TWENTY-FIVE (25)

PART I

"Thank you so much for being present ladies and gentlemen, we are about to commence the felicitation," said the principal of one of the reputed and well-to-do colleges in Delhi, Miss Neena Sen.

I'm very proud and honoured to announce that all of our students for last year of Bachelors of Commerce have emerged with flying colours, there were tears in Miss Neena's eyes while speaking. She continued her speech for about 12 minutes, how the first day of college was, how mischievous the students were and some beautiful memories that all of them has spent together." I don't want to waste your precious time with my boring lectures again, so let's call upon the stage the guest of honour, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of 'Jha Industries' , the self-made multi-millionaire Mr. Ramesh Jha to speak a few words and felicitate our top three contenders", all the parents applauded out of exhilaration.

Mr. Jha walked towards the stage like a panther, there was a sense of pride on his face. He wore a branded suit which was worth a month's salary for some parents in the crowd. He stood beside the podium and adjusted the mic. "A very warm good evening to all the aspiring teachers and the students, thank you for the great introduction my dear friend Miss Neena, it's really astonishing to be here on this auspicious day"

"I want to start off with a short story, this morning before the results were out, I asked my son, so what results are you expecting? he smiled and said, " I'm going to top in all the subjects dad!" (The audience applauded). I never forced my son to study hard, neither I asked him to score well. He already knows that my position of a CEO is always reserved for him. The day when the principal announced that the top contender will receive a full scholarship for Oxford University, he came up to me and said, "Dad, I am going to Oxford University" I didn't respond. He continued "The college is going to give free scholarship to those who will come first! I asked him, why do you optate to go there for free? I have a lot of contacts in England. I'll make one phone call and you'll be there within seconds. What my son said next, just stuck with me. He said "when I get there and tell my new friends that I came first in the whole college consisting of more than five hundred students, imagine the reverence I'll be getting from them" (The audience applauded again).

Here he is, sitting in the front row all set for Oxford. I can now proudly say I'm the father of 'Aarav Jha', remember friends that whatever you do in life after this, be it post-graduation or job or even your own business, always give your hundred percent. You'll have to sacrifice a lot of things, I reiterate a lot. But always remember "You can never cross the ocean unless you lose sight of the shore, Thank you."

Everyone slowly stood up and started clapping, the principal called Aarav and 2 other students who were going to get felicitated on the stage. The 2nd runner-up got a cheque of Rs.1 lakh and the 1st Runner up got a cheque of Rs. 3 lakhs. As Mr. Ramesh was going to give his son Aarav what he always dreamt of, he got a little emotional and wanted to shed some tears but he controlled all his emotions and felicitated his son.

There was a student in the audience who was in his own world throughout the ceremony. He was not interested in the felicitation neither he was celebrating his good grades.

He was son of Mr. Om Chawla who was not as prosperous as Mr. Ramesh, but he was quite wealthy as well. He lost his wife 3 years ago because of a heart attack. Being raise by a single parent
He lacked emotional support, he always wanted.

Om Chawla was an Investor and had a company of his own. He was a spiritual man, and he wished to donate 99% of his fortune while retiring, but never told his son about it. He always wanted to edify his son about savings, investments and share markets, how he could earn more by spending, but his son was never into investments, he found it tedious.