Sachin Tendulkar- Story of a street kid selling naryal paani

Not the real image, taken from internet

If you came here thinking this is the story of the "Sachin Tendulkar" then it was a strategy to get you to read this story and get inspired by the Sachin I met and who got me thinking if education outside school is more effective than the one with four walls.........

 It all started with a coincidence. Once upon a time there was a kid who sold naryal paani and made juices and a girl named Priya was walking down the street thirsty and happened to stop by his stall rather than a train of other stalls, all queued one after the other equipped with naryal paani.

 She started off with a demand for the service of quenching her thirst and as usual, started to make small talk as all strangers do. "Do you go to school kid?" she asked. "No, school is not for me" the kid replied. "Do you like your naryal paani?" he asked, with confidence. Before jumping to the conclusion where it's now the norm to assume that every child that does not go to school has some kind of a "lack" which holds them back, she decided to observe this flamboyant kid who had an air of conviction about him. While choosing the naryal, when he chose the smaller one and she said she wanted the one that was bigger in size; he so confidently asserted that it won't have much water/paani in it! She almost believed it!

 While she was drinking from her now small sized naryal paani knowing full well she was sweeped by his communication skills, a couple came in asking for pineapple juice. She observed how he dealt with them, convincing them to drink the larger glass and she realized that this kid was far more advanced than all the kids she has interacted during her teacher trainee tenure in school. Heck, her own peers in class were taking soft skills classes and were not as charming as this kid was! 

  Soon, she formed an analysis of him:

" Entrepreneurship oozing out of him like the lava of choco lava cake."

" This kid had more substance than so many older people. Just like that small naryal paani had lots of water in it just like the kid promised".

" Confidence was the asset he chose to adorn his personality with, which gave us customers an idea that he demanded respect, and not sympathy from us."

Finally she asked his name. He witfully replied with "My name is Sachin Tendulkar". She watched as his eyes lit with fire and his body language gave off the idea of anything but a kid. She giggled infront of him, but inside she knew that he is still a child, he just matured way faster than others.

" Maturity in Sachin was deeper than Sachin going to school in an alternate world."

  "How long have you been running this shop?" she asked. He puffed his chest as he replied with "Five Years, I started this business on my own."

" Life chose to teach him instead of teachers in school. He chose the wisdom of life over lectures in school." 

 Now you must have had a different take on this story but I would like to pull your attention to a single thread of thought. Though Sachin's story was different from six million children who drop out of school; I believe the general theme is this: The kids are not getting enough substance that would persuade them to stay in school.

 Why do you think I did not ask Sachin to go to school instead of selling naryal paani? I could have said education will get you far, this won't. But in reality, with my truest genuine heart, I believe he will go far without those four walls and a blackboard. I assert this with the evidence that he has better communication skills than so many adults I know who drag themselves to "Professional training courses" and all that bullshit.

His personality can land him any job he wants in his life. His personality is above par than all other "Personality development classes" kids take these days.

His entrepreneurship spirit is the engine to his startup in any career field he chooses to pursue. He started with selling naryal paani and juices, I won't be surprised if I find him running an entire fruit shop one day.

Now you will ask me, what about his emotions? What of using his potential into becoming something better? Doesn't all of that happen when you get education from classrooms instead of from life?

But my dear readers, for one moment....do not resort to what has already been told and you have come to believe and say as if it comes from your individual thought and your own unique words from your mouth. Observe.

Observe the situation in schools. Colleges. Universities.

Observe the evidences pointed out in the story by sharply contrasting Sachin's skills with the skills that takes decades to build by the most successful entrepreneurs who go to business schools.

This is what I got: " Schools at this present status quo kill your potential, not spark it." 

And then you enter "Life" after 15 or 20 years of "Academia" and you realize life does not work the same as school did.

Then you panic and learn that earning money is a skill noone taught you or trained you in and just like Sachin, you start off by learning from life. Only much later than Sachin did. Ironic, huh?

And talking about emotions. Sachin for sure might at some point get trapped with having issues expressing himself, being burnt out, not feeling enough and the list goes on. But again; what currently is our education system doing, that will ascertain that the kids who stay in school can handle their emotions better than a street kid?

 

Tell me, what strong point I could have possibly put infront of Sachin that would be evident that it's worth staying in school?

The boring teachers?

The high amount of fees for teaching things that are so outdated from today's time that they cease to be relevant at all?

The unnecessary discipline and fining for breaking the "school code" when the focus should be on the overall development of the child?

What is worth staying?

I battle as I struggle to find a reason that would convince them to stay in school.

Sadly, I find none.

I battle between choosing what is my true dharma:

 Do I tell these kids to join the school just because I am going to become a teacher?

Or do I tell these kids the truth, schools in present have no substance to them. They make you passive robots with no energy, not active humans with fire in their eyes.

 I bet you to ask a class in government schools/low income schools to introduce themselves. Their voice decibel will not be higher than a whisper. Their confidence will be lower than my phone's battery. Their communication skills will be lagging as behind as me attempting a 100 metre race with a group of people. If I ask them what they want to do in life or if they do something productive in their free time, like a small startup or some pursuit of their own; they will answer with "We have no time because we have so much to learn and homework to do". What I hear is "We have no energy left to do something that WE truly value and want to because we are so overloaded with byhearting texts and doing the tasks from school....who assumes that everyone is the SAME."

I am in no way putting the value of quality education below what life teaches us. I believe that both are infact the same, and hence equally important. All great leaders, entrepreneurs, scientists practise their art in real life; putting it to use and thus finding out if it works or not. 

What Sachin is getting from life is not complete. He has no guidance and life is brutal, we all know that.

But what our kids are getting in schools is not whole either. There is a huge gap in the content that is taught and it's relevence in actual life, the way the content is taught and it's effectiveness in student's mind and heart, allowing them to think, to communicate and to feel everything authentically, keeping their INDIVIDUALITY intact.

Sachin has a potential and he sparked it with his own hands by starting to run this small juice shop. Imagine what would happen if he would have the support of our education system that would act as a fuel for his spark in this very same age as he is right now. Not after 15-20 years after graduating from an MBA college!

Words are easy. New policies get rolled out faster than red carpets in hollywood. But implementing them is another story. Heck, to get everyone to take all of this seriously and to be on the same page is like Sisyphus carrying a rock up the hill!

But hope must not be lost. We need to change the way the school system works. The four walls need to break. Our kids are suffocating. I have to sadly say that the ones who got out are the courageous ones. They are the ones who truly thought and asked themselves, " What am I even getting from out of here?"

 

I just want to be brave enough to lie to them that education is important and you can only get it in school. I am not brave, I guess....since I myself have learnt from life and nature, whereas teachers and technology have merely informed me. 

We need to rebuild the way this is working. Teachers and Technology ought to commune with Life and Nature and change the Education system.

Only then, Sachins in this world will find schools to be too good to leave. There will be no good reason to leave the schools for streets. "Only a fool would drop out of school", I dream of every child saying one day.

And I shall do everything to achieve this dream.

Give my all into the field of education to serve each child the quality of education they deserve.

One day at a time, changing the future of one child at a time.