Success

** Dr. Ida Scudder
A few days back, I read an amazing biography of a missionary doctor Ida Scudder. It is written by Veena Gavankar in Marathi. It is a very inspiring tale of a missionary worker in the medical field, in and around Vellore in South India for more than 60 years. Most of her family was also involved in the missionary work. At one point of time in life, young Ida was decided not to become on of them. But something else was ahead of her. She came to India to visit her ill mother and could have a close look at the condition of the rural people around. Then determined to work for them, she returned to the US, earned her medical education and came back to Vellore. A small 'hospital' she started in a 10' x 12' room in 1900 has now grown into a huge 2000-bed medical centre. She also founded the Christian Medical College (popularly known as CMC) affiliated to the same. The sheer volume of her work is simply awe-inspiring.
In addition to the care of women, Ida Scudder saw the need for bringing health care to the poor, the disabled, and the neglected of India. She traveled regularly to outlying villages, bringing medical care to the doorstep of poor villagers, many of whom had never seen a real doctor or nurse, starting CMC's first "roadside" dispensary in 1916. Over the years, these roadside dispensaries have developed into extensive rural health and development programs that have become internationally acclaimed in the Community Health field. Hats off to Dr Scudder !


** The Jigsaw Puzzle
When I was in my last year of engineering, I worked as a student mentor. Many first year students would come upto me, and talk to me regarding their career paths. I was (and I still am) myself thinking on my own career path, but I would tell them about what I thought.
Some of them had a special concern - they were from those branches of engineering not considered "cool" by students and their parents alike. They were under a peer pressure. These were students from Metallurgy and Materials Science, Civil Engineering etc. Some of them thought they had landed up in dead fields, or those branches which will never fetch them good jobs, higher positions in industry-academia; in short they did not have much "scope" in their careers, if they graduated with degrees in Metallurgy or Civil.
This is what I used to tell them: "I look at this as a Jigsaw Puzzle. There are many pieces, each piece has its own place in the whole picture. A piece should fit into that position, and it also should be able to join with other pieces to complete the puzzle. It is nothing different with different engineering disciplines. Each type of engineer has his/her own place in the bigger picture of the sci-tech world, including Academia-Industry-Society-Governance. Each of them has to be able to fulfil the job, the duty. Each one has a special role to play. And also, each one IS important. Each one has his/her own place in the picture. Without any one piece, the picture cannot be completed. Thus, there is nothing as significant and insignifiant branched of engineering. All have to work together for any progress worth while. There is no need to look down upon a certain discipline. Let us broaden our minds, look at the bigger picture, try and understand it. Then only we can hope to make any difference - together."

** What is Success ?
Like many of us, I have tried to ask this question to myself, and thought over it for long. For me, the answer has invariably involved "satisfaction". Satisfaction of having made a great try, more than achieving something. Satisfaction of taking people along with you, rather than a cut-throat competition culminating into hard feelings. Satisfaction of having made a difference, rather than only criticizing. Satisfaction of having created something excellent and not mere destruction. Satisfaction of having done something new rather than following some beaten path. Satisfaction of having helped someone by rekindling his/her self-confidence rather than having dry sympathy. This, i feel, is success.

Once, one of my professor flashed this transparency in a lecture :

To laugh often and much;
to win the respect of intelligent people;
and the affection of children,
to earn the appreciation of honest critics,
and endure the betrayal of false friends,
to appreciate beauty,
to find the best in others,
to leave the world a bit better,
whether by a healthy child,
a garden path, or a redeemed social condition;
to know even one life has breathed easier because you lived.
This is to have succeeded.

This poem is many a times attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson. But a good site on Transcendentalists says that it is not by Emerson but Bessie Stanley. Whichever the case, I feel the poet has put it well in the last line - if even one life has breathed easy because i lived, i wud be happy and rest in peace :)

This is (another) one from Bessie Stanley:

"He has achieved success who has lived well,
laughed often and loved much;
who has gained the respect of intelligent men
and the love of little children;
who has filled his niche and accomplished his task;
who has left the world better than he found it -
whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul;
who has never lacked appreciation of earth’s beauty
or failed to express it;
who has always looked for the best in others
and given them the best he had;
whose life was an inspiration; whose memory a benediction."

-- Mandar Gadre.