The Watermelon Story by Honorable Defence Minister of India
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar’s humble background is something everyone is aware of. The former Goa Chief Minister is one of the most humble and down-to-earth politicians of our country. Parrikar hails from the Parra village in Goa and that is where he got his surname from. He recently shared a story of watermelons from his native village, which shows yet again how insightful and foresighted he is.
“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 organize 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 laborers, 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, realized 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.”
Moral:
In humans, generations change after 25 years. It will take us 200 years to figure what we were doing wrong while educating our children. To cultivate a reap of ideal citizens of the nation in the next generation, it is our duty to plant the best of morals in the Kids and impart them with value based education.