The media is rife with
the news of Sushant Singh Rajput wanting to provide free education to needy
children who will be chosen wisely against a set of tests of merit. If the
children clear the test, they would be granted a year of free education, and as
an incentive not to render the spirits of such chosen children lackadaisical, the
children would have to appear for another test at the beginning of the next academic
year if they are to be eligible for their education being supported for the
consecutive year. Says Sushant, “This is the first step, and we will work on
other models. I think this process will give kids a new excitement and
encouragement to study and make themselves more competitive.”
A studious lad who had
cleared multiple engineering exams, Sushant was born and brought up in Patna.
Right from an early age he was rather eager to study abroad, but the circumstances
were not conducive for him to pursue his dreams any further. “My mother always
taught me that we educate our children not to become doctors or engineers, but that
the impact of basic education reflects on their thought processes and decision
making,” he says. As you can infer, he is doing whatever he is doing in honour
of his mother, who is no more. As admirable as it is, the dichotomy is that in
this age; where nearly everything is short-lived, do we receive such deeds of
benevolence with a sense of gratitude, move onto what’s the next sensational
story to make waves, or, do we build on it with a goal of permanence, just so
that we may create a little bit of Sushant Singh Rajput in each of us? That I leave to each of you to introspect and arrive at your own answers.
Education is one of the
vital tools that favour humanity for the betterment of it. Education provides
you the ability to discern between the good and the bad, the right and the
wrong. Education grooms men to be gentlemen, and women, ladies. A good head and good heart are always a formidable
combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have
something very special said Nelson Mandela, and even though a formal education has
all the properties of helping you make a living, it is self-education that is a
sure means to make you a fortune. For that reason, a fire to learn must be kindled in
kids. They ought to be made to desire what they are learning, considering the
mind is constructed in such a way that it retains nothing that it takes in, if
it is not something it finds appealing, and that is something that people can
expect from Sushant and his endeavours: the propagation of encouragement at the very grassroots.
I have believed in a
simple philosophy that at the end of your life you will know that nothing you
have done will ever matter – only who you have been while you have done it. And
in keeping with my own philosophy, I have only one thing to say – don’t merely like what Sushant Singh Rajput is doing;
strive to be like what Sushant Singh
Rajput is. Be the fire that lights a
million lamps, for the mind once enlightened, as Thomas Paine said,
cannot again become dark. And in giving to the world would be the best honour
you can be giving Sushant Singh Rajput.
