STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Under the initiative of Central Govt Pensioners’ Welfare Association, Jammu (CGPWA) to upgrade the knowledge of destitute students of BALGRAN, the State Election Commissioner & former Chief Secretary, B R Sharma on Saturday gave a lecture on “Gratefulness” and interacted with them. He spent one & half hours with over one hundred inmates of BALGRAN.
Delivering a lecture on gratefulness, B R Sharma said that God has given us ‘life’ which is the best thing happening to all of us. He said, “life is a mixture of experiences one encounters in the journey of life which ranges from good things to obstacles and challenges”.
Nothing should overawe or please the human beings, especially the students who must avail the opportunities to become a good human being and a successful person. And in this process, one gets blessings and help from different persons in life, like parents, family, teachers, friends, and mentors. He advised the students to be grateful to them, and God for giving them life and all others who rendered help to make them good human beings.
Sharma said that gratefulness has five pillars which he enumerated as sincerity, empathy, integrity, politeness, and self-regard. He asked the students to inculcate the habit of practicing the four A’s which he counted as Appreciation, Approval, Admiration, and Attention. All these qualities need to be made integral to their lives that would not only make them surmount all challenges but also make them a good human being. Even a stranger can leave behind some imprints for which one should be grateful to him. If students develop these qualities and habits, they would find that by helping friends or even strangers, how satisfied and happy they are, he added.
B R Sharma told students that they are not aware of their strength and sometimes, it leads to tension and worries. He advised them to have faith in themselves and face everything in life with confidence. He referred to the usual tension of examinations and said that this tension should be capitalised to focus on their studies rather than to ran away from it. Failures, if any, too should be used to work harder and harder and one day you would definitely succeed. He gave the example of Thomas Edison, inventor of the Electric Bulb, and said that he succeeded to make the first electric bulb after remaining unsuccessful for a thousand times. Similar examples, he gave, of some iconic sports persons who reached the top after suffering many defeats and failures and it was their determination and perseverance that made them great. He told them that any failure in life should not be allowed to overawe the students. Keep your mental balance, hard work, and objectivity in face of any challenge in their lives, he advised the students.
Over a dozen students asked very intelligent questions which B R Sharma responded in a befitted and intellectual manner. He differentiated between studies and learning and spoke on concentration on studies and sports at assigned appropriate time, building self-confidence and successes and failures in life.
Earlier, the President of the BALGRAN, Vinod Raina welcomed the former Chief Secretary and other guests and apprised the objective of this laudable initiative of CGPWA, Jammu. He said inmates of BALGRAN are lucky to have this rare opportunity to interact with former top civil servants who are experienced valuable resource persons.
Among those present of the occasion included K B Jandial Secretary General of CGPWA, Prem Gupta, Patron BALGRAN, S D Swatantra, Ravinder Gupta, Sunil Gupta, Vinod Gupta, J K Gupta, Ashok Kapoor, Mohit Vij, all members BALGRAN and Urmil Arora, Principal of Bal Bharti School and teachers.