Editorial (Once Upon a Time)

By  Dr. Bigyani Das

Once upon a time there was a little girl in a remote village of Orissa. Born as the second daughter, her arrival to the world had caused sighs to the parents and to the grandmother. Neighbors had commented, “Ratana again got a daughter”. That little girl didn't have shoes to wear to school, neither did she have more than a few pairs of cloths to use. When she was seeing the aero planes fly over her head, she had a dream, a dream to fly in the sky some day. Time changed. She became a celebrity when she passed high school in first division, and she was the first girl of the village to achieve that success. She not only flew in the airplane, but also, today that tiny girl has become a successful researcher and leader in a multi-millionaire company and is leading a group of researchers for AIDS vaccine.

These stories are plenty. Most of the first time Oriya immigrants are from remote villages of Orissa. When they look back, the memory fades away. There is so much difference. They have become able to provide their children the luxury that one day they had only dreamt about. They have become able to explore the possibilities for themselves and for their family members that they had one day only dreamt about. They have made mansions for themselves that they had once imagined as the abode of King Indra in the heaven.

What is common in all of them? All of them had dreams as everybody has. However, these people made their dreams into their vision, their goals of life. Then they worked hard to do their best in whatever positions they were. That is the story of their success. The vision of “To do the best”, “To aim for excellence” and “To do one at a time” has helped them to reach for the stars that one day had seemed so far to reach.

Their AIM FOR EXCELLENCE only included their hard work without being comparative whether somebody is getting ahead of them fast. Their VISION TO BE THE BEST did not include plotting to show other people down, but just perform the best. Their "DO ONE AT A TIME" included their persistence and patience without being affected by anybody's humiliation for their weaknesses.

So, friends, as we arrive in the first month of the New Year, let's make our dreams as our vision of life. Once we do that, we can then set up a “performance metrics” system to evaluate our performance for reaching the goals of that vision. It's time to ask questions to ourselves, “Am I doing right? Am I performing in my roles effectively? Am I scoring excellent grades in my self evaluation sheet?”

We take many roles. Specifically for immigrants, the responsibilities and the duties are two-fold, to keep up with the demands of the social structure of the adopted land as well as to keep up connection with the values and the culture of the heritage. “Do we perform perfectly in those roles?" Sometimes there can be many constraints to get a perfect score. However, first month of the new year is always a good time to ask these questions and consider of our “performance metrics score” for our different roles. The questions can range according to our involvement level. “Am I a good mother? What should I be doing to be a good mother? Am I a good researcher? Am I a good friend? Am I a good child? Am I a good neighbor? Am I a good Oriya? Am I a good human being?”

Even if we score fifty percent in each, we should congratulate ourselves with a big applause and a certificate printed in our heart that we have reached the distinguished status. That does not mean we should not aim for hundred percent score. However, our aim for the higher score should not unbalance the peace of our mind.

Is not this the time then to evaluate our “performance metrics score” as an OSA member? If once upon a time OSA was formed for social and cultural togetherness, should that then stay as the vision of OSA  forever? If we feel that OSA is not doing what it is supposed to be doing, shall we just criticize and be happy with that? Does not it become our duty as members to be involved and contribute to make OSA able to do better, to get higher scores? If once upon a time OSA's constitution was written by keeping the good moral standard and fellow feelings of its members, can that constitution not be modified to solve problems created by conflicts between members? If everything in OSA was happening with verbal assurance and faith in the past, can OSA business be not formalized for record keeping and transparency?

Should the vision of a few founding members of OSA represent the vision of today's OSA with a membership that is more than fifteen times of the original membership? This is the time to think about ethics, record keeping, transparency, exactness and professionalism in OSA's activities even though it is run by volunteers who have full time jobs in other professions. Thus involvement of more members in OSA affairs is a must to carry out different duties with professionalism.

If once upon a time, the little girl was living in a mud-walled thatched house, can that little girl not be able to build a mansion for her to live her dreams? If the little girl can do that, we all can do that. We CAN always try to do our best. We can open our arms to changes, still preserving our values. OSA can adopt the professionalism of the western world while still preserving the sweetness of the Odia culture and traditions.

Let's build our future with the wisdom learnt from our past and with the vision of a strong and prosperous community. I wish you all a happy and productive new year.

Sincerely,

Bigyani Das