Nobel Prize VS Booker Prize.

 

 

Disclaimer: This blog is not about books.

Last week I read two books, one by a Nobel Prize winner and second by a Booker Prize winner. Both Indians.

“Mother Mary Comes To Me” is a brilliant autobiographical book written by Arundhati Roy. Being an internationally acclaimed author, she does not need any introduction. Her book, written so lucidly, gives us a detailed description of her life.

She ran away from her mother to Delhi and, to put it mildly, had a listless and aimless life. Her life was devoid of dreams and was more directed by drugs and drinks. She was not aware of any special skills she possessed.

There was no one to guide, motivate or direct her. Life was ruthless and she struggled in all possible ways. She got entangled with a married man, who was also fighting to find a place of his own. Needless to say, she was penniless.

Together with her boyfriend she did a film, which did not help them in any way. Then, Arundhati, who has a Degree in Architecture, wrote a screenplay for a film to be presented in Door darshan. Her boy friend directed it and the film became a success, earning her the National Award for the best screen play.

The success did not redefine her life, but it brought some stability. It was during these days that she started writing the seminal book,” God of small things”, which took almost 10 years to be completed. Rest, as they say, is history.

What is important is, she had no clue about her writing skills before she wrote the book. To her credit, she was not like a meteor, which illuminated the sky briefly before getting faded out. Instead, she identified her skill as a writer and polished it to produce many more gems.

In short, it was a series of accidents which gave some shape to her life. Nothing was planned and it was a spontaneous, organic eruption of her genius at a certain point of her life.

The second book is KARUNA, written by Kailash Satyarthi. His name may not be familiar to many and will be surprised to know that he is a Nobel Peace Prize recipient. (Yes, the same Prize Mr. Trump is after)

The book definitely has his experiences explained, but is not an autobiography. From the book, however, we get to know more about Mr. Kailash. He was an Engineer, who from his early childhood, was concerned about contributing to the society.

Mr. Satyarthi, as many may know, is a person who has dedicated his whole life to the upliftment of children who are cruelly pushed into child labor. He could have easily chosen a more comfortable life. But he chose a life strewn with threats, hardships and unending legal intimidations. While going through his experiences we will wonder why one should willingly select such an activity as his life mission. In his book, he hardly says anything about him. The book is focused on the importance of inculcating the value of KARUNA in our life.

 Even though he is a Nobel Prize winner, unfortunately many of us might not have heard the name of Mr. Satyarthi and may not even recognize him.

Career choice of our children is still a great concern for most of the parents. Interestingly, we have two contrasting examples above. Arundhati had not plan about her life or career and led a bohemian life. Nevertheless, at a certain point, she realized her skill and talent and evolved herself as a multi-faceted personality. Will we allow our children to go through such experiences and be comfortable if they decide to discover their skills and evolve themselves?

Mr. Satyarthi, on the other hand, had definite plans about his life even when he was young. He has silently dedicated his life for the upliftment of children, who are undergoing unbelievable suffering, thus building a better future for them.  Though his life is devoid of glamour, status and financial success, he is a person awed and respected by people across the world. Still, will you be comfortable if your children decide to follow his path?

In other words, how many of us will willingly allow our children to evolve as a Arundhati Roy or Mr. Satyarthi?

Even I do not have a definite answer for this. I feel lucky to have known the lives of two such towering personalities. It helped me in realizing that a successful career does not always mean money, status and power. It taught me, like most of the things in nature, human being is also capable of enjoying organic growth. I wish we have more of Arundhati's and Satyarthi’s among us.