Whenever someone asks me, “Tell me about yourself? first I’ll tell my basic qualifications , then I’ll add an additional complement that “I am a young girl with lots dreams “ . Behind this statement there was a man in my life who used to be my all time inspiration, who used to be the reason behind my dreams, who used to guide me to achieve all my dreams and make it comes true, whose first priority is to make me happy, whose happiness is to see me happy, whose achievement is to make me achieve. Simply I am his entire world and thoughts. I can proudly say he is the one and only greatest inspiration for me. In this essay I am going to share a lot about my inspiring man and at the end of this essay, he’ll be an inspiring person to everyone.
There was a small rural village in a small district of Tamilnadu, which is the southern state of India. In that village, girl children were brought up only to get married and to look after her husband and family. They can’t even imagine about their education and career and they were not allowed to go anywhere, they don’t have the rights to make decisions for their own life. The maximum education a girl can get is tenth standard, But this was even a dream to many.
My inspiring man was also born in the same village in a joint family of nearly 15-20 members which includes 3 brothers, 4 sisters, a drunkard father who used to spend all his daily wages to buy alcohol beverages and used to fight with the family members and a mentally disturbed mother and grandparents. The family’s major occupation is “ Agriculture” . They have to struggle a lot to get their daily meals and they can’t even imagine about their education. At that time,” THE MID DAY MEALS SCHEME “was introduced by our former chief minister of Tamilnadu ‘KARMAVEER KAMARAJ’. This scheme attracted a lot to come school to get the food for themselves as well as their family. So, my inspiring man too went to school to feed himself as well as his family members. Also, he used to work in the evenings as well as in weekend for daily wages to support his family. Because they don’t have food to eat in weekends and holidays, as the schools were closed. He can’t pursue his higher education after 10th standard. He was forced to go to work. Because the entire family can’t survive with the school meals alone. He dropped his education and went to a hotel to work as a servant at the age of 16. His work is to clean the vessels and glasses, to cook and serve the food, to clean the table, to keep the floors clean and he has to do all the work ordered by the owner. He worked really hard without rest without considering day and night. He also worked in few other places too, to render his maximum support to his family.
Finally after some years, as a result of his immense hard work, he gets all his sisters married to a good family and he managed to send all his brothers to abroad to work. They were worked hard to develop the standard of their life. My inspiring man managed to save his salary, after five years he bought the same hotel where he initially worked as a servant and he becomes the owner of the hotel at the age of 30. He done his work really well and he managed to build a house for him and also renovated his parent’s house. He never left his parents though they didn’t do anything for him. Then the next phase of his life started. He gets married to a village girl, who struggled a lot in her early life. She wants to study but she can’t due to her family situation. My inspiring man understood her wish and he gives her a whole hearted support. He made her to complete her B.A then M.A then D.TED from a well recognized university of Tamilnadu. They started growing financially. Within few years, my inspiring man opened another two branches of his hotel. They gave birth to a girl and two sons. The family was filled with joy and glory. My inspiring man is really a kind, caring and an innocent one. He not only looked after his family, he looked after his brother’s family, his sister’s family, his friend’s family and his relative’s family too.
He never refused to help someone who comes to him in need of any help. But, the second critical phase of his life begins here. Everyone used his innocence and caring nature for their benefits and makes him fool. Gradually, he lost everything he earned but he never used to be sad. Because he always makes him to be satisfied by thinking that somewhere someone was happy with his money. The family of five begins to suffer a lot financially. He doesn’t have money. He was forced to borrow money for his children’s education. The family’s debt was increasing. The relatives and the friends who were with him when he was rich were leaving him alone gradually. No one is there to support him except his wife and children. At that time, when he was financially suffering a lot, the cyclone “VARTHA PUYAL” destructed the whole Tamilnadu as well as his house; his hotels, his agricultural farm and literally everything were damaged terribly. He lost his property worth 5-6 lakhs which was a big money for him. But he never lost his hope. He started his life from zero and ended up making it valuable and now it comes to zero again. He had to start his career again. But this time, he doesn’t have his strength and age. He had lots of health issues. He can’t work hard as he was in past. But he tried he doesn’t quit. He bought some loans and renovated his hotel. He started everything from first. This time the progress is much slower but consistent.
After few months, now he can feed his family and he can support the education of his children. He can live a lower middle class life now. He doesn’t have any savings and property now. But he have three children, who were his real asserts. He raised them really well even in his tough times. He fulfilled all their wishes. He never shows his sorrows and sufferings to them. He never fails to give all his love to his children. He gives his 100% to make them good human beings. They were his world. Their happiness was his happiness. Their achievements were his achievements. Their smile means everything to him. Though they were financially poor, they were rich by happiness. Whenever his children face any failures, he never degrades them. He stands as a supporting pillar for them. He motivates and guides them towards their goals. Though he was from a background where girl children were brought up only to get married, he sent his girl child to a well recognized university to pursue her degree. Whenever someone questions him like, why you’re wasting your money in her education, you can save that and can use for her wedding right? And what she is going to do by studying? just get her marry soon and , The society is really bad , we can’t trust anyone , nowadays we can see lots of crimes happening around us then why you’re sending your daughter so far and more and more complements like these were put against him. He used to say that “Our little ones were came through us and not for us “. It’s our basic duty to give them a good education, fulfill their dreams and to let them live their own life “ and “ I know she’ll make me proud one day” with a smile in his face and now his daughter is writing about him as a “ inspiring man”. Yes, the inspiring man of my life is my father and I am really proud to be a child of him. One day I’ll make my inspiring man to feel proud about me. I’ll make him to rise above in life. This is the only thing that I can do for my “inspiring man in my life – my father “.
By Amirthalakshmi K , Tamilnadu
