NO SHORTCUTS

A Tall Order

NOVEMBER 16, 2013 was a special day for the Indian cricketstar Sachin Tendulkar. After 24 years of his career in cricket, he emerged as a superhero. In a short speech, he credited his success to his late father, Mr. Ramesh Tendulkar. He disclosed that when he was eleven years old and started playing cricket, his father advised him: “Chase your dreams, but do not take shortcuts.” Sachin Tendulkar adopted this advice and it worked successfully for him.

What is a shortcut? A shortcut is a by-pass only to reduce the distance to one's goal by avoiding the natural procedure to reach there. In this way, you try, to reach your destination in less time. This kind of by-pass is common in road journeys. But when it comes to the purposeful journey of human life, it is irrelevant.

For instance, if you are a student and you try to secure a Master’s degree without doing your graduation, or if you are a money-less person and want to become a billionaire without working hard, or if you start your career in politics and try to rise up in the political system without doing the required fieldwork, these kinds of shortcuts will not take you anywhere. Planning on the lines of taking shortcuts is ill-planning and is destined to lead you nowhere.

This formula does not pertain only to the life of an individual. It is also true for the life of a community or a nation, too. Leaders of the Muslim community in India, for instance always insist that due to some reason or the other, the Indian Muslims have become a backward community. They say that the only way to give them a boost is to provide for them reservation in jobs and services, otherwise they will remain backward.

A demand of this nature is also a kind of shortcut. But according to the law of nature, it is not feasible. No amount of favours can uplift any community. The only way to empower a community is to make it capable of meeting the challenges that it faces. Life is based on competition and challenge. Without facing competition and challenge, no community can prosper. There is no escape for anyone in this regard. Offering a community certain favours only paralyses its abilities. On the other hand if a community can face challenges, it proves to be a boost for it. In real life, short-cuts can get you nowhere .