreshing bath I set out to meet my sweet and affectionate friend. The weather was overcast, and there were clear indications that it was going to rain at some time of the day. Being a very forgetful self, I forgot to carry an umbrella with me. But the weather was kind enough to me; at least it did not rain until I met my friend at our regular meeting place at a bus terminal. That day we had decided to go for small scale shopping and big scale window shopping!

We boarded a bus to a place, or should I say a market place that had lines of shops and petty shops and street sellers. There wasn’t a single item that you wouldn’t find at that place. It was afternoon when we reached the place, and both of us could hear our stomach grumble. The message was very clear. We were hungry! We went to a nearby restaurant which incidentally happened to be a place where I ate the most delicious food I would’ve ever eaten in my life. After that we went shopping. You wouldn’t want to know what we shopped, would you? We shopped for clothes and then went looking out for things that were to be bought in the near future.

We had finished shopping very early. There was a lot of time at our disposal. We thought it would be better for us to find a place where we could sit together and chat for a while. Ah! What luck! As we walked a few paces, we saw a park. At the other end of the park was a temple. We thought before we settle down on a bench and start talking for the rest of the afternoon and half of the evening it would be only courteous on our part to visit the temple and offer our prayers. After having done that, we frantically searched for a bench to perch on. After a bit of strolling we finally find a nice place, a bench under a tree. I sank into the bench as if I had been walking for ages.

Sitting on the bench, we enjoyed the pleasant weather. The overcast sky, birds chirping all around the park, a cool breeze that would gently touch our cheeks as if saying, "Thank you for coming." I don’t know what had happened to us; we would only talk about each other so much that the outside world had no relevance to us. We were in a realm of our own. Boy! Weren’t we enjoying the time!

As we kept talking without heeding to what was happening around us; it started drizzling. Seeing that it was going to turn into a rain very soon, we soon made haste to a shelter nearby. We sat there. Probably nature knew that the day could only have been made better because it was already going on good. It decided to play a part in making the date a perfect date. It rained like no other day. As it rained outside, we watched the rain drops drip from the edges of the shelter. It would seem as if pearls were falling from the sky. It was glorious! All the while it rained, I would sing songs and she would join in. The day that started good had now turned romantic. Never ever had I sat so close to her. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest with all its glory. Ah! It was a blissful experience. I would run out of words trying to describe the scenario.

Every good thing comes to an end. It was evening. It was time for us to depart. We came back to the bus terminal where we met first in the morning; after which we went our separate ways back to our domiciles. But the day had left us with unforgettable feelings, the warmth of which would be felt for a long long time to come. What started as a date ended up as a perfect date. The memories from that day shall stay evergreen in our hearts. May be it was the beginning of something beautiful. Only if we could halt life at a point and live it forever; but what good does it make if everything were to be perfect everyday. If life were to be perfect everyday then it would become nothing more than ordinary. It’s these perfect moments that happen once in a while that makes living worthwhile. Whenever we feel low in life; it is these perfect moments that cheer us up and make us feel as if we are on top of the world. We just traveled along another stretch of a never ending road; what lies ahead only time will tell. But the perfect date had left special feelings in our hearts that will be cherished every moment in our lives.

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TREASURE OF A LIFETIME

2007-02-02T04:17:00.000-08:00

- 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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