Category Archives: inspirational
Selfless Love – Just experience it.
My wife called, ‘How long will you be with that newspaper? Will you come here and make your darling daughter eat her food?
I tossed the paper away and rushed to the scene. My only daughter, Sindu, looked frightened; tears were welling up in her eyes. In front of her was a bowl filled to its brim with curd rice. Sindu is a nice child, quite intelligent for her age.
I cleared my throat and picked up the bowl. ‘Sindu, darling, why don’t you take a few mouthful of this curd rice? Just for Dad’s sake, dear’.
Sindu softened a bit and wiped her tears with the back of her hands. ‘Ok, Dad. I will eat – not just a few mouthfuls, but the whole lot of this. But, you should…’ Sindu hesitated. ‘Dad, if I eat this entire curd Rice, will you give me whatever I ask for?’
‘Promise’. I covered the pink soft hand extended by my daughter with mine, and clinched the deal. Now I became a bit anxious. ‘Sindu, dear, you shouldn’t insist on getting a computer or any such expensive items. Dad does not have that kind of money right now. Ok?’
‘No, Dad. I do not want anything expensive’. Slowly and painfully, she finished eating the whole quantity. I was silently angry with my wife and my mother for forcing my child to eat something that she detested. After the ordeal was through, Sindu came to me with her eyes wide with expectation. All our attention was on her. ‘Dad, I want to have my head shaved off, this Sunday!’ was her demand.
‘Atrocious!’ shouted my wife, ‘A girl child having her head shaved off? Impossible!’
‘Never in our family!’ My mother rasped. ‘She has been watching too much of television. Our culture is getting totally spoiled with these TV programs!’
‘Sindu, darling, why don’t you ask for something else? We will be sad seeing you with a clean-shaven head.’
‘Please, Sindu, why don’t you try to understand our feelings?’ I tried to plead with her.
‘Dad, you saw how difficult it was for me to eat that Curd Rice’. Sindu was in tears. ‘And you promised to grant me whatever I ask for. Now, you are going back on your words. Was it not you who told me the story of King Harishchandra, and its moral that we should honor our promises no matter what?’
It was time for me to call the shots. ‘Our promise must be kept.’
‘Are you out of your mind?’ chorused my mother and wife
‘No. If we go back on our promises, she will never learn to honor her own. Sindu, your wish will be fulfilled.’ With her head clean-shaven, Sindu had a round-face, and her eyes looked big and beautiful.
On Monday morning, I dropped her at her school. It was a sight to watch my hairless Sindu walking towards her classroom. She turned around and waved. I waved back with a smile. Just then, a boy alighted from a car, and shouted, ‘Sinduja, please wait for me!’ What struck me was the hairless head of that boy. ‘May be, that is the in-stuff’, I thought.
‘Sir, your daughter Sinduja is great indeed!’ Without introducing herself, a lady got out of the car, and continued, ‘that boy who is walking along with your daughter is my son Harish. He is suffering from… leukemia’. She paused to muffle her sobs. ‘Harish could not attend the school for the whole of the last month. He lost all his hair due to the side effects of the chemotherapy. He refused to come back to school fearing the unintentional but cruel teasing of the schoolmates. Sinduja visited him last week, and promised him that she will take care of the teasing issue. But, I never imagined she would sacrifice her lovely hair for the sake of my son!
Sir, you and your wife are blessed to have such a noble soul as your daughter.’
I stood transfixed and then, I wept. ‘My little Angel, you are teaching me how selfless real love is!’
The happiest people on this planet are not those who live on their own terms but are those who change their terms for the ones whom they love !!
PS: Received this from my friend “Dhruva Sachdeva” Noida as an email.
Jessica Cox: First Pilot without Arms
Excellence or Excuse???
Mom: Can you get that box
Kid: No Mom, I can’t lift this box, it is too heavy for me
Friend A: I have started to learn martial arts (Tea kwon do), do you want to join with me Shreshta??
Friend B: No, I am too small to learn that, and i heard that it is very tough to learn that.
These kind of excuses are pretty commonly heard around us from kids and something similar in nature from adults. Excellence is tough and Excuse is easy, but which one should we choose?? Why should we choose??
I have recently received an email from my friend Sanna about Jessica Cox – a woman without her arms flying as a certified pilot., here is the story of her.. read on.
Jessica Cox is born in Tucson, Arizona (USA) without arms, but that did not stopped her from doing the regular activities of childhood, she just believed in only one word “I CAN”.
Right from her infancy, her feet became her hands. Like all children,she went through the various stages of development. She learned to feed herself and write with her feet. Throughout childhood, she participated in many activities including swimming, gymnastics, tap dancing, using computer.
Jessica started tae kwon-do when she was ten, earning her first black belt at fourteen in the International Tae Kwon-Do Federation. She rejoined American Tae Kwon-Do Association in college and earned a second black belt.
Double Black Belt in Tae Kwon-Do.
Jessica can drive car by herselves and she is a Graduate in Psycolog, she is a very good dancer
The only thing Jessica was afraid of was “flying”, but when she was given an opportunity to overcome her fear, she learned to fly on a “rudderless” flight which only need to control steering and no other operations.
“I had to be very determined and persistent. It took me three hard years to complete – but it is the most fantastic feeling in the world,” Jessica explained.
Jessica is now training to become an instructor
With one foot manning the controls and the other delicately guiding the steering column, Cox, 25, soared to achieve a Sport Pilot certificate. Her certificate qualifies her to fly a light-sport aircraft to altitudes of 10,000 feet.
Experts from her Instructor Parrish Traweek, 42, the flying instructor at San Manuel’s Ray Blair Airport.
“When she came up here driving a car,”
“I knew she’d have no problem flying a plane.”
“She’s a good pilot. She’s rock solid,” said
I salute to Jessica’s strong determination and her parents for giving this inspiration to the this world.
Her Web site – http://www.rightfooted.com/
Few Videos – http://www.rightfooted.com/see/
Youtube Videos –
Inside Edition on Jessica Cox on Youtube
Woman Armless Pilot on Youtube
