Page 30 - Failure to Triumph - Journey of A Student

Investing in Yourself

India’s tennis great Vijay Amritraj was once asked – why Indian

players could not perform well enough on international level,
especially in singles category wherein the players have to play
individually instead of in teams? Amritraj replied by saying that
whenever an Indian player performs well on the Asian level or the
larger international stage, the money he earns from it, he never
spends it on himself. He uses it for other purposes- buying a house,
fixed deposits in banks etc. As the saying goes, ‘save it for a rainy
day’. He saves the money to protect himself and his family in the

event of a financial emergency in future. In order to move up the
ladder, from the Asia level to the international level, the player must
spend some money. He should find the best coach for himself and
also a good nutritionist who can take care of his diet. But he does not
do any of it, and he ends up being limited. This is not just a

coincidence that despite having such a high population, India’s
Olympic medal tally is lower than that of many countries.

Have you ever observed that you too have this kind of hesitancy in
you? Your hesitation to spend on your own education. It is like you
are stuck in a deep pit and you want to come out but you do not want
to spend on a ladder. Why is it that we happily spend money on

cinema, food, clothes, on our partners, but when it comes to
education we always look for an excuse. We are always on the
lookout for getting good and paid content for free. For this we waste
our time, energy and system memory space by installing and using
various applications such as Telegram, Torrent, WhatsApp and other
such things.

Let us first try to understand the reason behind having such
thoughts. Intellectual barrenness is something that is widespread in
our country. People believe that great teachers and poets should live
in penury. When efficient and excellent teachers ask for
remuneration for the knowledge they impart, no one likes it. People
comment that ‘these people have made a business out of education.’

But the fact is that education has always been a business—the