Walking my way to home, I stopped by a Bamboo Seller, an old man clad in dhoti, sitting under the canopy of a Gulmohar tree. Cluster of bamboos lay at his feet. They were no ordinary bamboos. No, they were, as the sign board claimed, ‘Chinese Bamboo'.
"Chinese Bamboo?" I asked the seller who smiled toothily and said, "Yeah, they are stronger and taller than the local ones…they come once in a year."
Well, they did look stronger and taller, and so I said, "Must have taken them years to grow so tall?"
"Yes, they are 90 feet in height," the seller said, then with a twisted smile, added, "it took them five weeks to grow so tall…"
"Five? You mean Five years?"
"No, just five weeks." The seller aid firmly.
"Five weeks?" I stared at him in disbelief, "They grow a sky-touching height of 90 feet i.e., 27 meters, in just a matter of five weeks! Impossible, Chacha! This means the seeds have been sown just five weeks ago?"
"No, around 4 or 5 years ago!"
I was perplexed. Perhaps, the old seller's mathematics had a problem.
Seeing the apparent confusion on my face, the seller explained, "Sow the seeds of Chinese bamboo and start watering them. In the first year, nothing will happen. But continue watering and nurturing them. In the second year also nothing will happen. No signs of sprouting will appear. But do not give up. Keep doing your karma; keep watering and nurturing on the spot where you have sowed. Still, in the third year and fourth year, nothing at all will happen. But have patience; in the beginning of fifth year, as you continue watering them, they will sprout. And in a matter of just five weeks, i.e. within a month or so, they will shoot up to a towering height of 90 feet!"
"Amazing…" I whispered, spellbound by the process.
The seller continued, "In all these 4 years, we thought nothing was happening. But in reality, something was indeed happening underground away from our eyes. The roots, underground, were spreading itself around the soil, like a cobweb. In other words, the roots were knitting the soil together, making the base, the fundamentals stronger.
You see, in these 4 years, the root system was being developed to support the gigantic structure, weight and height of the plant. Once, the strong base is ready, the plant blooms itself up into the sky!"
That day, I learnt some amazing lessons from the bamboo. We've to build our base first, strong and firm. It takes years to build the base, the fundamentals, the roots of our life. In these years, nobody will recognize you, just like we don't recognize the existence of the bamboo tree in the initial years! But you've to believe. In yourself. In your karma. You've to keep doing you karma, keep watering and nurturing yourself every day, keep taking small actions towards your goal. And, one day, when your base is complete, you will emerge from the ground, soar up high above and touch the limitless sky of success!
CAclubindia
