Hi there. I am not sure if I should be sharing my real name here, therefore you can call me tarry here!
Here’s my story!
I am a blessed person to have been raised in a joint family. I have lived my 24 years of life sharing our house with my grandpa, grandma, dad, mum, uncle, aunt, their 2 children and my elder sibling. I was not one of the most gifted kids around during my childhood, but on the contrary my elder brother was the shining star of the family. He was top of his class in school, brilliant at sports and to top it all he was always an ideal son (well mannered and extremely well behaved too). Me, on the other hand was more of a short tempered kind of guy. Well, I had my reasons –
Back in those days I used to feel as if the whole family favours him more and is more inclined towards his wishes. After all, at a young age it’s all about getting your wishes fulfilled.
Sadly, to some extent it was true too! My grandpa and grandma used to despise me for scoring low in my class, despite the fact that I used to stand somewhere between 3rd to 7th position in my class, as per scores. Only to later compare me and belittle my decent and honest efforts, that too not only in front of the whole family but also in front of all the relatives. I can still, at the age of 31, hear those sorry reactions of my relatives when my grandparents used to say “issey padhai nahi Ho payegi, pata nahi apne bhai jaisa kab banega ye”! (“He won’t ever be able to study as well as his brother, don’t know when will he start becoming like his elder brother)And I surely can’t forget this dialogue!
As If this wasn’t enough to ruin my childhood memories, not only studies, He was also amazing at sports/extra-curricular too! And then too I used to get the same dialogue over and over again! Sadly but honestly all this used to make me hate him. All this comparison and lack of special treatment from my relatives and grand parents used keep me a highly agitated and a short tempered person.
He was an ideal son too. He used to respect everyone, always had more people willing to talk to him than me as my grandparents used to demarket me all the time. I always used to feel left out, ignored, humiliated, alone and extremely sad!
Thankfully for me, my mum dad weren’t like that at all. They always used to treat me in the perfect manner. Honestly, they were the ones who kept me sane during all those years of living under my brother’s shadow!
But, since I was too young to understand that mum dad’s love is more than sufficient for me to lead my life happily, I used to stay annoyed and frustrated!
I was going into a severe inferiority complex! I had to help myself because those who could were either too oblivious to helping me or were the ones I couldn’t share my problems with.
I decided to try and follow in his footsteps and perform the best I could (even if, at times, it meant not following him and doing something else). And believe me, it helped!
There’s always a good side to everything, no matter how ugly it seems at the time.
His academic acceleration towards becoming a doctor in life, always kept me on my toes. Like – if he used to come first in his class, then in an attempt to chase him I always ended up positioning myself among the top 7 students of the class. Things as little as trying to copy his handwriting, always used to get me full marks in handwriting.
His achievements like that of playing tennis at zonal level, pushed me into keeping fit and practice a lot of sports despite being the fat boy of the family, too! I became an under-16 runner up in not just tennis, I also became a runner up in badminton at the zonal level, too.
Whenever, grandpa and grandma used to insult me, he used to stand in my defense. And, that one gesture of his made me promise myself that I will never be jealous of my brother.
He went away for a few years to finish his medical studies, and that pushed me into trying hard and compete for a good college for graduation, for a commerce student. I dint just get admission in india’s best university, I also managed to get in B.Sc (hons) in computer science despite being a commerce student (through entrance exam)!
His acceleration kept pushing me into giving my best, and believe me I gave my best. Keeping him as my inspiration took me to places in life, that I would never have reached on my own.
During his college days I saw him perform a dance on the stage. That inspired me so much that I took upon dancing and started learning it professionally. And, in a small span of about 6 months I was a participant at india’s top dance reality show at that time, BOOGIE WOOGIE!
His politeness in his voice and nature got rubbed onto me so much that today I get compliments on my language.
At the end of it, all I wish to say is that we can always CHOOSE, as to who we become in life. Because adversities in life are not always there to break you, they could also end up grooming you.
It’s how YOU perceive things and how you create a good perception out of those troubled times.
This is all for now!
Will be back soon with more of my own stories! And to again inspire you!
I want people to learn to think out of the box (the problem box, to be exact)!
