Anna was in the kitchen garden this morning plucking the ladies finger, after three months of watching over the plants and daily attending on them. Anna was able to plant ginger, curry leave saplings, lime, chilli, beans, etc. all of which are growing in the garden. It is a challenge to protect them from pests and marshy soil due to excess subsoil wetness. Anna was found this as a leisure time activity for pleasure.
I have watched Anna from the time we arrived here last September, prepare the soil, manure and water it. The initial efforts to grow beans and ladies finger failed. Subsequently the soil was treated with organic manure. The weeds had to be plucked out several times. The efforts brought forth these fruits.
Anna has turned her attention to grow plants in the pots from the cuttings she gathers from different places we visit. Most of them flourish, because of the attention she pays to them.
This is symbolic of the equation between effort and outcome. Often the efforts seem demanding and long drawn out. What sustains the motivation and the momentum is the vision of the outcome.
Arpit, who is a surgeon at the Christian Medical College, Ludhiana, has been on an relentless effort to do away with long scar or multiple scars on the operating sight. He wanted to replace the multiple incisions which are conventionally used in laproscopic surgery and use only one incision. He seems to have arrived there due to his consistent efforts. Amy, who is in training in Community Medicine at CMC Ludhiana, mentioned to us about her efforts to learn to read Malayalam script. Amy loved singing. Her parents would encourage her to sing Malayalam songs, by reading the script. It was effortful, but worthwhile. One of the things we look forward to, when she visits us is to listen to her sing Malayalam hymns reading the text.
Many of us start on new projects enthusiastically, but only some of us stay with them for them to bring fulfilment.
The 'staying power' to pursue a desire or a dream is an acquired quality and temperament. I have witnessed this in Anna's approach. Anna has been into editing and publishing journals now for ten years. First it was the bimonthly Continuing medical Education Journal, when she was at CMC Vellore; now it is the quarterly VOICE, the journal of the Evangelical Medical Fellowship of india. She has brought a professional touch to the format and the content.
This call comes from the creation story in Genesis(1:28) the first book of the Bible,"..Be fruitful and multiply..''
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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