My first blog about a young Visionary

I have been thinking from about past one year to start my bolg and have been just postponing with a vauge reason…after having a 1hr discussion with a 14 year boy, I have pushed all my activities and decided to start it today itself to share the one hour wonderful discussion I had with this young amazing talent, Jitender.

As a part of the mentorship program in Nirmaan Mumbai, we have identified few bright students who have completed their VIII standard (the highest standard in the school) from the Municipal school, Malad, Mumbai and started providing guidance to these guys. Jitender, the guy whom I have to mentor, is the topper in the school with 93.5 % in the VIII class exams.. After speaking few times over phone, today I met him near Goregaon sports club, Malad and took him to my home and we had a good one hour discussion with the ball always in my court trying to figure out how can I motivate this young student or Can I motivate this already highly motivated chap?

Conversation started casually knowing about his new school and the environment over there….then I started enquiring more about his background. His parents stay in a village far away from Mumbai and he stays with his Dad’s elder bro (Bade papa) who does ironing of clothes as a profession. Bada papa’s wife and children stay in a village, so the Bade papa and Jitender stay together, with Jitender helping him in his work apart from doing all the domestic work like cleaning, washing clothes, preparing food, filling water etc., with minimal help from his Bade papa. Then I asked about his parents, he said his Dad is working in some company (I think some manufacturing company) in their village and mom is house wife.

As the discussion progressed, I started asking about his dream, he says “maine Rashtrapathy banna chahatha hu aur desh ki seva karna chahatha hu” (I want to become President of India and work for the Nation)… I said good thoughts, so what are you doing for that? “fisrt dasvi (10th class) me 98 se 99 % lane ka aur uske bad sochunga, aur mujhe vishwas hai ki mee pakka layega” (First I want to score 98 to 99% in class X which I am confident of and then I would think of the next steps)

I asked him did you tell your dream to your parents and how they feel about it? he says “maine mere maa ko vaada diya ke mai gav tabhi aayega jab me Rashtrapathi banuga aur tab se gau nahi gaya’ (I promised to my mom that I would return to my village only when I become Rashtrapathi and left my village)..imagine an eight year old boy saying his dream to his mom and left for to Mumbai as a first step to realize his dream.. its been six years now since he has been to his village and now even his mom couldn’t recognize him even if she meet him.. once in a while he calls his mom saying he is fine and not to worry about him…

I was trying to put myself in his shoes and trying justify not seeing my mom till I realize my dream, I accept I couldn’t find that I would be able to…I am not sure how many of us can…then I realized he is definitely a better determined person with a brilliant vision, so he would be able to achieve what we might think may not be possible at the moment..

this reminds me of a quote by Eleanor Roosevelt
“The future belongs to those who believes in the beauty of their dreams”

Then I started enquiring about his routine…his typical day goes like this..
Gets up at 5.30 AM,
studies till 7.00 then
goes for distributing the clothes that are ironed,
finishes it by 9.00, prepares the food,
gets ready for the school and leave by 11.00 Am so that he reaches school on time which starts at 11.40 AM.

Returns home by 6.30 PM
Have some snacks and does the domestic work like washing clothes,
Collects the clothes to be ironed by 9.00
Studies for an hour and then prepares dinner finishes by 11.00
goes for a walk for about an hour and then studies from 12.00 to 3.00 AM
gets up at 5.30 again

just to reiterate.. he is just eight years old when he had that goal and he is putting enormous efforts to realize it…

when asked about how you would manage to stay with 2 and half hours of sleep he says, I don’t think I need more and i have been doing this from past few years…I was even more puzzled and started staring at my mobile which snoozes more than thrice each day and doesn’t at all on a weekend..

When asked how much pocket money do u get from ur Bade papa, he says none and he doesn’t like to ask his bade papa because he doesn’t wish to give him.. During the summer holidays, he was working with the nearby neighbor who also does ironing and earned about 3000 Rs which he is now using for daily traveling, purchasing books, uniform and for other requirements….I said I am impressed with his thoughts and promised I would support him in providing the right guidance as and when required…I wanted to discuss more but he had to leave to school.

I am very glad to be his mentor though in this case mentor is also learning a lot of things and gaining lot of motivation from this young talent…I also thank Nirmaan (http://www.nirmaan.org/) because of which I am able to identify this guy... Lets wish him all the success in his life and like to see his dream realize….

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