Vision of Life; by Sanjay: A Battleship in Building! (Nikhil's B'day Letter)

Dear Bhikya, You know how I love writing, especially to your genre;

Whatsap has its own limitations so the letter sent to you was a bit cut short, here is the original version… mama

4th Jan 2018

"Anger is best when you learn to control it within yourself"... sanju mama.

dear bhikya,

You know my habit of using quotes by writers or thinkers or even from cartoon /super hero movies but when it’s writing a letter to your own nephew, I thought using something of my very own, so used my quote! That way each day not just each year you grow but today you turned 21, an age where people used to be considered as officially grown up in our times! When I was young we used to wait for getting in to 21^st for many reasons, voting was the last but then legally you were considered as grown up & I used to think that now my opinion or suggestions people will take seriously (though I was wrong about it)! Today age of grownup has got down to 18 years only, as you get voting right as well driving license, yes drinking age has been increased to 24 but I wonder anybody follows that norm anymore! Bhikya, what I like most about you is the dedication with which you do anything, may it be body building for six packs or studying for medical, which was your target & it’s this habit of yours which will take you ahead of all! As by me what your genre lacks is setting up goals & work hard towards them, may be its because for many of you, goals were already achieved by our genre making it difficult for you guys to have any choice for selecting your goals.

For my genre there were so many goals for us, right from having a decent shoes pair to having a two wheeler to getting a job, we have set up so many targets which most of you guys have already in your pocket even before you entered in 18's! In such times I am happy my nephew is one of rare species who sets his goals & work hard to get them. But at the same time what you need to work on is your temper & not being able to accommodate things which you don’t like. Do you know who your biggest enemy is? None other than you yourself as when you set a target then you should make yourself in such a position that nothing can deviate you from your target & two things are any man’s worst enemies, impatientness & short temper! You have watched enough English movies, especially where characters of sniper’s are involved & showed taking aim at the target which is at very long distance. Do you know when it’s a shot at target some hundreds of meters away then however good & powerful rifle you got in your hand, you need to take so many things in consideration for e.g. wind direction & wind speed, as slightest of miscalculation of wind flow can change the course of the bullet! Most importantly a sniper has to be very strong & steady minded & needs to have control on his/her breathing, as even breathing moment can make you miss your aim. What most people will see is just a nice shot & admires the sniper when he shoots a tiny object at distance but how many could understand the hard way the sniper has come through & minute details he has worked on? Life is also taking aims & shooting, as when you are setting target as long as your career or body building, then you can’t afford to allow anything which will affect the course you have chosen! Here is where what habits you have cultivated came in light & like smoking or drinking, being short tempered & impatient too are bad habits which you need to keep away.

Bhikya mind one thing, any ship can sail smoothly with wind in favor & in calm waters but only a battleship is built to sail against the wind & in rough waters, yet to remain on the course it is travelling on! Our human body with a mind in it also is like a ship sailing in the ocean of life which has many ports named career, physical fitness, knowledge, respect, honor, relations which we have to reach at some stage of our life. And for that we need to build our ship so it can travel to all these destinations & for that there are many ways but one sure way is acquire knowledge & adopt humbleness. As like money, knowledge also is a weapon, much powerful. And do you know what any powerful weapon makes to us, it goes in our head from our hands & weapon’s aim is shifted to our own self & that’s the first step of defeat which we write for our-self! Being humble & paying respect to everybody is only way to keep the weapon in our hand & aimed at right target, mind it always. So it’s up to you what you become by yourself, a battleship or a luxury yacht! That way every generation thinks they went through hardship while the next generation has got easy life because of their efforts but I never think so, as the world is changing fast & your generation will face more challenges & biggest challenge is to survive change as well pace of life. You are in a profession of medical science which is still considered as noble but now people want results & they want it fast & in their way; bhikya, biggest challenge is to stand to the expectations of others & that needs lots of patience! I often wonder about medical profession & English language where "patient" term is so important & directly related to another term i.e. "Patience"; its irony that a doctor needs both i.e. patients & patience to become successful!

On your b’day I wish you lots of patience as if you achieve it, then patients will follow always! And do mind patience needs practice, just like your profession, the more you practice it the more patient & skill you get!

While you grow do remember, understand the term named success first then try to become successful as many successful people have failed just because they failed to understand success! And yes learn to smile not just laugh as smile comes from within & laugh can be just a surface activity, best way to face defeat is to smile at it & get over it!! There will be times when people will doubt your capacities, don’t ignore them but best way to clear that doubt is prove them wrong by delivering!! Last but most important any beautiful building becomes strong to survive test of the time only if it has solid foundation. And the foundation is always buried under the surface of earth, though the building which people admire is seen above the ground. Same way your success will be standing on many people who will be always in shadow & whom others will never see; your parents, friends, teachers are few of them. Never ever forget those who has been your foundation as many of them has sacrificed a lot for you as that only has made you what you are today & will be; all you have to do is make them proud by your existence, that’s all they will ever want from you!

That’s what I wanted to share & don’t restrict my words to you, as they may be written for you but they are for rohit, rohan, ketki & for all your genre, so do share with them as one more job of battleship is keep other vessels safe too!

njoy…lots of love

mama