On a cold wintery morning on 17th January 1962, the evening of a Wednesday I stepped out into this world.Very faint memories of the city of Pune where I was born,but proud to be a puneite.The beaming faces of my parents must have been a sight to watch especially after a gap of a decade between me and my elder brother.
My parents both hailed from a simple ,traditional family and in spite of my grandfather being a Chartered Account in those days and having the materialistic back up to give my father an advantage to give his life a head start,he opted to step out to pursue his own dreams and make a career and stand on his own two feet without obligations.This was a big lesson to me and my brother and will always make us proud that we live it every moment.No one except the almighty makes you, its you and your drive, passion and willpower that takes you through the thick and thin of every day life .Dad earned his own living selling home made butter cycling miles to reach out to well to do people who would buy that and he in turn would create some backup for living through that day.He went to the traditional gymnasiums,not the gizmo, hi tech latest Gyms of nowadays, but was taught the survival techniques through the art of boxing.As he had a towering personality,he caught a lot of attention from his admirers ,mostly from the opposite sex. His presence in the vicinity of the block where he stayed was enough to discourage any hooliganism or eve teasing and that led him to be extremely popular amongst the young and the old alike.
Going through the hardships he had met my Mom and it was love at first sight.She came from a big family with 7 sisters and 4 brothers and they were aware that post marriage it would be navigating the steamer of life through choppy waters.With bare necessities and a place given by a friend of my dad, they carved out their future beating and standing up to the hardships in life.With little or no money to spare and trying to use every mean in the book of life without compromising on principles ,they bought us up to where we are today.
Narrating the stories of their life, Mom in particular made us feel proud of the fact that all said and done we are the jewels of their lives and that there is nothing more precious to them however uncut we may be.The value would be created by the weathering that would happen when we face our own lives and it would be of great pride for them to watch us become the High Carat jewel with the finest cuts and transparency any jeweler would love to own.
Today ,I have lost my parents and all that remains fondly are their blessings and teachings.There were differences, there were good and not so good times, emotions flared and every bit taught me something that made me extremely grateful to them.Its that time when you have traveled a long way in pursuit of your own goals without compromising on the principles laid down by them, makes you feel great.Today we have all that they would have dreamt for but we don't have them.They ensured that we get those and they would feel proud of that.The most important think they taught us was to have our feet firmly rooted on the ground and not take off by the fatal attractions that mar your work-life balance and give you the false impressions of princely lifestyles and materialistic pleasures.I drew a line and decided this is what I have and what my family needs where i can be happy .The decision of giving up and learning in life at every step has made me thank my parents a million times.They trudged through the troughs and rough terrains to create a path for us to reach the highlands where today I would even love to live life with a backpack.I would love to reveal the various learning's in my life as i go on and share them with the world which could be of help or at least translating what my folks taught me.
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