One of the things that really made my respect for the people here rise several notches higher, happened some days back. I have been taking tennis lessons in our neighbourhood and I just realised that the teenage boy assigned to teach us tennis in our coach's absence is not only a Class 11 student, but also represents our city Edina in the sport and most importantly, he works as a housekeeping staff in our apartment to meet his expenses.
I admit that it may not be too hard to find, back in India, students who work after their school hours. But in most cases these would be poor children, whose parents cannot afford to pay their school fees but children of rich businessmen learning the tricks of the trade, early on. For all other parents who can make ends meet, it is deemed an insult to make their child work, worse still as a housekeeping staff, when he/she ought to be attending tution classes or taking lessons in dance/music/sports.
Which is why the kind of importance this country gives for work and being independent amazes me. You are respected for what you make out of your life and not for whose son/daughter you are. The confidence the boy/girl acquires by earning his own money and the valuable experience gained by interacting with different people everyday cannot be learned from any book or taught by any teacher.
