Taare Zameen Par
My eyes filled with tears yet again, as I watched the movie Taare Zameen Par.
The character Ishaan Awasthi is so representative of anyone who just cannot fit in the usual set patterns of the rat race in our society. We all are meant to be conformists — conformists to the set pattern of the ‘rat race’ — his father says that Ishaan fails because he has no focus, he asks Ram, the teacher (played by Aamir Khan) whether just on account of his special talent, should he keep feeding him all life. And then Ram questions the entire rationale of bringing up children.
We keep failing not realising that failure is such a symptom and root cause is that we are doing things which we are not cut out for, like in this move, if you judged Ishaan by his ability to read and write , he was an absolute liability for self, parents and society — but at the core of it was his dsylexia — the fact that he was an outstanding painter. Remember the quote “if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing that its stupid. Reminded me so much that it also takes a great teacher, a guru, to tell us where we are going wrong strategically, someone who empathises and tells us what should we do for course correction. Ony a few lucky ones are able to get a teacher like Ram, who help us get the deserved respect from society ; otherwise for most, life gets reduced to a sad affair, filled with taunts and a defeated self esteem which we have to carry on our shoulders, all through
And this Ishaan could be anyone — you, me — — I remember a job stint where I was reprimanded everyday because I didnt know what shade of pink gels with what shade of blue in a pie chart — I was a gone case as far as aesthetic sense was concerned. But did that mean I was bad — a hopeless chap — No.
We all have our limitations — someone who has no interest in academics but forced to study to fulfil parent’s dream, maybe a course which doesnt interest him but fails again and again but cannot quit, someone who wanted to study but forced to sit at the family shop, someone who was expectionally creative and wanted to be in the world of Dramatics but ends up doing XBRL and TDS Return filing because that is what has more stable and predictable cash flows; someone who could have been a great teacher but is caught in the rigmarole of corporate life, someone whose home-sickness becomes overpowering and hence cannot take an outstation job . The list is endless. I wish you miraculously wriggle out of the situation that you are stuck into and realise your full potential.
