Caring For Others - Kusum Sharma

Hello Everyone

Today I am going to share my views on caring for others, so I am sharing a story related to the topic. There was a farm, where lived farmer John with his wife Molly. They had pigs, cows and many animals on their farm. Also, there lived a little mouse.

One day the mouse looked through a small crack in the wall and accidentally saw the farmer opening some package. The mouse was curious about what food may it contain and discovered that it was a mousetrap. The mouse was determined to run around the farmyard and warned all the animals regarding the danger. First of all, he met the chicken. “There is a mousetrap in the house! “, the mouse declared with despair. But the chicken answered with indifference, “It doesn't concern me, as this is a danger for you, but not for me. It cannot bother me“.

Then the mouse raced towards the pig and the goat and told them about the mousetrap. But the pig and the goat were not impressed too. They said that there is nothing to worry about this and promised to pray about the mouse. Sad and depressed, the little mouse returned to the house. In the night the farmer‘s wife Molly heard a sound of a mousetrap. She hurried to see what was in it, but due to the darkness, she did not see that it was a poisonous snake, whose tail was caught in the trap. Suddenly the snake bit Molly.

The farmer rushed with her to the hospital. Later, when they returned home, Molly still had a fever. John remembered that it is good to treat the fever with chicken soup, so he went to his farmyard to bring the main ingredient, the chicken.

Whereas Molly‘s sickness continued and many friends came to visit her, the farmer butchered the pig so he could feed all the visitors. Unfortunately, as time went by Molly became weaker and weaker and one day she died. Many neighbours, relatives and friends arrived for the funeral. John had to slaughter the goat to feed all of them. The mouse watched all this with great sorrow. Remember, when we learn that someone is facing difficulties or dangers, we all are at risk. It is better to help and encourage one another and don‘t leave anyone alone with his problems.

Kusum Sharma

The Fabindia School

Interview of Mr. Sandeep Dutt with Niket Jain

Niket: Your Biodata mentions your profession as brewing knowledge, what do you mean by that?

Mr. Sandeep: It’s very interesting. This always happens to be the first question that is asked of me in every interview. I always ask what is life. It is like a pot in which we put in and take out information. So essentially what we do in our life is create a knowledge base. Whether you study, teach or do anything else in life. This is the key and when I say brewing knowledge, it essentially means what we do everyday. It’s your job whether you are giving, taking or learning each moment you are brewing knowledge. This I feel is the most important thing to do as an entrepreneur.

Niket: Being a Doon School product do you think residential school students have an edge over day school students.

Mr. Sandeep: There is a very simple answer to that. A residential school gives an opportunity to a person to find himself, understand himself and see the world with an advantage which an average young child does not have. And as residential schools focus on real front, on the ground work and training or delivery, they are much better than the others. This is the way it helps the students to learn and lead ahead.

Niket : How did you discover your love for adventure, mountaineering in particular?

Mr. Sandeep: To me life is an adventure itself and is a journey with ups and downs which come in our way. I feel mountains personify a leader. They are high, strong and have value. They give a lot to us and take very little in return which is what a good leader does. And that is why in adventure, mountains have always played the role of a mystic. They symbolize the ultimate for an adventurer. Lot of challenge today is based on mountains. The height of a mountain helps us to reach personal heights as an individual.

Niket: You have won many awards. One of them is the ‘Himalayas Clean Prize. How do you try to create environmental awareness in people?

Mr. Sandeep: What is the most important thing when you talk about environment? You must accept that the only reality in life is the environment around you. To make this comfortable, you have to be in harmony with it. So when we say ‘keep clean’ it doesn’t really mean picking up a broom and ensuring there is no litter around. Litter is only the surface, it’s not the answer. Litter is just what is visible but there is so much more that defiles the environment. When we look at cleanliness we have to work out a way that we leave nature untouched and don’t disturb its pristine beauty. My philosophy of going to nature is just leaving it as it is. That’s what I mean by cleanliness. A very simple thing, when you put up a camp side please restore it to as close as possible. That’s just a small message about keeping a place clean.

Niket: Sir, can you tell us how you are associated with the Duke of Edinburgh awards?

Mr. Sandeep: Essentially, I see my role today as primarily to raise the profile of the awards programme. We have been in India for almost 48 years now. So my job is to promote the award authority, our first task is to promote. Our second task is to provide which means every young person who is of the age minimum 14 and maximum 25 should have access to the award program and third is to make the award more precious to young people. To make young people live the award and not just wear it.

 Kind courtesy Editor of The Review, Scindia School at Gwalior, India