HunnyBeez

Although camping has traditionally involved sleeping in the great outdoors, there’s no rule that says that you can’t be comfortable while you are doing it. Many people would be happy sleeping on the ground in a sleeping bag, but if you’re a person who finds that uncomfortable, then consider getting a camping cot. Camping cots lift the camper up off of the ground during sleeping, which has a number of advantages. It’s easier to stay warm if you are lifted up off of the cold ground. Getting wet won’t be as much of a possibility either. Sleeping on camping cots reduces the chances of being bitten by bugs or pests who live in the ground below you. Plus, if you have a family member who has any kind of disability or suffers from arthritis or any other joint or muscle problems, camping cots make it easier to get out of bed and allow him or her to still participate in the camping adventure.

Camping cots come in a variety of styles and structures, depending on the type of cot that you need. The most basic form is normally a strong, thick piece of canvas that has been stretched across a metal frame. They fold up and usually have a storage bag, so that they are easy to pack and transport along with the rest of your camping gear. However, they are not necessarily a good idea if you are going to be hiking to multiple campsites, as some camping cots could add a good deal of weight to your pack. You simply unfold the frame and put sleeping bag on the cot instead of the ground.

But if you prefer a bit more comfort, then you have a number of other options to enhance camping cots. You could simply place a sleeping bag pad on top of the cot before adding your sleeping bag. This is particularly a good idea for a larger or taller person who might find that some part of their body is hitting the edge of the cot frame. Or, you could choose to add an air mattress to your cot, giving yourself even more cushioning and raising the cot to a more normal ‘bed’ height.

If you plan to sleep in a one man tent with a camping cot and you want to limit the amount or bulk of the gear that you are bringing, consider a camping cot tent. This interesting hybrid is a cot with a tent rigged over it, so that you get the benefits of both the cot and the tent in one piece of gear. You simply zip out the side when you want to get in or out. But if you need to put your camping cots in a tent, or if you are planning to camp without a tent, then you might want to purchase a pest net to keep the bugs away and a protective tarp to keep you safe from the elements.

If you live in the United States, Father’s Day is just around the corner, celebrated on June 17th this year. Father’s Day calls for a celebration, including great Father’s Day gifts for your special guy. Father’s Day gift baskets make a wonderful addition to your dad’s happy day, because they can be personalized to exactly what he will enjoy. In the United States we celebrate Father’s Day with gifts and a great meal, but it can vary throughout the world. Here are few of the ways that Father’s Day is celebrated around the world.

In countries where the Catholic Church plays an important cultural role, Father’s Day is celebrated on the Catholic’s St. Joseph’s Day, which is March 19th. Some countries also have a non-religious holiday to honor fathers, so in certain areas fathers get to celebrate, if they so choose, on not one but two days of the year.

The United States always celebrates Father’s Day on the third Sunday in June. Other countries that also follow that tradition include Argentina, Canada, Chile, France, Japan, Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Some Nordic countries, such as Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden celebrate on the second Sunday in November. Taiwan is unique in that they celebrate on August 8th. This is because in Mandarin dialect the numbers for that month and date sound the same as their word for “father,” and so this is the date they selected.

One Father’s Day tradition that you might not have heard about is the wearing of roses. People on Father’s Day will wear red roses to signify that their father is alive, while others will wear a white rose to show that he has died.

Familiar Father’s Day traditions include the giving of cards and chocolates, along with other gifts that show your affection for your father. There are often family reunions that revolve around the holiday, so that the entire family can gather together to celebrate all of the fathers present. Young children will often make gifts to give to their fathers.

In Australia, Father’s Day is celebrated on the first Sunday in September. Many of the traditions are similar to those that occur in the United States, and everyone has a great time honoring their special father.

In the United Kingdom sometimes schools, cultural societies and clubs will organize Father’s Day parties so that many people can get together and have a fun time partying with their fathers.

No matter how you celebrate with your father, you will want to include a thoughtful gift that shows him that you care. Personalized Father’s Day gifts will make a big impression on your dad, and will be a reminder to him of how much you love him.

A rare material which is often used in high end jewelry and one of kind decorative artifacts is referred to as mother of pearl. Yet another name mother of pearl is known as is nacre which describes the same strong and resilient material. Nacre is an organic composite material that is produced by some mollusks and is formed of hexagonal platelets of calcium carbonate crystals and bonded by elastic biopolymers which increases the toughness of the material at multiple lengths and sizes enormously.

Nacre has been used in fashion accessories for hundreds of years because of the many properties that make it attractive to the human eye. Quite recently urban and New York fashion have adopted the use of mother of pearl in cuff links in order to give them a glossy and stylishly finish; those who wear accessories made of mother of pearl are considered to be individuals are very in touch with a true sense of fashion and have a strong character.

Interesting facts about mother of pearl or nacre:

* Because of the amazing brickwork found in mother of pearl, the longer the cuts are the stronger the material becomes. This is a very interesting property found in nacre which can only be reassembled by materials such as silicon.

* Mother of pearl has some of the properties of silver but because of its iridescence it can take and properties from many different colors. The thickness of the platelets of calcium carbonate crystals results in constructive and destructive interference of light rays at different visible angles.

* Some mollusks secrete nacre which is deposited on their inner shell in order to defend against parasites and other damaging agents by covering them in layers of nacre, this slow process which takes place over mother of pearl ends up creating a pearl. Objects which are coated or created with nacre loan are in fact made with the material pearls are made of.

* Many people believe that mother of pearl forms when a grain of sand enters the mollusk’s shell but the fact of the matter is that mother of pearl doesn’t form unless a parasite or food particle gets trapped in the shell or if the mollusk is injured in any way.

* Mother of pearl is an extremely precious material because it cannot be harvested at accelerated speeds, mollusk’s that grow mother of pearl at hot temperatures tend to form this layer a lot faster than those that live in places with colder temperatures but the result is a duller and less lustrous mother of pearl.

Great examples of mother of pearl cufflinks:

* Stunning pink mother of pearl cuff links (cufflinksman, keyword: ?CL-0009?): this Italian creation shows the true beauty of mother of pearl, they have a very smooth finish and different pink tones that are complemented by the reflective and properties of mother of pearl.

* Union Jack Flag cuff links (cufflinksman, keyword: ?CL-0039?): these are the perfect accessories for those who want to show their true patriotic colors during important social events. The lines of the flag are made with precious mother of pearl material which gives them a glossy and multicolor finish.

* Circular and stripped onyx and MOP cuff links (cufflinksman, keyword: ?CL-0019?): if you are thinking of New York fashion then you need to look no further as these stylish cuff links combine the properties of smooth rhodium and iridescent mother of pearl which will give you that look you are looking for.

* Oval Onyx and mother of pearl cuff links (cufflinksman, keyword: ?CL-0044?): flat and highly polished onyx is the centerpiece of these beautiful cuff links that are only enhanced by the rainbow-like properties of the carefully placed strips of mother of pearl.

A father day is special day for all the men in the world, this day is to pay tribute to all the fathers in the world, in fact not only fathers, but all the men who acted as fathers, step fathers, grand fathers and even big brothers. Father, a word which produces soothing effect just as a word mother does. Mother and father are two most important persons in any child life, without these people life can not be imagined.

When mother take cares for her child by cooking food, father works very hard to provide them. When mother helps completing in home work for her child, father pays fee for the school. Child cannot move a head without mother and father support in their lives. We see so many children on the road who have no basic education, do not have any thing to eat, don’t have enough cloths to wear; these children are unlucky who are without the blessing of their father who cannot pay for their food, education and cloths.

We are lucky people in the world, who have found every thing in the world, God have given us our lovely father and mother, we have been given the gift of love, basic necessities including food, education and every thing which is required to live happily.

Our father has performed all his duties with all dedication possible. He never taken care for his rest but put front his child’s rest in front and worked hard all his life to provide us every luxury of life. He ignored his health but never compromise on health of his child.

Fathers’ day is celebrated all around the world for giving tribute to all fathers. To regard his all efforts he have been doing all his life for his family, it is the day to tell him how special the word ‘father’ is and how special the person who has fathers title. This is the day to tell him how much we love him and how empty our lives without the relationship of father. This is the time to call our father and wish him happy father days. If we live near lets go and hug him and if we are far wish him by Father day ecards. Happy Fathers Day

 

Dir : Dan Van Heeswyk [2008] A short film about my visit to the Commenwealth War graves at Ypres, Belgium

After all the ups and downs of birthing, feeding, changing, dressing and generally pampering four precious babies, I think I can safely say that I know what works, and what doesn’t, in terms of organizing your baby nursery on a budget.

There are many baby nursery furniture options available on the market today. Most are not necessary, however. In my opinion, you only really need five items of furniture for your baby nursery. (If you do not have a closet in your baby nursery, you may need to add an armoire to the list.)

Somewhere to sleep – A baby crib.

You have many choices here, from a straight forward standard baby crib to a luxurious round or fantasy carriage crib. If you have a few dollars to spare, convertible baby cribs are great value for money.

No matter which baby crib you decide upon, remember to take baby crib safety into account. Current baby crib safety guidelines are far more stringent than in the past. For this reason, the use of a second hand baby crib is not recommended.

Somewhere to change, dress and mess with baby – A baby changing table.

Some people will tell you to go without this item and to change your baby in the crib. If you have chosen a baby crib with a drop down side rail this is entirely possible to do. However, you’ll probably end up with backache.

If you do decide to purchase a baby changing table, you have a choice between the open front changing table with storage baskets, which are very pretty, or a dresser-changing table combo.

The dresser is a much more practical option, both in terms of crawling babies and nursery storage. Try to find one with four drawers or more, or three drawers plus a side cupboard. (Watch the height of the table though. Waist height is best for comfortable changing.)

All baby changing tables should have a safety rail and safety straps attached. Use these EVERY time you change your baby.

Somewhere for all the used baby outfits – A baby hamper.

Essential for keeping track of all those little baby clothes. Keeping them separate is a real time-saver if you do not wash the rest of your family laundry in the mild detergent recommended for babies.

If floor space is a concern, a laundry bag hung on the back of the nursery door works too.

Somewhere to keep feeding supplies and a lamp – A nightstand or table.

The nursery lamp and nightlight stand here, close to the feeding chair. A nightstand is better, because it has drawers for baby’s feeding items.

The night time hours are so much easier if you are comfortable and have everything you need, organized and close to hand.

Somewhere to sit and feed baby – A nursery rocking chair or glider.

An absolute must for all those early morning nursing sessions. Money cannot buy the hours and hours of bonding time you will have here with your little one.

Make sure you try the rocker or glider before you buy it. You will regret a quick buy when you are sitting in the baby nursery at three in the morning and the chair is giving you a sore back.

母へ。

Prodigies are born, not made! Parents of prodigies have a very demanding role to play if their prodigious off springs are to make it big in life. Children who make dramatic entries disappear fast, as parents do precious little to handle their greatness. Pressure to perform and perform consistently, high expectations of an overambitious society can mar the greatness of the prodigies. They need to keep their feet firmly grounded. This article aims at analysing the role of parents from identifying prodigies to guiding their brilliant children towards higher achievements. This article elicits a select set of prodigies particularly from India to analyse the role of their parents in grooming them.

 Introduction

A child, usually lesser than 10 who shows the ability to perform at very high levels in the mode of a well trained adult in a field deemed extremely difficult and under very demanding circumstances is considered to be a prodigy. Prodigies are generally spotted in well structured disciplines that extract superior mental abilities like music and mathematics.

But that could also be the conventional view of identifying child prodigies. Nowadays, even in fields hitherto unheard of, we can identify them as in the field of sports – where the criterion or the definition for ascertaining a prodigy is not necessarily by age (within 10 years) but by performance that include the level and the opposition at a relatively young age. 

Somehow researchers have never been interested in a study of the prodigies. Dr Feldman and his colleagues attempted one in 1991, but not with much success. All that they could find was that child prodigies are more likely to belong to fields with concrete and established  rules such as music, math and  chess. Creative arts like painting, writing are comparatively rare perhaps because they demand greater experience.  There are however a few exceptions.

Alissa Quart deemed a prodigy herself, claims that prodigies are predictable in quantitative fields while in qualitative ones hey are not just hard to come by but are even difficult to assess if they are prodigies or merely gifted children.  Converse to accepted view, a child wih outstandingly high IQ cannot be automatically regarded a prodigy, while it is equally true that not all prodigies are endowed with a high IQ, because they seldom fare well in a standardized set of learning.

Sports prodigies are judged by a completely different parameter. A certain physical growth is required to show abilities and flair for the sport. This means we may not see prodigies under 10 years, but perhaps about 15 years. Most prodigies are identified in their early teens.

Role of parents in the success of a child prodigy

Research on the brain functioning of a prodigy reveals that not only are they amazing but very different as well in comparison to normal children.  It is still not clear whether it is in their nature or is it that they are nurtured to carry out such astonishing feats.

Much of course depends on the parents. It is quite necessity that parents create an environment conducive to honing their talent. The environment stimulates the child’s overwhelming potential. Very often, the child’s field of interest would be the same as that of at least one of the parents. Facts from the past vindicate this point. Picasso’s father was a painter; Mozart’s father was a renowned musician and so on. But Psychologists claim that there is no compulsion to this rule.  There are children with immense potential in a field completely different from those of the parents. Shakuntala Devi, the mathematical genius’s father was employed as a human cannon-ball in a circus company in Bangalore while her mother was a very shy homemeaker.

Irrespective of the child’s field of interest, the parents ought to stimulate the child’s fascination for the subject. There is a thin line that demarcates stimulation or motivation and pressurizing. When parents push the child for more, rather than allow the child to decide its limits, then motivation turns out to be stressful. This is an area that parents have to be cautious. Ainan Cawley, is born to a British father and Singaporean mother. He is a chemistry prodigy, who has taken an Ó’level in chemistry at the age of 6.At seven, his parents were pushing him for a University degree and were actually looking for sponsors. This would make him appear  a puppet in their hands and not the scientific genius that he ought to be. Ainan’s father, Valentine, refuses to allow his son’s abilities to stagnate.  “Imagine you are the strongest man in the world and someone says to you, try lifting something small like a banana. It’s like asking him to deny his true nature. Well, it’s the same with a child prodigy.”

If pressurizing the child to perform is one grave error, stipulating the child to meet their expectations is ever more precarious. Most American child prodigies vanish into thin air after a brief virtuoso in their respective fields. Itzhak Perlman a violin genius blamed it on all parents who have a self designed agenda for their children. He claims that some parents’ schema is suspect, as they want to achieve fame through their child.

Americans, in particular never seem to know to handle prodigies. The American society always demands perfection. Driven by these wrought beliefs, the parents of prodigies expect their child to behave well in public, dress up smart and generally present themselves in a manner that would conform to the part of the world they belong. Non conformists are generally pronounced a misfit however brilliant they are otherwise. Here is a classic example :

Alissa Quart claims that  “the over-cultivated can develop self-esteem problems and performance anxiety.” She cites, Brandenn  Bremmer as a living or perhaps a dead example of how societal and therefore parental demands of conformity can ruin a prodigy. Bremmer  entered college at an incredible age of just10.  Four years later, in 2005, he shot himself in the head. He had told Quart in an interview: “America is a society that demands perfection.”[4]

Jennifer Capriati is another case of withered prodigy. She became the youngest Wimbledon semi-finalist in 1991 at a tender age of 15. She followed it up with the coveted Olympic gold the next year. Just two later, in 1994 she was caught for possessing a prohibited drug called marijuana. Her attempt to revive her tennis passion after a short rehabilitation was amply rewarded when she became world No 1 in WTA rankings, but is plagued with a spate of injuries and has since disappeared from the scene.

The independent and flamboyant lifestyle of hers is said to be responsible for these activities. The Great American independent culture, imprisoning parents to question their child’s ways disabled the Tennis star’s home front reining her in. Hers is perhaps one of those that have surfaced. Several American genius dissolve into thin air through these juvenile distractions. Particularly when parents exercise no control over them.

Eccentricity comes hand in hand with prodigies. Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein are two remowned luminaries who worked themselves into distinguishable scientists par excellence and indifferent personalities. What is astonishing about them is that no one cared to take a second glance at them in their formative days. That Einstein was a school dropout is well known. This certainly adds to the already pressurized parents. The need to conform or belong rides heavily on them until they prove that they have traversed beyond these simple fastidiousness. But then not everyone can be an Einstein.

It is not really fortunate that we live in a world which produces amazing children to overriding ambitious parents, if the prenatal womb bound foetus enrichment products like BabyPlus Womb Songs and the high-concept teaching devices like Baby Einstein DVDs are any indication. Parents are anxious to help  their children  remain competitive. Such measures backfire as the child ‘s inherent limitations are summoned to respond.  “Designating children as gifted, especially extremely gifted, and cultivating that giftedness may be not only a waste of money, but positively harmful,” Alissa adds.

However, it is quite heartening to note that Indian parents in general have shown equanimity is guiding prodigies. S. Chandra Sekhar, strove   all by himself without any unnecessary push from his parents to emerge as  the youngest to pass the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer tests at age 10 in the year  2000 is a case in point.  In 2003, he is believed to have joined an elite group of scientists to work on the hacker-proof security systems for India’s major computer networks.

Apart from Chandra Sekhar, there have been many prodigies who have made it remarkable big. The culture and the family systems lend themselves to guiding children along to realize their full potential at the right time and not prematurely blossom to wither away into obscurity. Of course there has been a lot of pressure on the parents to ensure off spring success. Particularly with nuclear family and both parents working, the pressure is really high. Going by the success rate of prodigies in India, it can be assured that parenting in India continues to retain the glories of the age old tradition. Given below is a short list of prodigious children who have made it big, and have attributed their success to their parents.

Shakuntala Devi

Shakuntala Devi, Mathematical prodigy since the pre independence era, exhibited her penchant for number calculations when she was just 3. She used to play card tricks regularly with ther father who worked as a human canon ball in a circus company. Her versatile abilities at numerical calculations got recognized when she demonstrated them in the University of Mysore at the age of 6 and Annnamalai Univsrsity at the age of 8. Unlike other mathematical genius like Truman Henry Safford who lost their calculating felicities during adulthood, she retains her skill even at the age of 60 in 1977 when she extracted the 23rd root of a 201 digit number faster than a computer/ calculator. This is easily the most amazing feat of any genius in any field. In  June 1980, she  multiplied a 13 digit number by another 13 digit number in 28 seconds. The Computer Department of Imperial College London, had earlier made a random selection of the digits in these numbers.  The multiplication problem of a 26 digit number  in just 28 seconds engraved  her name in the  Guinness Book of World Records in 1995.  Considering the time taken for dictating the number, that must have left even less time for the calculation, this is simply astounding. There is also an instance when she had proved the machine wrong.

But much of these were achieved not just because she was a prodigy. She was born in a well-known orthodox family of Brahmin priests in Bangalore. Her grandfather gave her early lessons in mathematics. The extended family set up  in which she lived in her formative years, channeled the young whiz kid’s natural felicity with numbers. She was identified as a child prodigy when she was just 5. Since then her parents , especially her father, ensured that she was not over exposed, her education in the normal sense of the term was given top priority. Today she has grown up to be  renowned writer, speaker holding  a doctoral degree from the University of Rajasthan. The fact that she was able to balance fame and her personal life is ample testimony to the fact her parents stood firmly rooted on the ground, never attempted to attain artificial fame either for her or for their own selves.  Genius from the age of three, a soul stirring speaker, a fine writer, a living marvel, an internationally celebrated mathematician – SHAKUNTALA DEVI, an inspirational role model for the youth.

Mandolin Srinivas.

“Some of you have heard or read about exceptionally gifted children, our own Mandolin Shrinivas, Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Beethoven, Sir Isaac Newton, Picasso, Madam Curie, the list is endless” That is where he belongs…

At the tender age of six U. Srinivas picked up his father Satyanarayana’s mandolin. It is normal for the father to gently chide his son, quietly remove the expensive, rare instrument from his hands and in the process safe guarded both the instrument and the boy. The world would have lost the prodigy then and there.

Sathnarayana was not to be the commonplace, unexciting father. Upon recognizing the flair for music in general and the instrument in particular in his son, his father became his first Guru. He began in a very humble fashion and started teaching him the basics of whatever Carnatic music he knew. But Srinivas thirsted for more. The genius in him craved higher forms and he is supposed to have reproduced whatever was just spoken. Thgis prompted the father to rethink on tutoruing young Srinivas. He met his guru, Rudraraju Subbaraju, who realized the potential of U. Srinivas and began his classes with him. Rudraraju Subbaraju was an expert singer but had no clue of the instrument. So he would sing and Srinivas would reproduce the music in the instrument. 

Mandolin was Srinivas’ first love. As a child he had never tired of playing on the instrument. His father was quick to realize his potential and recognized the prodigy in him. He devoted his efforts and energy in giving all possible support to nourish his talent. That he hailed form a not so well to do family did not deter either the father or the son from enhancing hid latent skills. Srinivas first shot into the limelight in Gudivada a little known village in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh, during the Sri Thyagaraja Aradhana festival. He was just around nine years young. This took the entire Carnatic world by storm. His father would not just accompany him to the concerts but would actually be on the Tampura a stringed instrument essential to set and maintain the pitch.

When his recognition spread far and wide, he shifted bases to Chennai and his parents moved along. His father turned out to be his manager as well initially managing his engagements and concert schedules. He saw to it that the young genius is neither over loaded not over stressed. He spaced out his concerts in such a way that he got his fare share in terms of number of concerts at the same time enough gap between each of them for  a well deserved rest.

His connections wtith the Western Classical musicians speak volumes about his undersanding of music in general. He has given several joint concerts with the greatest of them too. 

Laurels, accolades and awards followed him wherever he went. But he remained unfazed by the newly earned riches or encomiums. Despite his active schedule, that included several foreign trips, he continued to learn and enhance his knowledge of music. This also meant that he had no time for formal education. His father was there to ensure that his son had at least minimal education, principally through private coaching.

The public adulation for the charming urbane smiling little boy continues till today, as a young man and would continue in the future too. So much for his popularly that it was generally felt if music is God’s greatest gift to human kind, then U.Srinivas is God’s choicest gift to world music

SachinTendulkar

 ”Sachin Tendulkar is an important person of our country. He is our country’s wealth and we will protect him,” said Mumbai’s Commissioner of Police, MN Singh following kidnap threats he received from militant groups. This was the level of adulation he receives from every Indian.

One of the very few genius to transform ‘’stones thrown at them into milestones, Sachin Tendulkar is prodigy par excellence. One of the greatest batsmen of all times, he holds as many as 75 records in cricket. This in itself is a record, as no other sports legend holds as many.

Is Sachin a one day wonder? Yes and no. He is the world’s greatest one day batsman, but a genius of all time. That succinctly explains the equation. The following describes his entry into international cricket at a tender age of 16. A record straight away at that point in time – the youngest to make international debut in cricket.

He made his debut in the year 1989, in Pakistan. Sachin, under aged for a driving licence, nevertheless was facing the most dreaded bowlers of the times.  Pakistani crowds taunted the young lad, with  placards roaring “ Dudh Pita Bhachcha ..ghar jaake dhoodh pee”, (hey kid, go home and drink milk). But Sachin was undeterred. He  sent the leg spinner Mustaq Ahmed virtually absconding having  hit him for two sixes in one over. This demoralized mentor the legendary Abdul Qadir. All the same, walked in and  challenged Sachin ” Bachchon ko kyon mar rahe ho? Hamein bhi maar dikhao ` (`Why are you hitting kids? Try and hit me.`)

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Sachin was silent, decided to let his bat reply. He obliged Quadir’s simple request by hitting  4 sixes in the over, humbling him for cover. making the spinner look the kid in the contest. The over read 6, 0, 4, 6 6 6, Sure, David destroyed Goliath … and a cricketing marvel was born.

 A short peep into  his boyhood days reveals much about his familial relationship. He was born into a middle class family and not with a silver spoon.

He becomes emotional while talking about his family. His own words  sums it all.

I won’t be where I am without the support of all my family members, my coach Ramakant Achrekar who used to drag me from my home to practice at nets and all my friends who have stood by me all these years”.Tendulkar said.

Sachin got his first bat, a wooden block that is used on those days for washing clothes from his Grandmother. And he still has that wooden thing as a remembrance. A total family man, he was groomed to be firmly grounded despite the name and fame he has achieved. His father Ramesh Tendulkar was a Marathi poet of renown.  Realising his son’s potential in the game he was willing to change the school Sachin was studying to enable him to get more practice and exposure to the game. This change was instrumental in the record of 664 runs which he made along with his friend and fellow India player Vinod Kambli. They were in class 9 then.

Cricket was and is a rich game. But most cricketers even during those times would have a back up to their source of income. But Sachin’s father was more than just willing to let his youngest son take to cricket as fish would to water. Never compelled him about the importance of academics or even complete his schooling. He was convinced that his son could make it big in the sport of his choice and passion. The father allowed that liberty to his son.

His major influence on Sachin is the importance on commitment to his work that he inculcated in the young mind. This was evident when in the 1999 World Cup in England, he returned within three days to resume work after his father’s sudden demise. That was the commitment to his profession his father taught him. He did not stop there. He came back and scored a century in the next match and dedicated it to his father.

The imprint of the father that we cannot miss  in Sachin Tendulkar is the humility even in the best of times. Never has anyone heard or seen Sachin brag about his abilities though he has proved them time and again. Honesty is Sachin’s watchword. He would never resort to unlawful means to move as much as an inch forward in his career. He would accept defeat with grace. In all these, we can notice the stamp of Ramesh Tendulkar.

Even today he is a supreme role model and an inspiration to many youngsters. A lesson about him is included in the high school English text book for the learners  to learn the art of achieving greatness by reinstating high moral and ethical values when sledging rules the roost in international cricket.

Mumbai’s most valuable son has left no cricketing stone untouched and touched nothing that he did not adorn. 

The recent prodigy:

Nine-year old girl M. Lavinashree, is youngest to become Microsoft Certified Professional unsettling the record held by a Pakistani girl . The wonder kid already holds a long list of records in her short life that includes the recitation of all the 1330 Thirukkural couplets. All these at the age of three when mort children would not have even learnt to speak fluently.

 It will be interesting watch this gifted genius grow full strength to achive greatness in her life. Of course much depends on her parents and their parenting ways. With the full glare of media attention and public curiosity, the parents indeed are in an unenviable position to guide her appropriately. They face the greatest challenge of their times so that the child grows to achieve immensely in her life.

Conclusion

Parenting plays a very crucial role in guiding child prodigies in the right direction. Not all prodigies tend to make the news, but do go about their lives maintaining a low profile, quietly and successfully without inviting attention. They are known better after their time as is the case of Ramanujam  or a Shelley. On the other hand, not all geniuses who make a dramatic entry in this world go on to become great. Much of their destiny is directed by the parents and their attitude, ambition and aspirations.

A great poet Thomas Gray, said

“Full many a gem of purest ray serene

            The dark unfathomed caves of the ocean bear

Full many a flower is born to blush unseen

            And waste its sweetness on the desert air”.

The world is scattered with a Shakuntala or a Srinivas or a Sachin or perhaps a hundred Lavinashrees. It is the prime duty of the parents not just to identify and reveal them to the world but steer them to accomplish the mission providence had sent them for.

Geniuses are born not made!

 References

 The Times November 10, 2007

 Alexandra Frean, Education Editor 10 June, 2002, UK

 Laura June, India Today, Dec 23rd 2008

THE HINDU, Sunday, May 3, 1992

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