The Thirukurral is a book with great spiritual insights. It comprises of several couplets and is divided into small chapters that are related to a particular concept.

Here is the abstract essence of one such random couplet which set me thinking. A woman should nurture herself and not give in to the tendency of eating stale or left over food.

Briefly it meant that women – mothers – should respect themselves first.

Women somehow have this strange tendency of losing themselves and their identities once they get married. She becomes so and so’s wife, so and so’s daughter – in – law and last but not the least she becomes so and so’s mother. Perhaps once she becomes a mother, her entire perspective about her life and her role as a woman changes. She shifts her priorities maybe to become a full time mother and a home maker.

But look at her down cast eyes when she talks about herself in any interaction. She gradually loses her sense of self confidence and feels guilty for not working. Even if she decides to continue working – she will feel guilty for not giving total attention to her family and kids.

We also have another strange tendency of putting ourselves on the backburner of our own lives. Our children become our prime priority. The kitchen is the next in line. The family and the house falls next and the list continues. Where do we feature in all of this? So and so tuition needs to be paid. I can buy those shoes later. So and so gadget has become a necessity for our house. The smartphone that I yearn to possess can wait a while. A sudden crisis wipes out several zeroes from the bank balance. A holiday continues to remain a part of our dreams. Why do we do this? No answer.

Which brings us back to the Thirukurral couplet. Unless we respect ourselves – our talents – our skills – our ethics – our morals – our values – our identities – our unique character traits – we will never be able to command the respect of the world.

And we don’t really need to endlessly compare and contrast ourselves with other people.

We all need to work at our own pace to reach our own goals.

It is our own personal journey and we should be mapping it for ourselves.

Look and closely observe all the high strung drama that some people succumb too. It is their way of attracting attention. They are basically totally lost souls who have not created any kind of identity for themselves. So they do not respect themselves and may have a low sense of self-esteem. Maybe that is one of the reasons that they throw such huge temper tantrums.

That is why we need to nurture our talents and spend time pursuing them regularly. Unless we create our identities we will never respect ourselves. It is something that needs to flow from our inner selves to the outer world.

Yes? Are you nodding your head through all of the above? Do let us know!

Simply change the mother in the write up above to Mother India.

Yes? You get the drift of the article isn’t it?

Be Indian. Buy Indian. Was a term that we all grew up with!

India was a country that most other developed countries looked down upon. It spelled poverty and dust and sweat and disease to most other countries. No, not all of this has changed over the years. The picture is not very rosy either but we are progressing and at a pretty fast pace.

Like all the mothers reading this article, Mother India does not need to compare and contrast herself with other countries endlessly to gain some kind of recognition for her own inherent worth. We are a rich and a diverse country with a unique culture and a grand heritage.

Yes, like all mothers, Mother India too is a kind, strong and a slightly confused woman who is often overwhelmed with the domestic problems that plague the folks of her country.

Mother India too loses her identity very often like us ordinary mothers when she empathises perhaps a little too much with the problems that the folks of her country are facing.

And then one fine day dawns – just like that sudden realization that dawns on all us ordinary mortal mothers – when Mother India also realizes that she has done enough –more than enough for everyone. Her children are old enough to shoulder their own responsibilities now.

She may have lost her identity for a good long span of time. But through it all she also found herself – just like all of us ordinary mortal mothers. Now it was time to nurture her own identity.

Mother India learns to respect herself. She focusses on all the natural bounties that she blesses her country men with. She observes all the tribal folks working tirelessly to weave those exquisite hand loom sarees.

Mother India was always a self-sufficient confident strong woman. She takes the help of techno savvy people like classystreet.com to project the skills of her tribal people. She is intelligent and after realizing her own worth starts a new revolution called Skill India. She takes the ecommerce route to weave another quiet revolution through classystreet.com.

She laughs out loud when she hears of a new term called Make in India. Her family – the people of her country – has always been an industrious lot who believed in sourcing all their raw material indigenously. Handloom sarees, tribal jewellery, handicraft items………you name anything organic, natural, completely bio degradable and eco –friendly – and her children the Indians have already crafted it.

Why then would a classically beautiful woman called Mother India want external recognition for her intrinsic worth?

Maybe it is because she too like us ordinary mortal mothers struggled through a phase of extremely low confidence and self-esteem for a while.

May be she was struggling to strike that delicate balance between her own work and her family.

Maybe she too like us mere ordinary mortal mothers put herself on the back burner for a while till her children grew up and progressed in life.

And now that all her children – we Indians – the family that she so lovingly cared and nurtured for a good 75 odd years – have finally grown up – she basks in the glory of creating her own beautiful identity after fulfilling all her familial duties.

And so she merges two concepts like Skill India and Make in India – and projects her natural wonders through classystreet.com. Yes, her hand loom weavers and her metal smiths and her tribal jewellery craftsmen are gaining a lot of attention all over the world – thanks to efforts of portals like classystreet.com.

But like all us ordinary confused mortal mothers – Mother India too – knows that the temporary identity crisis that we all faced was truly truly worth it.

Just as our faces sport a huge wondrous heart felt smile when we see our children doing so well in their lives – our dear dear Mother India too –sports a huge smile of satisfaction when she sees her children crafting such grand great products through her bounty.

Some of her children are blessed with exceptionally special skills. Some of her children like classystreet.com have expert technical skills.

When she sees the bonds and bridges amongst all her children being cemented with so much mutual love, appreciation, recognition and respect – Mother India smiles proudly.

Make in India, Skill India or any other revolution will all be handled with élan by her techno savvy children like classystreet.com.

This proud mother called Mother India asks for nothing more!