Learning resilience and persistence: Power of a role model -By Harsh from AMSoM

The power of a role model cannot be measured but it can do wonders. Here is an account of my experience with my role model. 

A barely clad, possibly malnourished man was struggling with life and general. A lady chances upon him and offers to pay for his medical insurance because every life is important. I witnessed their conversation and the teary-eyed customer. He was touched by the humble lady and her efforts to safeguard his life. At that time, I thanked heaven for blessing me with such a mother.

A role model is a person who inspires you to be like him/her. For me, it is no one else but my beloved mother. Hailing from a very humble background set in patriarchy, she had spent all her childhood in destitution. She knows what poverty is, as often the family couldn’t afford a three-time meal. During her childhood,  she beheld enough instances of helplessness. But she was determined to work hard and pull her family out of poverty.

The Burning Determination

With no money in pocket, she gave up on every dream a teen girl could have. She knew how it felt to be helpless and was firm that her kids shouldn’t witness a similar life. She started burning the midnight oil and preparing for her grade X exams as even back then, it was considered to be a foundation of one’s career. With so much to change, she appeared for boards but her world crashed into pieces after seeing the results. She’d failed in mathematics. In order to pursue her studies, she had to appear again for boards in the consequent year. 

The family gave up hope on her and asked her to quit, however, she was no less than a warrior and thus decided to appear for the boards, again. She paid no attention to what people said and focused on her preparations. The D-day arrived. She went to her school to check the results and jumped with joy after seeing the notice board - Rank 1: Saroj  Dalwani!

She ran towards her home with tears of happiness in her eyes. 

“The day of the result broke,
And so did the perceptions of people,
The stars were in favor of the bold,
As the little girl had won the gold,
“Topper in the state,” the hard work roared.”

As time slipped, she earned accolades and certificates of merit. Finally, she achieved distinction in her Masters in Economics. At the age when girls are convinced to get married, she opted to build her career and sought for a respectable job. She appeared for several national exams and cleared many of them. Eventually, she settled for a job as a clerk in the State Bank of India. And back then, getting a Government job was something to boast about. Life had a lot in store for her and not all of it was good. 

Your Will-power Pulls you Through

Eventually things did take a turn for the better but not without taking its toll on her. They have earned enough to live a life of luxury. Also, she has grown on spiritual levels. No matter what, she never gave up and didn’t let anything affect her. Her strong will power taught me to be unaffected by the turbulence and also gave me the courage to withstand everything. I learned how to fulfill all the worldly responsibilities and at the same time help people in need. Her journey made me value an honest livelihood and understand that the Karmic account only gets consolidated by our actions. Lastly, she showed me that satisfaction lies in possessing everything and yet being down to earth.

Long story short, she has taught me to be a real human being!

Bright like the stars,
She hides every scar,
Defeating all the hardships,
She has come this far,
There’s nowhere in the North to go for,
She has reached the destination, we navigate for,
It isn’t a city but a state,
The state of nirvana, which we look for,
I walk in her footsteps, aiming to be someone just like her!

This article was submitted as an entry to Become an Author 2.0 with Dare2Compete.