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A pauper’s aspiration for a Rolls Royce is not a demand,” used to be my husband’s favorite quote from his Economics text book. Forget about the commercial link between aspiration and demand, what is aspiration? It is an inner desire to possess or achieve something seemingly unachievable.
This aspiration remains secret in one’s younger years but gets transformed to an obsession in later years which prods one to action towards achieving it.
But in most cases, due to awareness of the more realistic scenario, the aspiration remains nothing but that in a more adult and practical –thinking age.
It is amusing and sometimes touching to see how efforts are made in innocent childhood towards a semblance of achievement of this aspiration. It is not unusual to see youngsters imitating their parents in the work they do.
Thus you get to see mini maids, mini doctors, mini engineers, mini carpenters etc. My son when he was young had accompanied his officer father to his office. On coming home he declared,” I want to become an Air Force officer like my dad when I grow up because all I have to do is sign papers.”
A nephew of mine, when little loved to have his friends waving their hands on both sides of the road in farewell while he rode away on a fictitious jeep for a fictitious ‘posting’ from the BRO (Border Roads Organisation) unit.
Closer home, the corporation worker who sweeps our road usually brings with her seven of her children with ages ranging from 3 to 12 years.
While the 12 year old helps his mother constructively, the 3 year old insists on himself opening our gate and putting back the bin emptied earlier by his siblings and going out in all dignity after closing the gate by himself. I am sure for the present stage his biggest aspiration is to become a corporation sweeper.
My maid servant sometimes brings her granddaughter to work. The latter insists on washing my vessels though forbidden by her grandmother who obviously has higher aspirations to see her darling as a shop assistant or typist and certainly not as a housemaid.
It is also true that children themselves observe the various opportunities and the new fields available to them which if they work hard, can be certainly better their socio-economic status .
Thus it is not unusual to see a watchman’s daughter becoming a doctor, an auto driver’s son becoming an engineer, cook’s children excelling as hoteliers and so on which is certainly a heartening thing to watch in our ‘Shining Bharath’.