Blog Awards Challenge

Blog Awards Challenge 4 - 1st runner-up (Distinction): anordealbyinnocence

Winning Entry Title: Because You Deserve a Post [original link]

Winning entry is reprinted below.
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Many people are lost in the sands of time. Or in pages of a book. Or in one's memories.You know that they're there.In your memories.But you've to dig deep in order t o find them.You don't think of them everyday or see them or speak to them everyday,but the things that they've taught you have left a deep impact on you-so deep that it has affected who you are and who you choose to be.

This post is dedicated to one such person.

He was nineteen when I was eight.Coming to think of it now,I'm nineteen and I don't think I've affected another person's life the way he affected mine.He was(and still is)"a people's person",not in the way we use the term,but a genuine humanitarian.

I first met him when my mother and father decided to go on a six month long tour.My brother,who is eleven years older than me,casually asked his friend if it was possible for him to help out his sister with her homework.He agreed.


His name was Kaustav and I decided to call him Kaustav Dada(which is the suffix for elder brother in my mother-tongue,Bengali).Kaustav dada had a dog called Chinka.Chinka was called Chinka because in Enid Blyton's "The adventures of The Wishing Chair",Peter,Molly and their Pixie friend Chinky were the best of friends.Kaustav Dada had decided as a child that Chinky deserved to be called Chinka.

Chinka was an adorable dog.He died a year ago at the age of eighteen.Unusual for a dog,but that's how well looked after he was.

Kaustav Dada was like that.Even at nineteen,he was firm yet gentle,kind but assertive .He would ensure that I studied and that I appreciated my education and understood Why it was important.In many Indian Schools and in Indian families,getting good grades is very important,but somewhere down the line,everyone forgets that each one moves at his/her own pace.The constant competition and the rigmarole of a rat race was
something that I was going to have to deal with,inevitably.

But I was lucky.From a very young age,Kaustav Dada inculcated in me the value and the virtue of being an Independent thinker and an independent Individual,over and above everything else.He taught t me to value my own judgement and he taught me to compete only against my own self.To strive to better my own achievements,my own sense of right and wrong and to make my own decisions.

We would play a game called "What if?"where he would throw random situations at me and ask me what I would do and vice-versa.

As a kid,I hated math but loved colours and pictures.He would painstaking make pictorial representations of every math problem that I would have to solve.I would visualise the colours in my head and it became much easier for me to solve the problems."There's always a solution"he used to say.

I also remember getting really angry once for some reason and saying some really mean things.Kaustav dada told me that words are set in stones-and once said they cannot be unsaid.People may forgive,but they'll never forget what was said to them.I remember these words to this day and think about whatever I say.No matter how angry I am,I always measure my words before saying anything out loud.And if I DO say something out loud,it means that I'm completely prepared to face the consequences.

Through various exercises,he taught me to think and to streamline my own thinking.He also taught me to listen to what other people had to say,and to be open to ideas all the time.He taught me not to let my personal biases cloud my judgement and he also taught me that in order to well,one need not compromise on ones core values and beliefs.I have very strong opinions and principles and today,I have the strength and the self-belief to never cower down to authority if I don't believe in it myself.

He told me to read as much as I can and to be curious,intellectually.He taught me to observe and to place things in context.He played outdoor sports with me.He protected me,but from afar.He let me make my own decisions,some of them were horrendous decisions,but he let me be.Slowly,I began to figure my way out.

After a couple of years,Kaustav Dada moved to Delhi.He had gotten into a Top University to study Economics.

Later,he became a professor in the same college.He is still teaching there.Kaustav dada and I lost touch for a while until one fine day,a boy I knew was talking passionately about a very inspiring teacher and said his name was "Kaustav". After talking to him for some more time,I realised that it was Kaustav dada.I called him up and realised that even after all these years and with all the distance,nothing had really changed.

This blog post,is a humble tribute for the man who taught me to believe,to break free and most importantly,to dream.
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