Beliefs will form through the life experiences which are professional and
personal. These experiences will make one see things on a bigger scale and
also will make emotionally strong. When I look back the biggest thing
happened in my life is the death of my father (44years). I remember it very
clearly that our family was devastated because of the death of my father and
we (my mother, sister, younger brother and I) were shattered & clueless on
how to face the future challenges. It took us at least 3 or 4 months to
recover from his death.
My father passed away when I was in the third year of my engineering
degree (under graduate). We had the family owned timber business and
as the older son of the family I had to take responsibility of the business. We
could only meet our ends through the income from the timber business.
This was the time when IT industry was booming in India and my family and
I were not clear on my future plans (Studies or Business). We all realized
how valuable the presence of my father and how good and easy the life was
when he was around.
Now after 13 years we all moved in our lives (my sister is a Bank Manager
in India, brother lives in Ireland, I am doing my masters in US and father of
two boys) none of us talk about our father or remembers him, may be the
only time we remember him is on his death anniversary. I always ask myself
does he deserve only this much? Or is this the case with everyone? He was a
reasonably good business man, a good father and a good husband. I am
sure he deserves much more than this and at least he should live in our
memories and in his business circle. But that’s not the case. I think the
reason why his contributions were not remembered now, it is because most
of his actions / contributions were for his own benefits and for the immediate
family members. He did not make much contribution to the society (could
have been our church community, education for the poor children in our
area…etc, easier to contribute to the society in India compared to US and
European nations). After analyzing the way my father’s legacy is fading
away several times, I strongly feel that if one needs to make an impact with
their lives they should think beyond the needs of himself and his immediate
family members. Need to touch people, need to contribute to the benefits of
the wanted. One of the reasons why I am doing my MBA is also in line with
this thought process, that I should be able to analyze situations and make
decisions which has a long term vision and eventually it will address the
need of the majority.