The Taste of Success, At last!

Friends, this is a heartfelt story of inspiration for children. Thanks.

Welcome, my little ones. Today, I will tell you the story of a young man with a green thumb.

He was a youngster named Manish. He studied in the second year at the Premier Institute of Technology (PIT), a fully residential Engineering college in New Delhi. To house its students, the campus had a series of hostels.

In one such hostel, ‘Kaveri hostel,’ lived our Manish. He was an 18-year-old guy, around 6 feet tall, with wheatish complexion and a calm disposition. Plus, he was blessed with an outstanding quality: the proverbial green thumb. The lovely garden in his home was its shining proof.

Now, as per the admission brochure, each hostel was surrounded by well-kept lawns and flower gardens. The ground reality was much different. The conditions of these lawns and gardens varied from ‘passable’ at best to ‘hopeless’ at worst. Kaveri hostel belonged to this second category.

Its condition pained Manish so much that on the joining date itself, he made a silent resolve. He committed to himself that within two years, he would create the finest garden around his hostel.

He was a guy who believed in action. So, he contacted the Dean of Student Affairs at once and obtained his formal permission to start. Then, with the help of gardening catalogues on the net, he laid out a plan and proceeded to work in earnest. His activities included so many things: removing the weeds, levelling the ground, digging the beds, planting the seeds of seasonal flowers, sowing the saplings and carrying out myriads of other forms of hard toil that go into growing a proper garden.

Now, as so often happens in life, good intentions beget opposition. The same happened here, too. Not only did he not get any appreciation for his hard work, but suffered harassment instead.

First, the official gardener did not take kindly to the efforts of Manish and hardly lent any help. He saw Manish as a rank outsider and a busybody. The youth remained cool to such opposition thanks to his serene disposition.

Second, other students of his hostel did not like the fact that anyone should be an exception to the norms in the hostel. These norms were boozing, all-night partying and all other less-than-healthy things common to a boy’s hostel.

Soon, they began to make fun of Manish. Catcalls, derogatory slogans written in chalk on his door, offensive jokes as he ate his meals at the mess... the list of nuisances committed by his hostel-mates kept growing. And they continued hampering his efforts by hiding the garden implements, shutting off the water supply to the hose, etc.

Manish was toiling to make the hostel beautiful. Everyone would benefit from the result. Yet, he suffered so much harassment! This is life in a nutshell. But he remained undaunted. He knew he was doing a worthy task and chose not to complain to anyone. For he was sure that the results of his hard work would soon shut the mouths of all his detractors.

Plus, he had strong faith in God and knew that God showers His blessing on those who live for others. Manish was working with this aim only: the garden in his hostel was going to benefit everyone in the student community.

Slowly but surely, his efforts began to get crowned with success. Marigold, Chrysanthemum, Dahlia and other flowers made their welcome appearance and turned the hostel into a riot of colours in winter. The whole place began to look so cheerful! What a sea change there was from its hopeless state earlier!

Manish also planted the creepers of Jasmine on both sides of the main gate of the hostel. These bushes grew merrily, and when summer came around, they began to blossom in such masses that everyone entering through that gate was uplifted by the heady fragrance. As a result, even outsiders began to appreciate the worthy efforts put in by Manish.

This marked change in the physical environment began to produce its corresponding effects in the psyche of the hostel inmates, too. Now, the same guys began to praise the work done by Manish. What a transformation it was!

It took Manish nearly two years, but ultimately, Kaveri hostel came to sport a beautiful green lawn, with the adjoining flower beds lit up with blooms in all colours, shapes, and fragrances. And to the credit of Manish, a guava tree sapling he had planted grew tall quickly and began bearing fruit.

All in all, it was a “mission success.”

So, dear children, when you do something that you truly love with all your hearts and minds, then you will always succeed due to the grace of God. Always remember this.

Goodbye dears. See you next time.
***