PS SUNDAR'S ARTICLE ON HIS SON - 7  :::

OCT 21, 2014

NOBEL LAUREATE AND NOBLE SOUL

BY P S SUNDAR

I do not know this year’s Peace Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan any more than most Indians know.   All the information is what media, print and electronic, have given us since a terrorist shot her in her school bus on Oct 9, 2012, when she was 15 years aged.  She survived, thanks to the timely treatment at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, UK, which, perhaps, is the cause for this Nobel Prize for, in the event of, God forbid, the misfortune succumbing to the attack, she would not have had the honour of addressing the UN as she did to a standing ovation in July last year or launching the Malala charity fund or meeting Queen Elizabeth or US President Barak Obama – all major events that helped her enjoy the Nobel honour now.

Despite all these and in unquestionable reverence to her contribution to education of girl child in denied communities, I wonder if the Norwegian Parliamentary Committee which bestowed Nobel Prize on her was right in making the 60 year aged Indian Kailash Satyarthi to share the honour with this 17 years aged girl.   Not only the incomparable age, but even the contribution of Satyarthi is beyond match – he is credited to have freed about 80,000 child labourers across India over 30 years with more than 70,000 individuals and 750 civil society organisations working for his movement.   He had also been hit by anti-social elements.  But, admittedly, most of us did not know of him nor the Government honoured him at the highest level but may be, now that he is a Nobel laureate, he might be honoured with Bharath Ratna soon. 

So, what Satyarthi has done to deserve Nobel Prize is far higher than what Malala has done and for all she has done in this young age, the very honour to address UN and receive standing ovation is the highest recognition.  She can and must do much more in the years to come and, perhaps, Nobel Prize could have been awarded in consideration of all her work in due course.  To some extent, I tend to observe that the Nobel Prize should be for merit rather than mercy. 

Having opined thus, I cannot resist applauding the magnanimity of the Nobel awarding team in selecting Malala for the coveted prize because she has, braving terrorism, taught the elders the need to educate girls.  

That’s where I see heart-moving comparison with our son Vignesh who left us this day forever in 2003, just 16 days after his 16^th birthday.  Like Malala’s, Vignesh’s life was full of teaching for us.  My wife and I learnt a lot from him – 

bravery as he braved even growing physical disorder while confined to wheelchair with day-to-day normalcy, 

positive approach as he encouraged even the terminally-disillusioned parents with smiling countenance to create normal ambiance, 

maturity as he understood and accepted the shortness of his life caused by the consuming gravity of the incurable muscular dystrophy, 

endurance as he made every ailing second an enjoyable moment, 

quest for improvement as he acquired knowledge and talent unmindful of the fast-approaching end to life, 

motivation as he helped everyone possible with this knowledge so-acquired to advance in life, 

humaneness as he proved to us the joy of caring and giving to the world the whole of our body and 

leadership as he proved his importance more in his absence than in his presence. 

Truly, as William Wordsworth said, “The child is the father of Man”. 

Malala is a Nobel Laureate; Vignesh was (is) a Noble Soul.