P is for Passion
A very close
family friend’s daughter is learning classical dance, but when asked about it
she is barely able to speak. You realise later on that her mother wanted to
learn which she could not and hence the daughter has been enrolled. It is
obvious the daughter has no interest in it as the results purely reflect the
same.
The way I
like to say it is ”In trying to make us
all that they could not be, they never let us become what we could have been.”
Though harsh but true, our parents try to fulfill their unfulfilled dreams
through us.
Since
childhood we have been always asked to be like the best person around us. A
scholar student, a soft spoken neighbor, a caring teacher, a loving friend – we
are surrounded by such wonderful people in various forms. Our teachers and loved ones always give us
the example of such people asking us to take a leaf out of their lives and try
to be like them. No wonder by the time we grow up we are of the view that we
need to improve a lot and hence keep idealizing people, trying to be like them.
From those nice people around us, now our fascination changes to bigger and
better people like a famous television actor, a successful film star, a
celebrated author, a renowned motivational speaker etc.
I wonder if
it would have made any difference had we just been told to give your best in
everything we do for that would have made the whole difference in the output.
Comparing us with others and pushing us to be like them, is completely wrong
according to me. Rather parents should always encourage their children to be
the best version of their ownselves. Like it is said, ‘Try to be the best
version of YOU, rather than try being a second best version of somebody else!”
For anything done with passion it begets wonderful results. Amidst all these
pressures our passions die a slow death in the hands of time and it is very
important for us to strive constantly to keep them alive. I would like to quote
a dialogue from a movie called 3 Idiots where the leading actor Aamir Khan
tells his friends “ Imagine, what if
Sachin Tendulkar’s father had tried making him a singer or Lata Mangeshkar’s
father had asked her to act. They would have been disastrous. They are what
they are, for they have followed their passion and that is what makes them give
their best to it! “