Who Won

In life, we get busy in the game of wins and losses...take a moment's pause and think about what are we really winning and what are we losing.?Hopefully, this story will take us into deep reflection, many of the time, we keep on chasing without knowing the depth of real need.

After becoming District Education Officer, I learned that this district is very backward in terms of education. Senior officials also told me I should pay extra attention to rural areas.

So I decided, I will definitely give eight to ten days a month to rural schools.

Soon, a series of tours started in the rural areas. There were also some hilly and wooded areas among them.?

One day, a subordinate staff member told me that in a village called Baderi, which is on a hill, no education officer used to go to the school because to get there, one had to walk about two to three kilometers on a wooded road.

So I decided that I would go there the next day. Some Mr. P. K. Vyas was the headmaster there, who for some reason had just stuck there. I instructed that no advance notice be given to him. This would be a surprise visit.

The next day, we left in the morning. At twelve o'clock in the afternoon the driver said, "Sir, you have to walk two or three kilometers from here on the hill."

?Me and two other employees started on foot. We reached the village at the top after walking on a narrow, rocky, and forested road for about an hour and a half.

In front were the pucca building (permanent structure) of the school and about two hundred kutcha-pucca houses. The school was clean and orderly, well-painted as well. There were just three rooms and a spacious verandah, with picturesque green forest all around.

When we reached inside, around 125 children were engrossed in their studies in the three classes. However, there was no teacher present. There was an elderly gentleman in the verandah, probably the peon appointed there.?

He said, "Headmaster sir will arrive soon."

We were sitting on the porch. Soon, around a forty-two-year-old gentleman came walking up with buckets of water in both hands, with his?pajama pulled up to the knees and a khadi kurta atop.

He introduced himself as soon as he arrived, "I am Prashant Vyas, the headmaster here. These days, we have to bring water for the children from the well which is a little down the road. Our peon here is elderly and he can't do it now, so I bring it up myself. It's also good exercise." He smiled.

His face seemed familiar and so did the name.

I looked at him and asked, "You are Prashant Vyas, from the Gujarati College in Indore."

?I took off my hat. Recognizing me, he exclaimed, "You are Abhinav, Abhinav Srivastava!" I said, "Who else, brother!"

Around twenty-twenty-two years ago, during my college years in Indore, we studied together. He was very smart and studious. Despite my best efforts, I rarely got higher marks than him. There was always some competition among us, where he always won.

Today, he was the headmaster and I was the district education officer. For the first time there was a feeling of having excelled over him, of winning, and to be honest, there was some happiness within.

I asked getting comfortable, "How did you get here brother? Who else is there at home?"

He began to elaborate.

"While I was still doing M.com, Babuji's Malwa Mills job was gone. Then he also had asthma. It was difficult to run the house. Somehow, I completed my studies, and since I had good marks, so I got appointed as a contract teacher, which I could not leave. The situations were not such that I could study any further. I got posted to this village. I brought my parents here too, thinking it would be easier to survive in lesser money here."

Then he laughed and said, "Considering my posting in this remote village and old ailing parents, no girl's family was willing to give their girl's hand in marriage, so there was no?marriage, and it makes sense too. What would an educated girl have done here?

I did not even have any contacts so there was no way for me to get transferred from here. So I stayed here. Within a few years of coming here, both my parents passed away. I tried to be of service to them, as much as I could.

Now I am happy here with these children and the school. On holidays, I take them to the nearby hills to plant trees.?

In the evenings, I teach the elderly in the school verandah. There are probably no illiterates in this village anymore. I also run a drug de-addiction campaign. I cook food myself and read books.?

The children should receive a good education, learn good values, and develop discipline, that's the goal. I was unable to do CA but two of my two students are CA and some are in good jobs as well.

I don't have any big expenses here. Most of my salary is spent on sports and education for these kids. You know that I have had a passion for playing cricket since my college days. That hobby also gets fulfilled by playing with the kids. It gives me so much peace."

I interrupted and said, "You didn't think of getting married after your parents passed away?"?

He smiled and said, "All the good things in the world are not made for me, so I am trying to make good of whatever is in front of me."

That simple laughter of his shook me to my core.

On my way back I told him, "Prashant, I will get you transferred whenever you want, to the headquarters or wherever you want."

He smiled and said, "It is too late now Sir, now I am happy here among these people." Saying this much, he folded his hands.

The feeling of pride on having moved ahead of him with my own achievements, the illusion of having won, had now shattered.?

?He was comfortable in spite of all the shortcomings, troubles, and inconveniences of his life. I was bewildered by his conscientiousness.?

There was no trace of any grievance or complaint from life in his behavior. We evaluate people on the basis of comforts, achievements, and positions, but without all this too, he had defeated me again!

While returning, I was overwhelmed and could only say to him with folded hands, "If you ever need me in this holy work of yours, then definitely remember me, friend."

What was or is your administrative position, it really doesn't matter. What matters is what kind of a human being are you. And what are you becoming...

if we have humility and simplicity, we can believe that we have everything. We do not need anything else. With humility and a large heart, we not only earn respect but also achieve excellence.