Who is your Role Model? - Contest entries

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Yes I am talking about the same school, which you have mentioned

 

My Role Model- Contest Entry

Some role models influence us forever. My constant role model is Ammami- my mother’s grandmother. Widowed at 24 with four toddlers, she spent decades cloistered in the kitchen. Still, she developed rational views on everything from cooking and religion to beauty pageants and euthanasia.


Money was always short, but she fed one beggar and the agraharam mongrel daily. She taught me that even when there is little to go round, there is always something to share with the needy. When the agraharam miscreant migrated to <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1:City><st1lace>Madras</st1lace></st1:City>, she gave him train fare and the recipe of her sambar powder. He minted money with that. Ammami was advised to demand a share in his fortune, but she ridiculed the idea. Money never clouded her sensibility.


Ammami’s children were some wealthy, some poor. She impartially chose to live with the offspring doing worst- helping in household chores and finances.


Ammami believed in giving everyone the liberty to make their own decisions. When a great grand daughter participated in the Miss India contest, the family grunted at the swim- suit round. Ammami- the voice of reason maintained that the decision should come from the participant, and not from others. When her daughter dying from cancer pleaded to be put off life, Ammami was the only person who supported her sadly.


Ammami taught me, that as a mother she could not expect her children to always follow her wishes. She counseled them. When they transgressed- she stood by them in success and failure. Be it unwise marriage or investment decisions- Ammami was there to pick up when her children crashed.


Ammami wanted her progeny to be educated, employed and emancipated. And so we are. I want my daughter to be like Ammami- loving, progressive, disinterested in money. Ammami is a role model for generations.

 

To Vidya 24

Hello Vidya,

After reading your two contributions here about your role models, I had a compulsion to write to you. Your writing is simply awe inspiring. You mention that you are an economist. Well, writing can be your other profession. Your words describe your role models so well that they at once give them the stature and aura that is so befitting.

About Chitra Vishwanathan, I know. Just in the same way as you do. But I could never have done a good job like you did in describing the thoughts about her and about the help she extends to everyone. I could empathize with every line you wrote about her and also agree with you on your sentiments for her as they are mine too. So thanks for that piece of article.

As for you Ammami, she sounds like a perfect human being. You make me feel envious of your good fortune in having and knowing an Ammami like her. But then I pause and think that I too have had the good fortune of knowing many wonderful persons in the journey of life. Question is, did I see the greatness in them like you have done in your Ammami?? So Vidya, some of that credit goes to you too. You yourself sound like a lovely person who will one day become a role model for many, ie, assuming that you already aren't one.....Which is quite preposterous on my part, I admit!

Love, Kamla.

 

Many models

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It is rather difficult to select one woman as my role model. If I had been participating in a beauty pageant I would have said “Mother Teresa” as that would have been politically correct! I admire and try to emulate traits and qualities in women I know personally and those I have heard about.

Among ILites there are many whom I admire, so where do I begin to tell the story of admiration so true (this should be sung to the tune of “where do I begin to tell the story of a love so true…”). Pankaja I admire for her persistence and never-say-die attitude; Ambika for her magnanimity – sometimes I tell her not to give so much that she’s totally drained; Chithra for her warmth and understanding; the moderators at IL for their courtesy, promptness and excellent gift choices. Ambika’s sister Karuna is such an achiever despite all that is pulling her down in her personal life – wish I had half the spunk.

Sudha Murty I consider to be the first lady of Karnataka – she’s put the people’s needs and requirements first. In backward areas she has started schools, provided toilets and is into a lot of welfare activities. She has worked selflessly and is the backbone behind Infosys. In the midst of her busy schedule she has written books. Hats off to her!

The women in my family are made of cast iron. All of them have pursued their own dreams. My cousin runs a school and rehabilitation centre for tribals in Gudalur; another works for earthquake victims. My mother has devoted her attention completely to my dad who is going through hemo-dialysis – still she’s cheerful and welcomes guests.

I wish I had some of these traits – then I would have certainly been someone’s role model!
SHARADA

 

My Two Role models

There have been two major role models in my life -- My mother , and MRs Chitra Viswanathan. My mother , has been my role model since the day i was born. I have learnt a lot of things from her -- patience & perseverence, the way she handles people of all age group, she seems to be vritually energetic all the time. During tough times she has been my strength. SHe has handled a lot of tough times singlehandedly and has never let me nor my brother get affected by it.Being a mother myself, now i know how beautifully and with what efforts she has brought both of us up. She has always been and continue to be my role model!

The other person whom i admire the most is my periamma -- Mrs ChitVish as she is fondly called in IL. Though i knew her since childhood, i have been relating to her heart of hearts only in the recent years. The world of IL knows her as a reservoir of recipies and maybe as a perfectionist. Now, let me tell you my personal exerience with her. When i was pregnant for the first time, i was very tensed about my delivery- you know, the usual fear that all pregnant ladies go through. Everyone advised me --"Purnima, dont worry things are not so bad as they seem, it will be a smooth sail" etc,somehow i was never convinced. Then this lady came upto me, sensed my fear and said "Purnima-- delivery is painful.Endure it. Bear it. Remember the baby will go through more pain and will take double efforts in coming out of your body!". My eyes flooded with tears and my entire fear vanished, and you will not believe how much i enjoyed delivering my baby..in spite of my external screams!She used to visit me every Friday before delivery(and after too!) , she wanted me to have a girl and somehow whatever she said/wished came true. I had a safe and a healthy delivery by Gods grace.

The whole pregnancy is a very emotional moment for a woman, and she was there , helping my mom and me, most importantly giving us Emotional Strength! I dont want to belittle what she has done by saying a mere "thank you".

I love both of you very much. Both of you are going to be extremely surprised reading this as i have never really expressed my feeling so openly to them!

Thank you IL for giving me this wonderful opportunity!

Warm Regards,
Purnima

 

Sumithra meaning a good friend, thats my mother!

Emulating a noble person as a role model is a straightforward approach to make us better people. Just like we learnt to draw straight lines by tracing the dots first, we can make ourselves more personable as people, by picking up the good from the people whom we perceive as our role models in life. They are our guiding lights in the topsy-turvy path of life.


Everyone would agree with me if I say I have more than one role model. I admire many women and will have to write a long essay to include them all. I would now limit my admiration to my mother, Sumithra. Growing up as a kid, my admiration also grew. Bountiful, she made giving, the way of her life and in turn she received, without her demanding, love and respect! Any one would be welcomed with a cup of steaming coffee served with a warm and unassuming smile. She seemed to me like one boundless source of energy, looking into all our needs without any hindrance what so ever and going about chores as naturally as ever, never stopping with the excuse of fever or fatigue. Educated as she was, she was never overbearing. I saw the courageous side of her for the first time when she scared away a thief who sat on the outer sill of our window, ready to rob. I saw that courage again when she stood steadfast against the fatal disease that attacked her a couple of years back. Her doctors were in awe of her will and swore they never had a patient like her. She has succeeded to shoo away her breast cancer and I am sure she will live well and with will.


“Yathaa maatha thathaa sutha”, is an adage in Sanskrit, which means “like mother like daughter”. I would be the happiest person if I were even slightly compared to my mother. Unquestionably, in the role of a woman, I want to be like her.

 

Well done Vidhya and prathi!

i was extremely touched reading both your essays. Very well written!!

 

My Role Model-Contest Entry-2



It was a season when role models were perishing. I lost my father and my mentor plagiarized my original research. I felt wronged by humans and God.

Then, I had to travel to <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1:country-region><st1lace>Botswana</st1lace></st1:country-region> to make a report on HIV + persons. Since I had to work closely with the natives, a local guide was provided. Heibo spoke English, was wife, mother, economically deprived, and HIV+.


We were so different.



We started off as HIV+ / HIV-, Project Manager/ interpreter. But barriers crumbled as Heibo translated not the mere language. She articulated the emotions, grief and expectations of an entire community of HIV + persons to me. She sensitized me to accept that they were persons with HIV, not HIV+ persons.



Heibo never asked for favors in cash or ARV drugs. She wanted to be treated as a person and not a victim.



She spoke without rancor about her husband who had infected her.



We grieved for her children who were born and died HIV+.



I prayed that life would be gentle on her youngest son aged two.



Suddenly, Heibo and I were one.



Heibo’s tolerance guided me to think beyond my superior, selfish self. I realized that compared to Heibo’s suffering, mine was temporal and trivial. I learnt to stop grieving for myself and grieve for another.



When she heard that I did not have a child, she took me to a watering-hole where animals drank, mated and birthed. This holy pond blessed women with the fertility of Mother Earth. For one facing death, Heibo was all about life, living and new birth. And she showed me that amidst all misery, life is sacred, to be pursued, to be lived with full resolve.



Heibo’s resilient spirit taught me humility and hope. She is my role model.







.

 

I am dumbstruck!

Dear Vidya,

You have had such rich experiences in your life! Heibo is simply amazing. How little are my travails and problems. I am unable to put down my thoughts further, I am at loss for words.

Regards, Kamla.

 

Hi Kamla

Hello Kamla,

Thanks for finding the words and heart to appreciate my piece. It means a lot.

Thanks also to Induslady for giving all of us an opportunity to think back and write abt the women who have inspired us. Gave us a welcome pause and rewind in life.

Kamla, you write great. Call a spade a spade gently ( I saw yr comments in a couple of other posts/forums). And so your message is heard well. Good to have met you in IL.

love
Vidya
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