All politicians, cutting across parties and ideologies, have only words of commendation for the former defence minister of India and a humble Chief Minister, Manohar Parrikar. Having read the subject of this article, you may be wondering that we are about to discuss his journey from modest childhood days to being an IITian to becoming a part of the Lutyens’ power circle. Actually, no. Here, we are about to rely on a popular fable linked to his village, Parra – the story of watermelons.
“I am from the village of Parra in Goa, hence we are called Parrikars. My village is famous for its watermelons. When I was a child, the farmers would organise a watermelon-eating contest at the end of the harvest season in May.
All the kids would be invited to eat as many watermelons as they wanted. Years later, I went to IIT Mumbai to study engineering. I went back to my village after 6.5 years.
I went to the market looking for watermelons. They were all gone. The ones that were there were so small.
I went to see the farmer who hosted the watermelon-eating contest. His son had taken over. He would host the contest but there was a difference.
When the older farmer gave us watermelons to eat he would ask us to spit out the seeds into a bowl. We were told not to bite into the seeds.
He was collecting the seeds for his next crop. We were unpaid child labourers, actually. He kept his best watermelons for the contest and he got the best seeds which would yield even bigger watermelons the next year.
His son, when he took over, realised that the larger watermelons would fetch more money in the market so he sold the larger ones and kept the smaller ones for the contest.
The next year, the watermelons were smaller, the year later even small. In watermelons the generation is one year. In seven years, Parra’s best watermelons were finished. In humans, generations change after 25 years. It will take us 200 years to figure what we were doing wrong while educating our children.”
The story is believed to have been mentioned by Manohar Parrikar in an event and he is quoted as having said “Unless we employ our best to train the next generation, this is what can happen to us. We must attract the best into teaching profession.”
This single statement of the beloved leader of Goa has many lessons for all the partners in the education system on how to shape the most important industry. Providing the right education not only builds the future of the child but has the power to influence the economy of an entire village and nation.
Manohar Parrikar’s mention of the watermelon fable and his statement is both a piece of caution as well as a driving force.
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