By Kamal K Sharma – Founder Director, SaveFirst – http://www.savefirst.co.in
Life is as lovely as we make it, as good as we enjoy it and as bad as we end it. This was certainly not the time to go Sushant.
At 34 yrs of age, some people are struggling to get into a job or starting with something else to earn their livelihood. But Sushant had achieved a lot by this time. Name, fame, money and more importantly secured his place in the hearts of billions of the people…what ever short journey he had was remarkable one.
Sushant was a brilliant student who secured excellant grades, ranked 7th amongst AIEEE aspirants to join one of the best colleges i.e DCE (Delhi College of Engineering) to pursue Mechanical Engineering, It takes lot of courage to drop out after completing 3 yrs from such a prestigious institute to pursue his passion for acting. I am sure his middle class family of 4 sisters and his father (a govt employee with Bihar Police) must have reacted with very high disappointment for such a decision. Only people with passion take such calls who have the confidence in their abilities to adjust themself & excel with such a paradigm shift in their goals.
He made his mark on small screen and then went ahead with his true passion to realize his dreams of doing wonders on silver screen, what an actor he was. With his 2nd movie, MS Dhoni the Untold Story he made people realize as if he was the one playing for India, Kai Po Che was no exception either. He had that exceptional talent which made everyone take a note or may have felt threatened by his entry into bollywood. I am in no capacity to comment being a no voice to bollywood inside stories but this is what normally happens when a small town boy enters the big circle, there are acceptance issues and then there are egos that get hurt. Be it Sushant Singh Rajput or our beloved PM Natendra Modi all have experienced such hard facts of life that people just do not accept you so easily.
But then you need to be very very strong & at the same time extremely diplomatic to call the shots and bring the game in your favor, thats where Sushant failed probably. Why only Sushant this can happen to everyone who is born with exceptional talent and has plans to go high in life…people will work to derail you, they might form groups to demean yoù, they might use every trick to make you know you are worthless. Dont fall into their trap, for them you are just a roadblock to their mind satisfaction or challenge to their high headed apptoach but for your family back home you are entire world and you need to be safe for your family to fulfill their aspirations. Look at the old aged father and 3 sisters behind, its like complete sunami for them where all roofs seem to have fallen on them and there is complete wash out of their dreams. As middle class families, parents and elders need to prepare children to face such life challenges. There is urgent need to build strong mental strength in the minds of upcoming children to face certain vultures in the society, who are good for nothing but remain vigilant to derail people who come from small towns, middle class families with great passion & determination, dreams in their eyes, energy to work 24×7, scale high and achieve every goal that may surprise the world.
Having dreams like sending 100 children to NASA, Buying a technologically very superior Telescope to study universe, aspiring to fly an aircraft, buying peace of land on moon are no small dreams. It seems the kind of circumstmaces got created by few ones in superior circle, Sushant might have become too alone to fight all this single handed. Having seen such a brilliance in children here comes the role of parents and families to form a protective mechanism to ensure there is enough support to grown up children to ensure they are not pressurised or misguided by outside forces and they stay focused on their long term goals with full zeal and passion.
Few learnings that might help us as a society to ensure no talented Sushant is left alone to die like this
1. Understand the strength of your grown up children and be part of their goal achievement exercise.
2. Dont let them fight their battle alone. Be a strong force behind them to ensure they never feel isolated.
3. Make them mentally strong and prepare them well before they move away to big cities for the expected challenges they might face as a result of professional jealousy.
4. Prepare them to have a god father as a local guardian who is from same profession or stream and will work as immediate help, guide and a dependable shoulder to cry upon.
5. In today’s fast paced life where there is enough of technology to keep in touch. Make it a point to have at least 12 hourly contact. Choose video calling as an option over voice call. This will allow negative thoughts washed out every 12 hrs
6. Educate grown up children to be linked to their roots ever. How so ever busy someone remains in professional life at least one visit to hometown or village in 6-9 months should be a normal practice. Find reasons to plan such a visit, there can be so many religious rituals that can be planned.
7. As family members dont start living in isolation, however top position children achieve, how big celebrity your son / daughter becomes do remember that parents will remain parents and they have a big role to play. Sister/brother will remain a sister/brother and they have their own duties to ease out the life pressure the way they used to do in childhood.
8. Indian family system is very strong institution in itself which has established very deep credentials of success, let this not die down in isolation.
9. Everything can change, every thing can wait but emotions that a family can bring together remain the same, only thing required is to renew them from time to time to keep the family united.
10. When your grown up children move away from you, they have their own fight to exist and create their space, achieve more, make family feel proud of their achievements. This is not an easy fight, they might keep fighting it silently & sometime they might even surrender like Sushant Singh Rajput. Smell the coffee before its too late.
You have a great role to play as a family, let this not happen, prepare them well, help them stay strong, support them to emerge stronger. If situations become worse, let them not fight alone be a real support.
RIP dear Sushant Singh Rajput, you will be always remembered for your passion, determination and great smiles. Certainly this was not the time for you to go but certainly your going has given a reason for families to come together, unite and make sure that no Sushant in any part of the world feels alone or fights his battle at his own. You will certainly feel a change sitting up their from skies..
