Perseverance

Perseverance is a virtue which eggs you on to make something sees the light of day, long after you have run out of steam. Villainous thoughts of giving up plague your brain. Perseverance is what Gandhiji had when he took up the slightly tricky task of freeing a nation from oppressive rule, perseverance is what kept the fire in his belly raging. In spite of the Queen’s faithful servants making sure that every petition, every Satyagraha was vetoed and rendered useless, and tried to make him feel stupid after every attempt, but no cookies for guessing who had the last laugh.

 

Perseverance is what James Watt possessed when he had to make some a thousand odd attempts to create a light bulb, in an era when artificial light was considered a sign of evil and work of beloved Satan, and he had to bear with the usual cat call of ‘retard’ and the occasional ‘ son of Satan’. He chose not to give up, and eventually his ‘dimag ki batti’ lit up and he did manage to light up his home. In your face, you dastardly disbelievers.  Perseverance is what leads to the ultimate unparalleled joy of creation (after you have braved the nagging cynical dogs to try to get you down).

I’m lucky to be blessed with this virtue. It has enabled me to pen this down without once feeling the urge to be institutionalized, than bear the agony of seeing this article through.