When Our Children Are Acclaimed by The Nation

The  Achievers

The couple was sitting in the auditorium with many other proud parents. He is a proud Infantry officer and his wife Anupa is a physics teacher who is a gold medalist post-graduate in Physics. Both hail from Meerut, UP. 

They had been invited for the first welcome address by the faculty of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology(IIT), Kanpur. They were expecting a lecture to welcome the new entrants into their fold. The lecture went very well  and it was received with resounding applause by all those who were present. For these proud parents Lt Col Sandeep Mittal and Ms. Anupa Mittal what kept ringing in their ears was not the applause but the words that they feel constitute the best compliment that they have ever received in their lives. The gist of what they heard can be summed up as under:
" These Children Are No Longer Your Children. Neither are they Our Children. 
Dear Parents, 
From this Moment Onwards, They Are Our National Properties, Each One of Them, That You Great Parents Have Lovingly Created. Thank You!"

Anupa and Sandeep proved that this was not a fluke or a flash in the pan,when a couple of years later their second son Siddhant, entered the hallowed portals of Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai.

Sandeep happens to be a short service entrant into the forces, who opted for permanent regular commission. In the year 2003, on one of the regular operational exercises, somewhere in Rajasthan, he met with a serious accident and was so badly injured, that he was in coma for 25 days. He recovered but had lost his right eye. This meant that he could not rise further in his career due to this medical infirmity. But Sandeep is made of sterner stuff. He made his decision to continue in the army and so far has been serving his nation with pride and sincerity.

Ms. Anupa Mittal

Anupa, on the other hand is a cheerful and friendly soul on the outside. Her calm exterior conceals a steely inner resolve, which helped her counter the tragedy and stand by her man, in the most difficult phase of her married life. The frequent transfers and postings ensured that Sandeep was not always at home to see his children grow. Anupa never let her young children feel his frequent absence and proceeded to coach her children to achieve heights in education that most Indian parents can only dream about.
 She observed the strengths of her children and came to a conclusion that her older child Divyank, was exceptionally brilliant where as the younger son was playful and interested in things other than academics too. This is where Sandeep stepped in to make the necessary correction in focus. 

The young Siddhant would ask 'Why should I become an Engineer? Sandeep would point at the electric poles and say 'Look, You will have to climb that pole and crawl across like a monkey to make repairs and come down the other pole. Any monkey can climb up and crawl across but only an engineer can carry out repairs and restore light and electricity. Now, what do you want to become, a monkey or an Engineer?'  The child understood what he had to do. 

As a science teacher Anupa knew how to motivate her wards. She would find different ways to motivate and encourage them. She never ever compared one child with another. She always had answers for the curious ones and in parent teacher meeting she shared the strengths of her wards with the respective parents. Like she understood her own sons she wanted other parents to understand their children as well.

Later when the older son Divyank, was preparing to appear for his IIT entrance the parents decided to set up house in Kota where the coaching centre was, and young Siddhant saw with his own eyes, the effort that was being put in by his brother to crack the IIT entrance and get in. The first thing he did after his brother succeeded was to paste his brother's photo on his study table and every exam that he took thereafter, he did so only after taking his brother's blessings, and to think that only two years separates them. 
Obviously with such high values instilled in them from early childhood, they are destined for great things in life.
Now that both her sons are well on their way to greater heights in life, Anupa is ready to coach the children of Army personnel and others too. At any given time she has more than 15 students who are being coached and guided by her.
Currently she is residing in the capital and any parent can seek her counselling by first contacting her on her
 e-mail id- anupamittal@gmail.com  and
 Facebook profile at https://www.facebook.com/anupa.mittal