Skip to main content

My Success Story

 


Visiting my past, I realised that, success, usually recognized through ACCOMPLISHMENT, is a fleeting felling until a new one is added. But what makes an achievement ACCOMPLISHMENT is the emotion felt during the whole process. I’ve felt contentment, excitement, & proud, but the strongest one till date is MOTIVATION.

It was 8th session of my Bharatnatyam class & I was 10 years old. For the last 3 years I’d been trying various activities like playing a piano, UCMAS & karate but was never able to stay through the whole journey & I wasn’t sure I could last this one as well. But a conversation changed it all.

That was the 1st day when Guruji came to see how we newbies were catching up with what her protégé, Kazumi Di, had been teaching us, which included learning new poses by keeping straight & steady hands & maintaining the leg postures for minutes long. Through days I realized that this is not just a dance but it is a process which would help me establish my focus, control & strengthen me physically & mentally, & to use my sense of sight& hearing.

We had just started our warm up exercises, when we were informed that Guruji wanted to see us. We went in & saw that Kazumi Di was sitting down with THATTU MANAI & Guruji was sitting up on a chair with a warm welcoming smile on her face, which instantly made the environment & all of us fell lighter. Di arranged us all on the dance floor. I was the tallest amongst my fellow mates & thus usually stood at the back. Due to this fact I was less anxious than the others, but it soon changed when I was placed upfront. We were positioned such that each one of us could be seen clearly, but that did nothing to abate my confusion & nervousness. I braved a look at Guruji & saw that her brow was pinched in confusion as well. When di was done arranging us, she turned to go back to her seat & saw the look on Guruji’s face, & told us to finish our warm up exercise, at our assigned positions. After a few minutes, Guruji swiftly leaned towards di & asked her in almost inaudible whisper,  

“Why did you put the tallest girl in the front?”

To which di replied,

“She is the tallest one amongst all & has more difficulty in maintaining her posture for longer time, so I need to keep an eye on her.”

Hearing this made my sight become blur with hot tears.

At that moment I recalled why I had only been able to attend my previous activities for no more than a week. It was nearly a given that kids who are slow at learning are meant to be degraded, scolded, or punished in front of the others to watch.

I got lost in my thoughts and failed to notice that everyone had finished their warm up and were waiting for me. I felt a quick sense of relief on realising that no one other than me had heard their conversation. This realisation helped me to keep my tears at the bay & resolute my will to keep the past in the PAST & prove myself to MYSELF TODAY.

We learned some new ADAVUS after performing the older ones. Throughout the dance I refused myself to stray my focus & performed with as much grace in my posture as I could muster.

When the practice ended & we were allowed to leave, I went to collect my bag from the table lying at the back corner when I again heard them. They were oblivious to my presence & so their voice was more audible this time, when Guruji said,

“What you said about her is clearly the opposite to what I saw. It takes more focus to maintain the ARAMANDI position with such elegance as she did. How can you not see that? ”

To which di replied,

“All I said was that ‘she faces more difficulty in maintaining her posture’ & not that she is incapable. She was holding herself back as if she was scared of something & so I placed her upfront today. I knew she would be anxious & that she heard our conversation. But instead of giving into self-loathing or fear, this time she stood for herself which eventually made her your focal point.”

On my way back home, I tried to comprehend her words & conceived that may be in the past I never understood what those scolding by my mentors was meant for.

This, for me, is ‘THE’ DEFINED MOMENT when I registered that I am the sole producer & manufacturer of my MOTIVATION & eventually SUCCESS. 

Image(s) Source: Google

-Bansari Dalal

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Superstitions

  “WHAT?” “So, you are telling me that you lost the job because of a random black cat who crossed the road?” “YES.” The yes made me write this article. When Advik started preparing for this job interview two years ago, every single person of our society knew that he would make it. There was no doubt about it. Never thought he would lose it for reaching late, that too because of a cat. He is one of the most amazing persons I have ever met. I look up to him so many times. Hearing something like this from him is the last thing I expected. Superstitions are not new to any of us. They have been intertwined with us since forever. The above is just one of the many examples we hear every day. Debugging Superstitions Some deny them while some worship them. It is actually a personal outlook. They are neither myths nor boons but disoriented beliefs born out of ignorance and science causalities from the past. For example, Friday the 13 th is considered bad because of unfortunate...
2 comments
Read more

Do you see it?

I am of the opinion that nature is an awfully simple institution and there is an infinite beauty to it. There aren’t an awful lot of rules that govern the nature. Actually, there is just the one - survival of the fittest. In spite of this, even the tiniest, the slowest, the most fragile forms of life have found a way to keep living in this home of ours, creating a beautiful, intricate balance that one cannot admire enough in a lifetime. It begs the question whether survival is really that difficult. When nature decides to inhabit a life form, it provides them with all the necessary resources for it to survive- food and water for sustenance, ability to perceive their surroundings for threats and intelligence for protection from those threats. The available resources are always more than enough for the fit to survive. The balance of nature is maintained if th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Grave or Stairs? Your Decision!

Today in this fast-hustling world, we have become more restless towards pain, towards comments and towards our success. Last night my brother got body's pain as he started workout sessions. So he decided to quit those sessions. But then he noticed a wallpaper in our room which had a poster of "No Pain - No gain". So he asked me, `` Why can't we achieve something without pain?" But sadly, in real life success is often associated with pain. It is because during our bad times, when we are unhappy with the status quo, that we learn how to change things — how to make our world better than it is. There were times when our grandparents used to tell us stories. But now that part is missing from our life. Therefore, to fill this void, I would like to share a little story about the same subject that my grandfather used to tell me. So a man named Pinku Kumar had a donkey named Binod. They both went to another village for some work. In between Pinku Kumar went to his friend ...
Post a Comment
Read more