Vethal’s Corner - 1

A Success Story

Your chances of success are directly proportional to the degree of pleasure you derive from what you do." - Michael Korda

Raj and Suraj were best friends.

Both of them were good students. But Raj excelled in extra curricular activities as well, especially at oratory where he was a natural pro. When it came to academics, Raj studied for pleasure, and was good at what he did, while Suraj worked with a motive, that is, to consistently top the class.

Both of them were adored by their classmates, and teachers, with Suraj claiming a slightly higher share of the teachers’ adulation.
Suraj, however admired Raj for his flair in oratory and secretly yearned to be like him. He accompanied Raj to all his competitions, and was the best under-study that one could hope to be.

So deep was his desire for emulating Raj, that Suraj once told Raj “Your speech today was mind-blowing! Not a single day goes by, without me wishing to be you!”

Raj was taken aback by this statement. “How can one wish to be someone else??? You are your own absolute. Don’t ever compare yourself to others”.

But, Suraj’s longing was insatiable. He continued to follow Raj’s moves like a puppy. This sometimes irked Raj, for he was used to having his space. Suraj obviously was blind to his friend’s discomfort. He stuck to Raj during the day like a leech, and burned the midnight oil, trying to repeat the day’s speech in front of the mirror.

It was the Annual inter-school oratorical competition. The school, as usual, had nominated Raj to represent them. Suraj however had enrolled as an independent contestant.

After a fiercely fought contest, the judges declared “It was a close call. Both had very good ideas and counter points. But the subtleties of oratory were flawlessly displayed by Suraj, whom we declare the winner”.

Raj was crest-fallen. He refused to speak to Suraj thereafter. Suraj continued to win laurels. But at the corner of his mind, could never figure out why Raj broke their friendship.
He once overheard Raj saying to someone, “He is a phony. Even Charlie Chaplin didn’t win a look-alike contest of himself. Suraj simply aped me. He lacks the gift. One needs the inner spark to go on forever. The hype and hoopla is bound to die down soon.. All that glitters isn’t gold”.
Although these words hurt Suraj, he couldn’t deny or accept their import completely.

Now, Vikrams of the world, was Suraj a pilferer? Was his claim to genius fraudulent? Isn’t Genius 1 % inspiration and 99% perspiration? What about being blessed with talent, then?

Or as Raj said, would Suraj’s trail of glory peter out? His desire to be like Raj drove Suraj towards his claim to fame, what if that motive force disappears?

Suraj did not have the love or passion for oratory that Raj had, but that didn’t stop him from being a great orator, did it? Is passion for work the key to success, or is it passion for anything that is the key to success?

Suraj could have won the medals and prizes in something that he really loved, was he being superficial in choosing oratory?
By observing Raj and copying him, wasn’t Suraj inventing a “formula” for success?” Like following the trends of exam questions of the past 15 years and scoring 90% without knowing the ABC’s of the subject?

Hasn’t Suraj’s way to victory discouraged Raj who genuinely possessed the talent and love for oratory?


P.S:

This comes on the wake of Saraswathy Pooja. Saw a documentary on a Malayalam channel (guess it was DD) on the value of real ‘education’. Although, I understood the dialogues only in bits and pieces, the concluding line reached deep. It went like this: “Children, you don’t study for your father, you don’t study for your mother, you don’t study for teacher, nor do you study for your country. Then whom do you study for? Yourself.” (A pathetic literal translation. Please excuse.)