Bhola & Belu, siblings & a story of destitute children who have struggled for existence and are forced to beg for survival. A bootlegger John uncle helps them realise that self-respect is attained through work rather than begging. John uncle's thought inspires siblings to buy a shoe-polish kit to begin shining shoes. This is a story of a film, Boot Polish produced by Raj Kapoor in 1954. Why am I narrating a part of the story from Boot Polish? I came across a video of a project by Armeen, Shoe Shiner & it brought back nostalgic memories of childhood days of watching a beautiful, soul touching and best film at Filmfare awards movie, Boot Polish (1).
So, what's great about being nostalgic? There wasn't any other happy reason other than being nostalgic until I watched a video project and got absorbed into thinking. As much as the movie depicts the struggle for existence and fight against organised beggary it also politely presents innovative ideas & tools are the way to self-respected and happy life. Social life improvement is the responsibility of not just governments but individuals and innovators. We cannot deny the fact that feeding or charity doesn't solve self-respect and it goes with a proverb, "Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime."
This solution is through collaboration of parents, educators, policy makers, innovators to solve problems of livelihood. In order to achieve an effort in kindling young minds is vital. This is something resonates of famous Chichewa proverb that says; “M’mera mpoyamba” - Catch them young, watch them grow (2).
But the question is, how young to catch them? Though it could be a personal journey of decision making. One of such journey is of Pandey & family
If we desire our kids to have - they live happily ever after as much Bhola & Belu in the movie, Boot Polish where a family adopts them. We must adopt the young minds and sow a seed as young as possible or keep a watch to sow a seed.
I thank the coaches of QtPi who seed such ideas in young minds & catch them young. This article is an outcome of Creative Thinking: Techniques and Tools for Success by instructor Peter Childs & Communication Strategies for a Virtual Age by instructor Ivan Wanis Ruiz on Coursera.
Always open for feedback, I love it!
(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boot_Polish_(film)
(2) https://www.unicef.org/malawi/stories/catch-them-young-watch-them-grow