Vision 2020

Yet another thought provoking mail from a friend:

Vision 2020

Unearthing potential
By S C Jaini

It is good to dream but dreams alone do not make things happen. As President Dr Abdul Kalam repeatedly says in his books vision along with determination can only make our country strong. Let us first do our duty before we preach.

I shall narrate a small incident, which happened many years ago but the memory of which remains alive in my mind. I was in Switzerland staying with my nephew. My nephew would go to his office by 7 am. On a particular morning the weather was extremely cold, since it rained that night. While I was seeing him off at the doorstep, I noticed the landing, wet. I assumed that from some broken window, a little rain might have trickled in. I closed the door and was about to forget the rains in the superheated comfortable indoors, when curiosity again made me open the door. Swiss are known to be very meticulous people and it would have been difficult to believe that the window would have been left unrepaired, to allow the rains to come in.

I noticed that the water on the landing was not from any broken window; the landing was freshly swept by someone. I took a step forward and what did I see? An old lady aged around seventy, who was the concierge of the building, sweeping the staircase with a standing mop. I was amazed, to say the least. Just then a young woman opened the door of her apartment and invited the old lady inside for a hot cup of tea/coffee.

The old lady did not go inside but accepted the hot beverage at the door. She drank the cup with gratitude, while standing out in the extreme chill and returned back to her work. I was more than a bit curious by this time and continued to watch the proceeding from a distance. The old lady could not have noticed me being there. She went back with her sweeping exactly to the same point, where she had left off and began mopping.

She had left a marker where she had stopped work earlier and resumed from the same spot, where she had stopped. The building is ten storeys high and she would have been mopping for a long time. I returned to my apartment with misty eyed, feeling for her old age but nonetheless with great respect and admiration for her devotion to her work. I quietly saluted her in my mind and wished that I could say the same for myself and my countrymen.

In the evening, I narrated the incident to my nephew. I expected him to tell me that the old lady is an exception etc. but he calmly looked at me and said, But Mama, in Switzerland, all do the same. There are no supervisors in our work place to see whether we are doing our assigned jobs.

The supervisors only guide; they are not to prompt us to our work. Vision cannot be achieved by dreaming alone, but yes, through commitment to our jobs. Do not worry about the nation; let us think whether we are truthful to our jobs and our commitments. If we are true to ourselves, the nation would take care of itself for as Lord Nelson (who defeated the mighty Spanish Armada) said England expects every man to do his duty (and honestly). A nation of one billion is on the march but let us look into ourselves honestly. ARE WE, BY ANY CHANCE, THE STUMBLING BLOCKS?

Think ?