Many a times in life, we find that it is not easy to make choices. When there are alternatives, we are often tempted to take the easy way out rather than face the challenges, which may not always be the right thing to do.

Achieving what we want is about asking the same question every time we face a tough situation.

The question is “What do I want more?”

Is it this or that?
Is it giving up or going on?
Is it sleeping or exercising?
Is it the tasty pastries or is it the smaller waist line?
Is it late night TV or early morning meditation?
Is it more time on Face Book or more time on productivity?
Is it anger or composure?
Is it in helpless frustration or finding alternatives?
Is it in gossiping or reaching out?
Is it in sarcasm or appreciation?

The choices we make determine the kind of person we are.

The choices you will make will make you ‘that’ kind of a person.

No one has our strings. We are the puppet and we are the puppeteer.

Choose wisely. Choose happily, cheerfully. Make the impossible, possible. Climb some Mount Everest in your life!

And yes, in the right circumstances, even the paste squeezed from a tube can go inside the tube. The catch is, ‘Are we willing to create those circumstances?’

The choice is yours. Here is an example…

Miss India 2009 – Pooja Chopra

Neera Chopra is her mother. This is her story (according to Rajendra Deshpande).

Neera Chopra lived through abuse, poverty and some tough choices to make, her once-unwanted girl child, Pooja Chopra, a winner.

Neera Chopra’s story:

“I don’t know where to begin…they were terrible times. My husband was well-placed, but the marriage had begun to sink almost as soon as it began. Like most women do, I tried to work against all the odds.

“My in-laws insisted everything would be alright if I had a son. My first child was a daughter and that didn’t do me any good… but I couldn’t walk out. I had lost my father; my brother was in a not-so-senior position in Bata. I didn’t want to be a burden on my family and continued to live in my marital home in Kolkata.

“I looked after my mother-in-law, who was suffering from cancer and while bathing her, I would tell myself she would bless me and put things right.

“I don’t know how I tolerated it all. The least a man can do, if he must philander, is to not flaunt his women in his wife’s face. Thereafter began the manhandling. I still wanted my marriage to survive. I was a pure vegetarian and learnt to cook non-vegetarian delicacies thinking it would please him.

“Then, I was pregnant again. When Pooja was eight months in my womb, my husband brought a girl to the house and announced he would marry her. I thought of killing myself. I hung on the slight hope that if the baby was a boy, my marriage could be saved.

“When Pooja was born a girl, for three days, nobody came to the hospital. There was a squadron leader’s wife on the opposite bed, who was kind enough to give me baby clothes for Pooja to wear. When she was 20 days old, I had to make a choice. I left the house with my girls, Pooja and Shubra, who was seven then. I haven’t seen my husband since. I promised myself, even if we had just one roti (flat Indian bread), we would share it, but together.

“I began life in Mumbai with the support of my mother, brother, who was by then married. It wasn’t the ideal situation, especially when he had children – space, money, everything was short. I began work at the Taj Colaba and got my own place. How did I manage? Truth be told, I would put a chatai (mat) on the floor, leave two glasses of milk and some food, and bolt the door from outside before going to work. I would leave the key with the neighbours and tell the kids to shout out to them when it was time to leave for school.

“Their tiny hands would do homework on their own; feed themselves on days that I worked late.

“I used to pray, ‘God, punish me for my karma, but not my innocent little kids. Please let me provide them the basics.’ I used to struggle for shoes, socks, uniforms. I was living in Bangur Nagar, Goregaon (Mumbai). Pooja would walk four bus stops down to the St Thomas Academy. Then, too little to cross the road, she would ask a passerby to help her. I had to save the bus money to be able to put some milk in their bellies.

“Life began to change when I got a job for Rs 6,000 at the then Goa Penta. Mr Chhabra, the owner, and his wife were kind enough to provide a loan for me. I sent my daughters to my sister’s house in Pune, with my mother as support. I spent four years working in Goa while I saved to buy a small one-bedroom house in Pune (where the family still lives). I would work 16-18 hours a day, not even taking weekly offs to accumulate leave and visit my daughters three or four times a year.

“Once I bought my house and found a job in Pune, life began to settle. I worked in Hotel Blue Diamond for a year and then finally joined Mainland China ‘which changed my life’. The consideration of the team and management brought me the stability to bring them up, despite late hours and the travelling a hotelier must do.

“Shubhra got a job in Hotel Blue Diamond, being the youngest employee there while still in college and managed to finish her Masters in commerce and her BBM. Today, she is married to a sweet Catholic boy who is in the Merchant Navy and has a sweet daughter.

“I continue to finish my day job and come home and take tuitions, as I have done for all these years. I also do all my household chores myself.

“Through the years, Shubhra has been my anchor and Pooja, the rock. Pooja’s tiny hands have wiped away my tears when I broke down. She has stood up for me, when I couldn’t speak for myself. Academically brilliant, she participated in all extra-curricular activities. When she needed high heels to model in, she did odd shows and bought them for herself.

“When I saw Pooja give her speech on TV, I could see the twinkle in her eye. And I thought to myself as she won ‘My God, this is my little girl.’

“Today, I’ve no regrets. I believe every cloud has a silver lining. As a mother, I’ve done nothing great.”

Pantaloons Femina Miss India, Pooja Chopra’s mother promised, ‘One day, this girl will make me proud’.

Pooja speaks on fulfilling that promise… “When I was 20 days old, my mother was asked to make a choice. It was me, a girl child, or her husband. She chose me. As she walked out she turned around and told her husband, ‘One day, this girl will make me proud.’ That day has come. Her husband went on to marry a woman who gave him two sons. Today, as I stand here a Miss India, I don’t even know if my father knows that it is me, his daughter, who has set out to conquer the world, a crown on my head.

“Our lives have not been easy, least so for my mother. Financially, emotionally, she struggled to stay afloat, to keep her job and yet allow us to be the best that we could be. I was given only one condition when I started modeling – my grades wouldn’t drop.

“All the girls in the pageant worked hard, but my edge was my mother’s sacrifice, her karma. Today, when people call to congratulate me, it’s not me they pay tribute to, but to her life and her struggle. She’s the true Woman of Substance. She is my light, my mentor, my driving force.”

Impossible for many… what made it possible for them?

Would you make the impossible, possible?

Will you climb any Mount Everest in your life?

Neera Chopra did!!!

Pooja Chopra did!!!