“You have got everything, that’s why you want to do social work.”

“Ya ..good you started doing now…it will be good time pass in old age.”

“ Social work..Good Going. “

“ Ladies from wealthy family do social work to pass the time, just like kitty party”

“Paisa jyada hua hai.”

Hmmm…

When I decided to open my NGO so as to work in a organised manner, I got to hear above comments. As you notice sentences were having more of a discouraging tone, barring a few.

Being an engineer, I was working with my husband in our company. But as our company got stabilised, I had taken this decision.

I was involved in various social and societal activities earlier also but now since I wanted to devote myself for this work, I received lot of resistance (from family too). I was surprised by the way my closed people reacted.

“What is so different I am doing? Don’t ladies run a business, do a job? “ I asked,

“They ease the family burden by earning money. You don’t have that burden, so wasting money. If same time and efforts you put in job, you will earn lacs of rupees. It’s a double loss.”

I understood, there is no point in trying to convince. I introspected about their resistance. Tried to understand what lies beneath? It was ‘Fear’ to venture into a land which is not yours (?) , won’t give any tangible returns, will take away many things from your land which you have created for yourself. 

I have to ignore because I knew where my roots lies and what is the benefit of rising above fears. 

I stood firm on my decision. It’s very important that your family should stand behind you in your work else you will be forever battling inner emotional battle which will affect performance. For any successful venture skilled manpower and finances are most crucial and important aspect. I wanted my husband to support me financially initially because it’s his expertise. After many arguments, reluctantly my husband agreed to support. I was more than happy because I knew his resistance was out of fear than anything else. Fear that some harm may come to me and family as I was going to deal with different strata of society. He didn’t want any shaking to his perfect life due to ‘other’s’ problem. I gave him confidence and started working on my NGO ‘Metta Foundation’.

It’s been more than 7 years now and we are working dedicatedly on Education cause and my family turns out to be my biggest support. Their initial resistance turned into help when they realised the importance of work. After all your family loves you and wants your happiness. Their views towards certain things may be due to their own belief systems, the experiences they had or their own priorities of life. But if we know strength of our own roots and stand tall in it, the outside storm will pass.

I am happy that I sustained all the resistance and turned it to the direction that will benefit to them and society at large.

Thanks to my forever inspiration Swami Vivekanand in whose books I found strength.

Check out,

http://www.facebook.com/mettafoundationindia

http://www.mettafoundationindia.org

Thank you Swami ji for giving this platform to share our story with like minded people.

Eagerly awaiting for ashram to open and meet Swamiji for initiation which got delayed due to corona.