Stories of fortitude

17 March 2016

President's Opening Address by Aarti Kabra

Two stories from two different parts of the world caught my attention this week. The protagonists in both were young girls in their teens - girls, whose lives had been turned upside down by a stroke of misfortune, their personal tragedy, big enough to shatter their otherwise calm and peaceful world yet it could not crush their indomitable spirit. Let me share the stories of their fortitude with you all.

Nidhi Yadav from India lost 4 members of her family in an accident less than a month ago. The accident that left her with a fractured hand, took away her mother, her grandmother and two younger siblings. While the physical pain has taken its toll, her mental agony has been more acute. Yet it has not stopped the seventeen-year-old from appearing for her Higher Secondary Certificate examinations that began this month. The examination that happens to be THE most important one for students in India - which either makes or breaks the chance of finding admission in a premier institute. Not giving in to her grief, Nidhi would be writing her papers with the help of a writer, as her hand has not fully recovered yet.

Closer to home, Amita & Aarya Berthier, two sisters aged 17 and 15, created history by winning Singapore’s first ever Women fencing’s cadet team gold at the Asian Championships in Bahrain last month. Three weeks before the tournament, they lost their father who died after a fall at his workplace. Their mother gave them an option of pulling out of the competition in the wake of such a tragic event but the girls decided to press on. They not only fought through their personal pain but also clinched Singapore’s first ever gold in fencing in the under 17 category.

In both these stories, the girls did not find enough time to even react to their loss and we all know losing a parent at their age can be the most catastrophic thing but they stayed determined and did not let the disaster deter them.

  

Small in age but big in stature, their stories leave a good dose of learning for us. Learning to stay calm in the face of an adversity and deal with setbacks in life gracefully, learning not to lose focus and having determination however hard may be the going, learning to take the task at hand with utmost sincerity be it as mundane a thing as sitting for an examination or as big an event as representing your country in a tournament.

If we could achieve that stature, no setback will be big enough to bog us down.