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Journalism of Courage
As a 19-year-old in London,Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi found Latin hard to conquer when he was preparing for his Roman Law exam.
Despite reading costly textbooks,he failed in the test. But he repeated the exam and passed all the subjects,including Latin,and achieved his dream of becoming a barrister.
This incident in the life of the Father of the Nation has been embellished on T-shirts as part of Its ok to fail campaign started by a city based businessman to prevent students from committing suicide.
The spate of suicides recently in Mumbai,with more than 25 students taking their own lives,made businessman Manmohan Singh think of doing something to prevent suicides in his own way.
He has come up with T-shirts carrying witty,and funny,messages.
One says,Fail to fail,item ka mail,picture ke baad chowpatty mein bhel,akkha saal khel,paas yaa fail¿Aaaal is well. Another describes FAIL as First Amongst Idiots n Lovers.
Singh has also tried to mix the issue of suicide and sex education in his funny T-shirts with slogans depicting a condom and a noose in the two Os in choose and a picture of a noose saying Wrong and that of a condom saying Right.
The suicides in the last two months were very troublesome. It was disturbing to see so many youngsters,who could do so much in life,ending it due to pressure from parents or academics, said Singh (39),who sells these t-shirts in his shop at Dadar Nakshatra mall.
Singh,who runs a manufacturing unit along with his brother and sells clothes under JMV Enterprise,said talks with his sister,a teacher,and a friend who is a psychiatrist,pushed him to do something constructive. The issue of suicide is very sensitive and I wanted to somehow help the youth through my business. My psychiatrist friend said when a one reads something positive when depressed,it gets stuck on the mind and one is inspired to be positive.
With parents trying to push wards to perform better and follow in the footsteps of the famous,Singh has taken examples of great personalities who once failed in academics but went on to become achievers. From Sachin Tendulkar to lyricist and writer Gulzar,Gandhi to Winston Churchill and even Einstein failed in academics. But we take their names with respect because they didnt let failure determine their future, Singh said.
His next line of t-shirts is inspired by these personalities. While Gandhis t-shirt is already out,the one with Einstein,Tendulkar and Churchill – who gave the message Never,never give up – will soon be available. Parents should understand that academics or marks in exams are not everything. Children can grow beyond studies and make their mark. If they look at these t-shirts they would understand how great personalities had also failed,yet made their identities, Singh said.
The t-shirts in various slogans and different icons will be manufactured till admission procedure is completed. Singh said students get depressed even if they do not get seats in their preferred colleges. I was expunged from my college for writing something against the institution. I also went through depression and would listen to Kishore Kumars Jeevan ke din chote sahi on radio. It inspired me to hang on and not take any adverse steps. Today,my life has turned out well, said the former media writer.
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