Starting Early!

I still remember as a 8 year old kid, I used to go along with my Dadaji to market to shop for bread and vegetables. After a couple of years, my Dadaji gave me an incentive of earning Rs.2/- daily if I bought the stuff independently going to the market each evening. I was proud to earn my Rs.2/- daily and used to keep them in a small piggy bank. This was my first lesson in life. Lesson in taking initiative, working independently, earning by effort and most importantly savings and money management.

There were frequent power cuts in those days and during summers it used to get really hot sitting in candle light inside my home. After few days of saving money, one evening when there was a power cut, I took money out of my piggy bank and bought ice creams for my family. Everyone was smiling :). I was proud. This was my first lesson in creating value. The value was happiness :)

Over a period of time, I have developed money management skills and applied them in the organizations that I created along with my partners. When I look back, those Rs.2/- lessons are one of the biggest lessons I have learned in life.

Discover Life's EDEP(Entrepreneurship Development Program) is an initiative at Starting Early.

The Entrepreneurs of tomorrow are in schools today :)

- Chaitanya Jha

Be your own Jamvant

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im4Zz-shBac&feature=PlayList&p=1D0B599C262A725A&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=31

Watching the above video, my mind got filled with so many memories of watching Ramayan in my childhood days. The above video is describing a particular scene:

The search party lead by Jamvant, the strong and bravest person of the bear race, reached on the seashore. Jamvant encouraged Hanuman Ji to give the Jump on to Lanka. Hanuman Ji, when being encouraged as such, filled with the lost powers, which were snatched from him, when he was a child, by the curse of a Rishi (SAINT), but he was also booned by the same RISHI, that he would get all the lost powers, when he would be encouraged by anybody reminding him about his powers. He crossed the vast sea taking a long great jump and met Sita Ji and gave her the message of Shri Ram.

When I think of it, it happens to all of us in life. There are times when we become much smaller and much less important in our own eyes than we actually are. We are afraid to take 'the leap'. Our self confidence takes a beating and we get used to performing much below our own capacity. And all this happens without notice. We get stuck in a cycle of life which is really difficult to get out of.

In all those moments of life, no Jamvant would come to remind us of our powers. Rather we have to be our own Jamvant and remind ourselves of the times we did really well in life. It may be in simple small things. But those are the things that remind us of who we truly are. Thus, time and again in life, we need to stop for a moment and reflect whether we are playing our best game in life.

Be your own Jamvant. You get this life only once. Take the big leap.Discover Life.

(Smart Indian Value System is a program by Discover Life which is an effort to bring back the Strong Indian values and make it relevant for children of today)

Some people touch your life :)

There are times when you so regret your decision of going to some family function. Its around 3:00 at night and i have come back home from a marriage of a distant relative and i am surprisingly feeling very good. I hadn't met Pooja di for so many years now, but as soon as the news came that she was about to marry, i knew i would be there to be a part of this special occasion.

Pooja di used to visit our house whenever she used to have small trips of Delhi few years back. I used to be an average 12 year old child at that time. Both of us shared something in common, our inclination towards writing. I used to show her my poetry and she used to comment in disbelief 'how can a child of your age write such poetry'. Then to prove myself, i used to write more and make her read that. She applauded my writing skills in front of my parents. That was a rarity. Somebody praising me for some special skill i had. That boosted my self worth a great deal. I felt good about myself. It helped me a lot in my life.

This day at marriage venue, when i met her on stage, she exclaimed ' ohh, its the same chap who used to write great poetry' and even while we were briefly discussing things over the years, she looked at me and said 'don't ever let the poet die inside you, keep writing'.

And well its been super long time since i have written a poem, but Pooja di these few lines are for you:

When the world is continuously working to make it difficult for you to survive;

Some people come and touch your life.

In this cruel criticizing world, words of appreciation are a relief;

Its something that helps you re-store your self belief.

Thanks for being my life's important part;

May God bless you and give your new life a wonderful start :)