Extra-ordinary man in ordinary attire
How an ordinary person can be extraordinary through simplicity and service orientation without expecting anything in return, there could not be a better example for me than my primary school principal late Mr Ram Baksh Rawat.
When there was no hope, he created a ray of hope; when there was complete darkness; he showed the light exists at the end of the tunnel; When no one believed; he believed in my potential and enabled me to believe in same. When the world around me, was surrounded by self-centric and finite minded people, he motivated my parents and inspired me to learn and grow as an infinite game player and do something bigger than myself. His selfless help, support, guidance and life coaching at the early stage of my life during primary education proved to be a turning point in my life. Which at a later stage, formed the basis to embark on the unfinished journey of helping people to learn, grow and build a beautiful legacy for present and future generation. Without him, the journey which I have travelled so far and the world which I am dreaming to see would have never been possible! “Success lies in helping other people to create better tomorrow”, is what I would carry forward for the rest of my life as a token of respect and gratitude for what he taught and did for me!
I still remember the day and moment when my principal in the primary school who had taught and explained the poem titled “Bahot Bada hai Ye Sansar, Pahle Mere Ghar ka unde Jaisa tha Akar” in an inspiring way through the life, dream, and aspiration of a bird in the poem. He used to say, the world which you can see and perceived today is not the real world. It is much bigger and beautiful than what you can see today. And, to see that bigger and beautiful world, you have to do hard and smart world to grow yourself first. You have to go out of your comfort zone. You have to leave your fear aside and take action to see the bigger world like a little bird displaying the courage to go out from their nest, moving from one branch to another and finally flying in the sky! You all are little kids full of energy in your home, you have come out from the home to school. I am here in school to prepare you to fly in the world and see the real big and beautiful world and add more value to the world through your own work or Karma at a later stage in life. There is no limit to growth; “Sky is the only limit!”, just like a bird has limitless scope to fly in the sky. The impact of these learning at a very tender age become permanent for the rest of life.
Although he was not educated and polished like internationally renowned stakeholder centred coach Mr Marshal Goldsmith, the impact he created in my mind is not lesser than any internationally famous coach. He understood the strong desire of my father to get out from the vicious circle of poverty and shown the path how to achieve that without giving up. He was the happiest person on the earth for me when the news came that I got selected in the entrance examination of Jawahar Navoday Vidyalay.
He used to inspire students in the class through various stories in simple words. I still remember once he was sharing about the life of late Mr Lal Bahadur Shastri, an Indian politician who served as the second Prime Minister of India, how he used to go to school crossing the river. There was no boat or any other means like bridge etc. The narratives he set – Life is tough here in the village but easy as compared to Lal Bahadur Shastri. When he can become PM of the country despite numerous adversities, then why not you kids who need not required to cross the river to study. This story had a unique impact on me as earlier my father was living at a place from where school going kids had to cross one of the tributaries of Ghaghara river. And at times, they have to miss the school during the floods in the Ghaghara River. I used to feel in a blessed situation despite surrounded by poverty in many other forms.
It is difficult to put in words, the impact he had on my life through his teachings, but yes, he had not left any stone unturned to make me stronger from within despite many adverse situations. The life lessons taught helped me to operate at a higher level in terms of mindset and dreams and aspiration, coupled with the inner fire to materialize the same without giving up. He implanted the seed in my tender mind to serve and build history not only for self but for family, community, organization, nation, society, and humanity as a whole through his selfless act. He used to say the growth of a person is directly proportional to how much he or she serves others. And, How much you will be able to serve others will depend upon how capable you would become over a period. For example, when you grow up, you will help your parents. You may extend help to others provided you grow to give. Therefore, directly, or indirectly, it is he who showed the seed of “Grow to Give” through his own act and inspiring stories in life. At that time, it used to appear distant and unrealistic dream when I used to see the present context at that time. But he used to say; the only taking action is in your control. What will happen, let the time tell, why to waste time in such things which are not real. If you work hard, today or tomorrow good things will come to you! Although he is no more in this world, he is still within my core of heart inspiring to keep doing for the just cause without giving up!
Story is yet to unfold; a long way to go; you have just done for self and your family! What about others? In response to this calling, now I am on a mission to help people learn, do, earn and coach people so that I can be a catalyst in helping people and organization to learn, grow and build beautiful legacy over a period. If somebody, ask what could be the educational qualification to be extraordinary in ordinary attire, I would say it does not matter. The three secrets which make someone extraordinary in ordinary attire is, number one, At what level someone operates, i.e. the Mindset, number two, What someone does, i.e. Actions on the ground? And number three, What someone has i.e. Qualities.
Please read my book titled, being in the driving seat, what makes the ordinary extraordinary! For more details about the three secrets to designing life, you love to live!
I wrote this book as gratitude to my first teacher. It has the potential to help anyone to become extraordinary irrespective what he or she does, by following seven steps in the “ESCAPE Velocity Model propounded to design the life you love to live”!
Cheating during the Examination
My father was not much educated, but he used to say to keep three to four life lesson in mind all the time – Never tell a lie, do not fight with others, respect others especially teachers and never see a girl with bad intention. The first three life lessons, he used to reiterate in childhood and the fourth one when I become a little bit young. And during primary education, my principal and other teachers used to reinforce these values through various reward and punishment.
It was the final examination of the fifth class. The centre was other than my village school. My teacher was worried about whether all his students will be able to pass or not. Hence, he instructed all to copy from blackboard whenever got the chance. As education quality was inferior in almost all the village school and teachers performance was at stake; hence cheating was directly and indirectly allowed. Even, I remember someone was writing on the board with clear cut instruction to copy whatever is scribbled on the blackboard. I was determined that I will do cheating. Also, I was well prepared, so cheating was of no use to me. In fact, it was a discouragement to me. Hence, I sat facing opposite to the blackboard and attempted all the papers without external help. One day during the examination when it was paper of mathematics, one of the teachers went to my teacher and said to him that one of your students was not copying from the blackboard. He came later in the examination hall to know who he or she is? I said, teacher, I will do it my own self. I do not need help. He whispered good words about me in tilting toward the teacher who informed him about me. He was a little bit away, but I got to know what he said. His confidence in me had always motivated me to do more good, despite the context where no one was there to appreciate honesty, dedication, and commitment to do something on his or her own. Everybody had accepted- nothing good can be done for the education of the primary school, and yes, they were, and even today they are right to some extent barring few exceptions. Also, no one ever could have thought that a kid from such a remote village will able to do something different beyond meeting basic needs. But there was a substantial perceptual & mindset rigidity in the people in the society. The people like my principal of school appeared exception from the normal which were there during that time. He wanted to break all the myth; social blindness engrained in the society like no one need to send girls to school. Even if send them just get them educated up to 5th or max 8th class and let them get married to avoid love and affairs before marriage. Poor people cannot get a job, as there is corruption everywhere. Even after getting educated one need money and connection to get a job, education used to perceived as an investment without much return or even no return etc. But he, being my teacher, could not do much about these unfortunate social realities but he tried his best to show the seed in the mind of all the students who were there during that time with an expectation that someday some of them could do wonders. Although, what he did for me, he used to do for every student, acting on the advice and guidance was not entirely in his control. So he cared more to those who worked on the direction and advice. It seems, with this distant dream and hopes he trusted in my potential and showed the path to my family and me as I was one of the action takers. My parents’ unquestionable trust, respect and gratitude for teachers motivated my teacher to go extra miles. He prepared me to meet not only HIS distant dream but also open the door to kill the poverty in my family. Which, paved the way for the chain reaction to break the vicious circle of poverty in days to come through education, guidance and coaching to design the life one love to live!