― Richard Evans
Hope brings joy....it is true or not I don't know but what I certainly know is that many things had happened in this world which were thought to be impossible because people who had accomplished them kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all. The same feeling I got very recently after watching the movie "Life of Pi". Of the two stories that were told, which one is true doesn't matter at all. The thing that matter is the depiction of perseverance, persistence and hope even in worst of the circumstances that one can pass through. Beyond doubt, the story was inspiring. Everyone liked it, great reviews were received.... but there is one aspect that I want to share, which was my personal experience that may or may not have happened with others.
Even after several days of watching the movie my little one was not very comfortable with the negativity of life shown... sinking of ship.....loss of family.... sailing at the sea in the company of hyena and tiger on a small boat.....hyena killing the Chimpanzee and Zebra....an island full of Mongooses and carnivorous plants....and so on......
Grown ups can surely understand the meaning of hope out of such negativity of life but for a young one this seemed to be a crude way. There are other positive means to make them understand about relevance of hope in life. So be cautious with small kids while watching this movie....
Incidentally, my little one had watched three compensatory animations to erase those negative scenes from the memory...
Many times being ignorant about others negative comments helps you sustain the hope and yields better results during the moments of struggle. Somewhere I'd read a very small story about two frogs that I'll like to share,
One day two frogs were hopping in and out of a watering hole and accidentally hopped in an extremely deep hole. They tried to leap out, but could not succeed, so they began to yell and croak until other frogs heard them and came for their rescue.
The other frogs looked over into the hole and said the hole was too deep for them to help, but both frogs kept leaping up the sides of the hole. The other frogs, leaning over the hole and waving their front legs, began to yell to the frogs to just give up and die and that there was no hope of them getting out of the hole, but both frogs kept leaping and trying to get out of the hole. They leaped for hours and one of the frogs just gave up as he was so exhausted and died. The other frog in the hole kept leaping, but the other frogs, leaning over the hole, kept yelling and waving their front legs for him to stop and give up, but the frog kept leaping trying to get out of the hole. Finally the frog leaped so high that he was able to leap to the top of the hole and used his back legs to push himself up out of the hole. The other frogs said even though we told you to give up as there was no hope of you getting out of the hole you kept leaping.
The frog that got out of the hole thanked the other frogs for egging him on - the other frogs didn't know that this frog was deaf. Sometimes you have to turn a "deaf ear" to what others tell you is impossible.
NAME GAME
What’s in a name, you thought? A lot, actually. Ask the children of Fokatpura(the colony of freeloaders), who, squirming under insults, took the initiative to change the name of their locality.
The ‘veer’ children of Veer Tantya Nagar.Flanking a nullah behind Indore’s Choithram vegetable mandi, the cluster of tinroofed and pucca houses looks no different from another slum. But its name came from the residents’ onceupon-a-time practice of collecting and selling vegetables that fell off the gunny sacks being carried to the mandi.
While the grown-ups — Bhil tribals all — had grown stoic, the children decided it was time for a change.
“My schoolmates used to taunt me that only fokats live in Fokatpura and this led to many fights. I always thought the name should be changed and we managed to convince our parents,” said 12-year-old Ajay. In February, all 72 children of the locality gathered at the community class run by an NGO, Deenbandhu Samjik Sanstha, and suggested new names for their colony.
Nine-year-old Lajvanti came up with the one that stuck - Tantya Bheel Nagar, after Tantya Bhil, the legendary Bhil freedom fighter.
“We all know the songs of Tantya Mama from a very early age and so I suggested the name,” the child said.
Things came to a head on IDay.
“The teacher of our school (the government primary school at Tezpur Gadbadi) ordered all of us from Fokatganj to stand in a separate row,” said Kajal Sardar, a student of Class VI. “I protested and told her that we are from Tantya Bheel Nagar, not from Fokatpura.”
But the incident made it clear that a formal measure was necessary. On August 23, the residents submitted a letter, requesting Indore’s Divisional Commissioner to formally change the name. The new name is yet to be formalised, but the children are giving no quarter. “We will fight to retain the new identity of our colony,” said 12-year-old Pinki.
(Extract from HT, 29th November'2012)