A success story

 

Gopu’s mother has always believed that he has all that it takes to be a fighter pilot. The reason being that he always stood above his twin brother Lopu in studies. Lopu would come last in the class but Gopu beat his brother and emerge victorious as second last. He always scored two or three more marks than his brother who scored in the vicinity of thirty somethings. More importantly, Gopu would break toy planes in childhood and try to assemble the broken parts. ‘He has a fancy for planes!’ his mother would gush with pride. I think he had better fancy for breaking and crashing them.

And why was Gopu’s mother so sure that he would become a fighter pilot? Apart from getting two marks more than his brother, he made amazing paper planes and would not settle for any other toy than a plane, which he would try to crash in the most innovative ways. Well, that’s how mothers are. Their love is always there, irrespective of what we become.

They grew to be big-bottomed, chubby guys with lots of fat around them after completing their senior secondary schooling. Money was somehow arranged to send them to Canada on student visa. ‘We aren’t going there to study. That’s just for visa. We are going to work there!’ they declared. And true to their words, they are now making the most of their limited work hours allowed under the student visa. They work as courier delivery guys and have saved a few thousand dollars. The stories of their success have started to do rounds in the housing society where their parents live. The amount is calculated in Indian rupees and that makes them celebrities in the gated society.

On being reminded about the fighter pilot project, their mother says, ‘Oh, they are already earning a pilot’s salary. It carries risks also in plying fighter planes.’

They won’t have inspired so many coming-of-age youngsters in their housing society by becoming fighter pilots as they have done by earning dollars as courier delivery guys in Canada. The parents cite them as examples on the topic of making money and setting a career. A few parents are now taking tips from the successful twins about the ways and means of following their footsteps.