Gifts for generation...!!!

This post is a part of the 1001 Gifts Activity by HDFC Life in association with BlogAdda.
Once while completing my homework, out of nowhere I asked my mother, about her best moment. With a winsome smile, she held her hands up, joined them to make a grail and said, "When doctor put you here." I stared at her with my eyes wide open. We exchanged a smile and she resumed, "You were extremely comely and soft, like a fresh flower bud. It was 2 AM, even then I could have hold you whole night and day. Its was hard to believe that I was holding a new life and even harder to get my eyes off you. But then your dad entered the room, kissed my forehead, took you away and embraced tightly. I was about to say, "Give her back, she needs me, and more importantly I need her."
But I didn't. He was so joyous and delighted that he couldn't stop smiling. His eyes were shining with tears. The happiness on his face was akin to a 3 year old, when he gets a new toy as his birthday present. That day not only you were born, baby. With you we were born too; as parents. We silently promised you that we will love you unconditionally our whole life and will do everything possible to keep you smiling." She patted over my head and indulged back in her chore and so did I. But the love I saw in her eyes that day was inexplicable.

When I initiated to write on the prompt, I pondered about that day and yes they did everything to provide me a vivacious life. The sequence which began 21 years ago with the wonderful gift of life and love,with each passing year they are only appending the list. Their prolong endeavors are solely to make me a better person and to provide me a secure future. They have given me everything I needed, a comfortable bed, toys, books, dresses, a stress free and healthy environment to blossom and their most valuable time to take good care of me. Knowingly or unknowingly, parents make all the provisions for our secure future. A future where we never have concerns or if we do, we should be accomplished enough to deal with them.

The following five gifts are the one which I have bestowed from my parents, and my fervent hope is that every child receives the same from their's. When one day I'll be a parent I will convey these, as the most valuable heritage of mine.

“I knew nothing but love and devotion when I was growing up. Trust me, it makes everything easier.” 

― Julia QuinnThe Duke and I



I could proudly proclaim that I'm one of the luckiest kid on earth whose parents had made several scarifies so that me and my brother can get the best we deserve. Despite of belonging to a middle class single salaried family, today we have nothing to regret. We always had what we wanted and most importantly we never had to play stubborn for that. Still the best gift my parents have given me is the gift of quality education. There is only one year gap between me and my brother, yet we both have studied in the best schools of our town and pursued the graduation from one of the finest institution. In general the kind of family I belong, doesn't think of providing such education to two children all together. When my father told everyone that this was going to happen, everyone laughed, many tried to intervene but he never cared for anyone except us. And finally he did it.

Everyone will concur with me that an educated person is the most important element of a civilized society. Education not only help a child to grow financially but also help him to ascent intellectually and spiritually. Only a well educated person knows the valuable of eating healthy. Education is the food for mind, It helps us to make legitimate decisions on both fronts, personal and professional. It brings awareness toward the social issues, makes us impregnable and gives legs to stand on. Parents must anticipate the upcoming career trends and should provide the best possible education for a secure future of their little ones.

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” 

 Nelson Mandela


When kids start growing up and hit the adolescence, the gap between the generations also initializes the unpleasantness. In this era of industrialization and materialism, where kids prefer updating their status on social networking rather than sharing directly to their parents, the gap could be enormous. The best way to deal with this is to understand their state by stop being a parent and start being a friend. My parent knew exactly when do they have to begin. This gift of friendship has played a great role in our upbringing. We were and still are very much open to them. Mom knows about all my crushes and crazy dreams. Well my mom is an astute lady, you can never hide anything from her, but we never even have to. Because of this I could just go to my mom and tell her every single detail. And trust me, she is pretty cool. I shared everything with her. Result is that I always have a friend whom I can trust blindly at anytime in my life. Dad was always there. He never scolded me when I was late, or did something horribly stupid. He simply explained me the consequences and later sometimes he joined in. Thus several times we both shared the scoldings from mom, which made the moments uproarious, rather than sour.

Kids are naive, you can not expect them to act mature all the time. You will definitely find them engaged in some juvenile stuffs and innocent mistakes. Parents should not be furious at every fault but should be the part of their mischievousness sometimes. They should use an open and mature heart rather than brain while dealing with their kids, especially with the teenage ones. Be their friend, talk to them about their friend circle and tell them about yours. There is a saying that "Tell Me the Names of Your Friends, and I Will Tell You Who You Are." Friends always play a significant role in developing a kid's insight which directly affect their future. So one need to be sure that their kids are having good companions. Parent's being a friend can help a-lot. Kids start drifting apart when they grew up, cause they think old parents do not belong to their young and rocking social circles. So its up to the later how they prove the former wrong.

“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art.... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.” 

 C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

Several times at night, I used to have this feeling that someone came over and watch me at night. But that never frightened me because of certain unknown reason. After few years I got to know that it was my father. Every night from when I started sleeping in my own room, he used to visit me at mid night and had a glance of his angel, just to check that I'm not having trouble in sleeping. He was the one who eluded his own sleep and carried his infant, ambling back and forth in veranda, so that she could doze off peacefully. I was never afraid of being alone in room, or of dark, but parents are parents, even when you are asleep. This was his gift of security . I am always faithful that nothing wrong can happen, cause my father is here for me. When he used to go on office tours, mom filled his place. But they never in this lifetime let me or my brother have this feeling that we are alone. This sense of security have given us the strength to stand tenacious for our rights and decisions.

I barely share this incident with anyone. Only a month before of my 12th board exams, because of certain reasons, the only source of income for our family was ceased. That was the worst period of our lives. What even worse was that, we had nothing that could have given us a ray of hope for future. This was the only mistake my parents had made till date. They didn't secure our future with the policies which could have helped us in the time of despair. Although everything was intact at the end of the month. But that pressure and fear still prevail our hearts.

In this unpredictable and ever changing time, along with the sense of security parent must make provisions for their child's secure future. One of the finest way is to gift them an insurance like the one offered by HDFC named the 'Youngstar Children Insurance'. No matter what he/she choose to be, HDFC will be there for support.

“If money is your hope for independence, you will never have it. The only real security that a man can have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience and ability.” 

― Henry Ford


When a kid achieved something, parents are the first with whom he wants to share. He always expects an applaud from them. Several times these achievements are little different from parents' expectations.

I'm the eldest in family, so was the bench marker. Because of me, my brother, and then my cousins, had to study hard so that they could top the class, choose Maths and then become an engineer. A few months ago, my cousin appeared in her 12th board exams. She didn't top, but passed with a great score. Yet she was delighted as she won the 'Paint your dream' contest. Colors are love of her life. But what all she heard was, "That's why you stood 4th in class. You were so busy with this useless painting stuff. These colors are not going to help you to get high packages in an MNC." I was staggered by this reason. That was the most painful thing to hear.

Children expects you to be delighted on their accomplishments. They deserve it. So give them this gift of being contented. Don't push them into a direction where they only see a dark tunnel. Let them choose a path full of light. Never pressurize them for good marks. Be happy and always welcome them with a smile on your face. This will accord them with the strength to follow their dreams and not to rush into a never ending chase for money. If your son wants to be a football player or your daughter wishes to be a ballet dancer, let them be. Their dreams could be unfathomable for parents and sometimes have a great zeal to discover their own new world. Don't put barriers instead let them fly with the wings of their own dreams.

“There are two ways to get enough. One is to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less.” 

 G.K. Chesterton


Doesn't it feel amazing when someone looks directly into your eyes and says,"I trust you." I remember the day, when because of a few mischievous students of class, everyone else's parents were called to meet the principal. I was so terrified, that I was seriously thinking of either running away or taking some other people as parents. Somehow I gathered all my courage and bleated them the real story. I was only hopping for 2 hours of scolding sessions or may be 3 slaps. Cause I was badly trapped. I concluded the incident with wailing eyes and mumbled,"I had nothing to do with the incident, please trust me." To the very height of my surprise they hugged me instead. Dad held my tear on his index finger, licked it and said, "This one is sour." Repeated the same with another one and said, "This one is salty, world has enough sour and salt sweet heart. It just need your sweet smile." I stared at him. He brushed away my tears and said, "Darling, we trust you. You need not to worry." That day, a completely new energy had shielded my heart. The trust in their eyes made me inviolable and had showered me with courage to put myself forward. But the most important, their trust taught me to trust others. It is a tool which can make or break many relationships.

If that day they haven't given me the gift of trust I could have easily directed in some wrong direction. This gift of parents enable a kid to go and share every truth of their lives with them. This profound feeling that 'my parents trust me', left a charismatic effect on my heart. My parents trust me. I know they will always be there by my side, when I'm right. Even if I got mislead, I know that their trust will bring me back.

“The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.” 

 Ernest Hemingway


I tried to versify the parent's feeling for their kids, hope you like it!

From the day you came into our life,
We tried to make you properly thrive;
Though it’s not easy to be a parent,
Understand what you need is an amazing talent;
May be the God has gifted us, with this for you,
Cause with you, a completely new WE were born too…

With the time when you were on right progression,
We decided to gift you the quality education;
So that you can discover your own ways,
And your future shines, with the sun rays…

The day we noticed, you were taking your stand,
We knew it’s time to be more of your friend;
Covering this generation gap was a tough chase,
But we were silently there in your every rough phase…

Still remember the day, when you woke up at night,
We assured you we are here, you don’t need to fright;
Then you sleep with a smile and tightly hugged,
Cause from now you believed, you’ll always be loved… 

We'll always be contented with what you have achieved;
Though never stop improving, don’t let yourself deceived;
Wishes flow like the river, and never itself freeze;
But you have to learn my child, how to make them cease…

There will be times, when you will be question,
Never fear such thing, because it’s just approbation;
You need to trust, your own capability,
As we are the one who gave you this ability…

We wished to see you as the winner of heart,
You have to go on, as this is just the start;
When one day you will reach, at our stage,
Don’t forget to pass on, this valuable heritage…


~Ayushi Khare


Images courtesy : Google Images
Collage created by Ayushi Khare

Comments

  1. The winner of the contest is Ayushi Khare.. I wish this to happen. What a post Aayu. And now got the reason for that quote... You used it fantastically.. Keep writing Aayu. I am glad I dragged you to write for PAUS and now the writer block is over...

    Someone is Special

    ReplyDelete
  2. I loved the beginning of the post, specially the lines where you have written 'we became parents.' Beautiful narration and I do agree a lot on friendship, content and trust points, which is not-so-common in Indian parenting.

    Lovely verse, good luck dear. :)

    ReplyDelete

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