Subroto's favourite shirt

This story is about the Sahara Chairman, Subroto Chatterjee. He, once during a delegation, gave a short snapshot of an incident that happened in his life.

Subroto was 10 years old. He was very fond of a shirt which was a birthday present. The shirt carried such a importance in his life that he would die and give anything for the sake of it. Once, what happened, was that his shirt accidentally fell to fireplace. He was quick to react and he was able to take his shirt out, just in time. He was happy.

But when he carefully examined, he found a small hole in it. And that was enough to break his soul, let alone his heart. He was disheartened and saddened to the extent that he stopped eating food. When his father came to know of it, he came to his son’s room and enquired about the reason.

On knowing the reason, he simply asked his son to bring the shirt which was his heartthrob. The boy obliged and brought the shirt. The fireplace was still burning at its exteme. He simply threw the shirt inside, in front of his son, and then ensured that it had burned even the last charred remains of the cloth.

Subroto’s left most important organ, popularly known as Heart, skipped a beat or two. Because, what happened, was something he had not imagined in the wildest of his dreams. He was awe-struck, shocked. Now it was the turn of the father, to tell the reason for doing the same.

He began like this – ‘Son, Never, ever in life attach yourself to any material or immaterial thing in this world. You should not give yourself as a scapegoat to anyone and to anything. Enjoy the worldly pleasures as it is but never attach or be a slave to it. And only then can you move forward in life, with ease. “

True in every sense, I think….Well, have you ever heard about the phrase “Aids With Strings”….it’s mostly used when big organizations like WHO or World Bank alikes give monetary aids to countries but these aids comes with its added strings attached to it…these countries are made to offer something else in return….that’s political aspect though.

What I intend to say is let us all enjoy all the beautiful, fun frolic things that life offers but there should always be strings attached to each of them so that we don’t cross our limits and indulge in overdoing a thing, than needed.