Mahima and Naresh came from lower middle class families and as youngsters both aspired to lead a life of luxury. Post their wedding, they left their home town and moved to Bangalore to realise their dreams.
While Mahima was charming and eloquent Naresh was shrewd and had all the qualities to succeed in the business world. They began with small civil projects, moved to housing projects and soon began to pick government related projects. On the family front, they were blessed with Ananya, who was left with a nanny.
With time as their business grew in size so did their greed for money and power. With their business preoccupations, the child was never on their radar. Thankfully the nanny was an angel and she instilled great values in the child. Ananya as her name signified turned out to be unique and very different from her parents in traits. She was good natured, level headed and intelligent. Endowed with high thinking and simple living, she was an antithesis to her parents. She detested their high and fast life that consisted of lavish parties and socializing devoid of any compassion and concern for the less fortunately placed people.
She expressed her distaste for the way they lived on many occasions but was ignored or taunted as a foolish girl with no ambition to succeed. Quarrels became frequent.
As the verbal duels got worse, she walked out of the house out of sheer frustration. in their busy preoccupations they did not even notice her absence from the house. It was only when a wedding cum business proposal cropped up , did Mahima notice her absence.
Meanwhile, Ananya exposed to the outside world realized the ground realities for the hapless poor people spurring her on to work harder for them. No amount of coaxing by Mahima or Naresh could change Ananya’s mind, to go their ways but rather made her more focused on doing her bit for the destitute old, the disabled.
As Ananya got wholly submerged in her world of social service, she was now at greater peace of mind, away from the world of money, power and false pretensions. She realised that true happiness lay in service than in mindless accumulation of riches. Wealth to her meant more a trust in the hands of rich to bring about smile in the faces of poor. Her selfless social service drew public attention and approbation. She presented many papers at various conferences and her work won recognition. She was awarded Scroll of Honour by the United Nations Human Settlements Program.
Her parents who all along kept away from her in their unhappiness for what they considered as a foolish and wasted life, started claiming intimacy and parental status when she became famous and grabbed headlines in the media. The immediate prompting came when she was felicitated by the Government for her international distinction. Her parents started bragging about their daughter totally identifying themselves with her forgetting that all these days Ananya was nowhere on their radar. Today when there was universal acclaim and many people talked about her to her parents proudly that they realized Ananya was no ordinary person and that they contributed very little in shaping her mind. In her own subtle but significant ways, Ananya brought about a welcome change in their hearts and their attitude towards the poor.
In her thanks giving speech, Ananya said “ I must remember with deep debt of gratitude on this occasion , my nanny who inculcated in me the right values of compassion and service. All credit goes to her. I wish to say that material loss can always be made up through renewed effort, but the moral failure leaves an indelible scar on the conscience.”
While Mahima was charming and eloquent Naresh was shrewd and had all the qualities to succeed in the business world. They began with small civil projects, moved to housing projects and soon began to pick government related projects. On the family front, they were blessed with Ananya, who was left with a nanny.
With time as their business grew in size so did their greed for money and power. With their business preoccupations, the child was never on their radar. Thankfully the nanny was an angel and she instilled great values in the child. Ananya as her name signified turned out to be unique and very different from her parents in traits. She was good natured, level headed and intelligent. Endowed with high thinking and simple living, she was an antithesis to her parents. She detested their high and fast life that consisted of lavish parties and socializing devoid of any compassion and concern for the less fortunately placed people.
She expressed her distaste for the way they lived on many occasions but was ignored or taunted as a foolish girl with no ambition to succeed. Quarrels became frequent.
As the verbal duels got worse, she walked out of the house out of sheer frustration. in their busy preoccupations they did not even notice her absence from the house. It was only when a wedding cum business proposal cropped up , did Mahima notice her absence.
Meanwhile, Ananya exposed to the outside world realized the ground realities for the hapless poor people spurring her on to work harder for them. No amount of coaxing by Mahima or Naresh could change Ananya’s mind, to go their ways but rather made her more focused on doing her bit for the destitute old, the disabled.
As Ananya got wholly submerged in her world of social service, she was now at greater peace of mind, away from the world of money, power and false pretensions. She realised that true happiness lay in service than in mindless accumulation of riches. Wealth to her meant more a trust in the hands of rich to bring about smile in the faces of poor. Her selfless social service drew public attention and approbation. She presented many papers at various conferences and her work won recognition. She was awarded Scroll of Honour by the United Nations Human Settlements Program.
Her parents who all along kept away from her in their unhappiness for what they considered as a foolish and wasted life, started claiming intimacy and parental status when she became famous and grabbed headlines in the media. The immediate prompting came when she was felicitated by the Government for her international distinction. Her parents started bragging about their daughter totally identifying themselves with her forgetting that all these days Ananya was nowhere on their radar. Today when there was universal acclaim and many people talked about her to her parents proudly that they realized Ananya was no ordinary person and that they contributed very little in shaping her mind. In her own subtle but significant ways, Ananya brought about a welcome change in their hearts and their attitude towards the poor.
In her thanks giving speech, Ananya said “ I must remember with deep debt of gratitude on this occasion , my nanny who inculcated in me the right values of compassion and service. All credit goes to her. I wish to say that material loss can always be made up through renewed effort, but the moral failure leaves an indelible scar on the conscience.”
It is the noble values that the parents instil in the young and impressionable minds of children that stand in good stead through out their lives.Luckily for Ananya, she had a great nanny to shape her mind.
ReplyDeleteA good story very well narrated.Thanks,Krupa
ya good story well narrated like KP says..cheers
ReplyDeleteHi Krupa,
ReplyDeleteMy first time in your blog. How interestingly you write. The flow is good, makes for easy reading. You have made your point very clear and easily understood.
Thank you for this pleasure.
Have a blessed day.
Superb piece on rat race for money and debacle of culture. However, Ananya represents the antithesis,
ReplyDeleteVery nice story. Sometimes children do different things from what their parents aspire for them. Whatever it is as long the value systems are right life turns out right. The role of the nanny in this story is really crucial and I liked the way you brought it up towards the end.
ReplyDeletevery nice story, Krupa. Came across you, at this ungodly hour thru Kaleidoscope, and is my wont if I read a post, I leave my feedback behind. While you have a nice simple style of writing, your telling thoughts leave an indelible impression on the mindset of the readers. So much so it may relate to their lives.
ReplyDelete