Sense of mission
Published by Mysorean on Sunday, August 21, 2005 at 12:01:00 pm.
This incident happened in the summer of 1997.
I was doing my Senior Intermediate in Hyderabad. My closest friend Vamshee and I were as usual roaming the streets and generally doing whatever helped us away from the study table! We were coming out of a shop called “Lorven” on Shivam Road near Osmania University campus. We used to go around on a chetak at Hyderabad. Chetak is the best vehicle! So, I was taking my chetak out from the parking lot. Vamshee was waiting for me to take it out.
By then there was somebody whom Vamshee was talking to. Vamshee looks like this nice kid next door whom you can ask anything. So I thought this was one such conversation of Vamshee with yet another stranger! Little did I know that this was going to be an incident that will come to our mind time and again to remind us of what resolve is all about! I also joined in the conversation. It was a short conversation!
The person was barefoot. His face was expressionless.
His question was, “Which way do I go to Patancheru?” That’s like asking someone in Bangalore, which way to Hyderabad?!
Vamshee and I (I don’t remember who) just replied, “It’s atleast 40 kms from here. From where are you coming?”
He answered with no change in his expressions, “Vanasthalipuram”. That’s another 20 kms in the opposite direction.
“How did you come?”
“By walk” What?!
“How do you plan to go to Patancheru?”
“I will walk all the way” This guy is either mad or he is in extreme difficulty.
“Go straight on this road and ask someone at the next main road to your right”
As soon as we said that the man began walking with great focus in the direction we pointed. He never thanked us. Weird still is the fact that the thought of expecting a thanks never occurred to us.
We were just staring at each other in part disbelief over what had just happened and in part contemplation of whether we could do something more for this person. The person was walking towards Patancheru from Shivam Road with quick small steps unmindful of what he had done to us. In the peak of summer, this barefooted man was just concentrating on going to Patancheru. Even the heat didn’t matter to him. Such was his sense of mission.
We went behind the man on our chetak stopped him in his way. Gave him Ten rupees and showed him where the nearest bus stop was. And told him the numbers of the buses that would take him to Patancheru. From there we went home with a satisfaction of having made a small difference.
More than having made a difference, the man showed us that if you have the resolve to achieve your goal you only need pointers at the relevant places to tell you whether you are going the right way or not. You can go without anyone’s help. It was we who volunteered to help him. He never expected any help out of anyone. It was a 40kms (Actually, the distance didn’t matter to him) walk for him.
That day we learnt that if we were serious about achieving a goal then we needed a steely resolve. The kind of resolve the man had shown on that hot summer day. It was his sense of mission that really brings us back to reality whenever we start thinking that we have achieved something great. We still have a lot to achieve.
We don’t know if he reached Patancheru or not. But we are sure that with his kind of resolve, he would have easily reached there. He taught us how to focus on our goals. We have all the comforts in Life, yet we keep cribbing about one thing or the other. Look at this man, barefooted in the peak of summer at Hyderabad he was ready to walk to Patancheru and he didn’t have one word to say against anything!
That’s sense of mission!
Tomorrow: Part One of Sunday’s discourse at Ramakrishna Math on Brihadaranyaka Upanishad by Swami Gautamananda
I was doing my Senior Intermediate in Hyderabad. My closest friend Vamshee and I were as usual roaming the streets and generally doing whatever helped us away from the study table! We were coming out of a shop called “Lorven” on Shivam Road near Osmania University campus. We used to go around on a chetak at Hyderabad. Chetak is the best vehicle! So, I was taking my chetak out from the parking lot. Vamshee was waiting for me to take it out.
By then there was somebody whom Vamshee was talking to. Vamshee looks like this nice kid next door whom you can ask anything. So I thought this was one such conversation of Vamshee with yet another stranger! Little did I know that this was going to be an incident that will come to our mind time and again to remind us of what resolve is all about! I also joined in the conversation. It was a short conversation!
The person was barefoot. His face was expressionless.
His question was, “Which way do I go to Patancheru?” That’s like asking someone in Bangalore, which way to Hyderabad?!
Vamshee and I (I don’t remember who) just replied, “It’s atleast 40 kms from here. From where are you coming?”
He answered with no change in his expressions, “Vanasthalipuram”. That’s another 20 kms in the opposite direction.
“How did you come?”
“By walk” What?!
“How do you plan to go to Patancheru?”
“I will walk all the way” This guy is either mad or he is in extreme difficulty.
“Go straight on this road and ask someone at the next main road to your right”
As soon as we said that the man began walking with great focus in the direction we pointed. He never thanked us. Weird still is the fact that the thought of expecting a thanks never occurred to us.
We were just staring at each other in part disbelief over what had just happened and in part contemplation of whether we could do something more for this person. The person was walking towards Patancheru from Shivam Road with quick small steps unmindful of what he had done to us. In the peak of summer, this barefooted man was just concentrating on going to Patancheru. Even the heat didn’t matter to him. Such was his sense of mission.
We went behind the man on our chetak stopped him in his way. Gave him Ten rupees and showed him where the nearest bus stop was. And told him the numbers of the buses that would take him to Patancheru. From there we went home with a satisfaction of having made a small difference.
More than having made a difference, the man showed us that if you have the resolve to achieve your goal you only need pointers at the relevant places to tell you whether you are going the right way or not. You can go without anyone’s help. It was we who volunteered to help him. He never expected any help out of anyone. It was a 40kms (Actually, the distance didn’t matter to him) walk for him.
That day we learnt that if we were serious about achieving a goal then we needed a steely resolve. The kind of resolve the man had shown on that hot summer day. It was his sense of mission that really brings us back to reality whenever we start thinking that we have achieved something great. We still have a lot to achieve.
We don’t know if he reached Patancheru or not. But we are sure that with his kind of resolve, he would have easily reached there. He taught us how to focus on our goals. We have all the comforts in Life, yet we keep cribbing about one thing or the other. Look at this man, barefooted in the peak of summer at Hyderabad he was ready to walk to Patancheru and he didn’t have one word to say against anything!
That’s sense of mission!
Tomorrow: Part One of Sunday’s discourse at Ramakrishna Math on Brihadaranyaka Upanishad by Swami Gautamananda
