It’s all about a spark

By Bijendra Kumar

I think, we are born with one common gene – curiosity – and that, we grow-up querying about every single thing we see. And when we don’t get answer, we grow reckless. In contrary, we glow if we get.

You know, this is possible with lots of enthusiasm, energy, and elation or call what you like. However, I call it spark. But with the age, it fades. Imagine how boring the world would be without shining people and their fake quirks! So, it is very needed to save this sparks against high intensity hurricane.

In this connection, we simply don’t have any readymade mechanism to stop this genetic substance vanishing from our body. At the same time, I’ve observed certain aspects to nurture the sparks.

One aspect is ‘vision/goal’. True, it is difficult to find increased energy level in aged people. But still we can have those people full with sparks / energies. This is a kind of ‘perseverance’ that makes them feel truly alive. Remember Gandhi? He was much older that time. Here the point is, a man in his seventies with his belief, insistence, and experiment has made British fled in hurry. This is because he had a vision of independent India right from his childhood.

OK, come to the corporate side. The chairmen of most companies are old people – Azim Premji, Ratan Tata, Narayan Murthy, and so on. Yet, they show up for work. And, turn up the profit quarter to quarter by some margin. Why do they do it? Why wouldn’t they stay at home? Again, they have vision.

Yet, consider Bollywood actors / actresses. Many of them in their older age are performing/dancing like young hero/heroine – Big ‘B’ and Basanti – the best example. The actors like Amir and Salman in their forties have made six/eight packs. And they are giving the hits like ‘Ghajini’ and ‘Wanted’. Still, the answer is same.

Second is ‘success/failure’. I don’t know precisely what kind of success we need, but here’s the information. Get the appropriate type. Any success could give your spark the fuel automatically. But my matter of concern is not that, instead the huge repercussion of failure. At this point, your sparks start to die.

There is a predefined rule of nature. Every time you toss a coin, the probability of getting ‘Head’ remains fifty percents. ‘Success’ means ‘Head’ and ‘Failure’ means ‘Tail’. To make the clearer understanding of why am I making this point here, we need to understand certain things.

When you see a girl, you try to put on wooing act. You make an eye contact more than required. Then, you give nods to whatever she says. Few jokes, flirtatious smiles, and few caring words help you win her love. And finally, if all goes well then your affair starts. In initial days, you talks hours and hours on the phone. You go to restaurants, discos, movies etc. Sometimes you become touchy, sometime angry, and again sometime lovely bubbly. All are right until this stage, sort of having an emotional side.

Now, you break up. Whether it’s your fault, or your partner’s fault, or your family’s fault, or your partner’s family’s fault – result is failure. You go into depression. You hurt yourself physically. You curse to each other, and many more such acts you do. Where the hell your love spoiled suddenly? I know I am asking you to do hardest thing. But, why can’t you accept this with the same maturity if not with the same heart? Don’t you think situation would rather improve if you take this right? There is no doubt you are in pain, but only for that reason, to agree, on such act may not be the best idea.  Better put extra effort to survive. Show people what is possible, and set new reference point.

This is just at one front. Other front could be pass/fail in board exam, competitive exam, or anywhere of your daily life.

And, third is ‘Feel good’. Doing great thing makes you feel good, promotes personal respect, and your life becomes lot more interesting. To, me it is not just only what Michael Phelps set new records for him every time, or what A R Rehman composed music and win Oscar, or what daily innovations Google does. But any work which makes you happier and influence your self worth, is great thing in my opinion.

Be spectacularly great at your work. Go in good restaurant with your family and pass good time. Enjoy team party. Get the client’s appreciations. Watch TV/Movies. Go to the next level from the current level. These all fall in the same category. In fact, for ordinary person like me, doing all this is more significant than winning medals in the Olympic.

We are all passionate about making life better, so we can discuss this forever. But today I wanted to leave you with just one message – glow with sparks. Keep stroking your sparks at regular interval. If you agree with me, please do whatever you can in your capacity.

Author works with Tata Consultancy Services @ Pune.