Vijay TV has the Tamil version of the famous “Kaun Banega Crorepati” or “Who wants to be a millionnaire” called “Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi” hosted by Suriya (the original “Ghajini”). About three days back there was this participant from the fisherman community, who left a huge impression. She was bubbly, full of verve, great smile, great presence and she is studying to become a district collector. Her mom raised her and her brother all alone since their father died very early. The brother had died too and it was just this girl and her mom now. First what an Amazing mom, she made sure her girl got educated and kept telling her to believe in her dreams. What an inspiration and this girl was no less – she exhorted Suriya to say that her community must send their girls to school and college and get an education, not just get them married off. She and her mom had a terrible experience during her brother’s illness, and they really didnt think doctors were any good. There was another participant who was a doc who had returned from London, leaving his high paying practice there, wanting to setup shop in India to provide good quality healthcare at affordable prices. When this girl came on the hot seat, she immediately refered to this doc and said “till I saw him, I thought all doctors were bad, but he has proven that there are many good doctors out there as well”. The ability to absorb what life throws at you and then look for the positive in it – thats what this cheerful girl’s lesson was. Amazing outlook towards life !! Wow. Another blogger has captured it even better than I have http://shobascorner.wordpress.com/2012/06/08/all-in-the-mind/.
Yesterday night there was a contrasting experience. The first participant on the show, was this truly innocent and unwordly girl who wanted to help her father, who works as a newspaper distributing man, sells snacks at the beach and other stores to make ends meet. It was thrilling that she won 3.2 lakhs, much much more than her wildest dreams !! The next participant was a professor’s daughter who was doing well in an organization. She wanted to use the money she won to make a personal library for herself since she and her father both loved to read. I dont grudge her that dream of a library, but just minutes before she came to the hot seat, the participant didnt even have money to buy her mother a silk sari or her father a mobile and thought Rs.10000/- was a lot of money ….
I was left wondering how that fisherman community girl would have reacted – am sure she would have commented on the first girl’s plight and maybe wanted to share some of her winnings with her or some other gesture to show her acknowledgement. Somehow this professor’s daughter missed that opportunity – all the reading that she has done, doesnt seem to have made her more compassionate. She had no obligation to say anything and for all we know she may reach out to this girl separately, some people are like that. But her non-acknowledgement of what trials and tribulations another fellow human being was going through was reminiscent of how majority of us live our lives 🙁
Different outlooks are good and provide different views of the world, but caring for another fellow living creature and acknowledging when you hear/know of someone having a difficult time has to be the just the ticket to the party of life !!