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By:

Asha Tripathi

14 April 2025 at 1:35:28 pm

Stop Comparing, Start Growing

Success does not grow in comparison; it grows in focus. Over the years, women have made significant strides in every sphere of life. From managing homes to leading organisations, from nurturing families to building successful careers, women have proved that strength and resilience are deeply rooted in their nature. Financial independence has become a significant milestone for many women today, bringing with it confidence, dignity, and the freedom to shape one’s own destiny. However, along...

Stop Comparing, Start Growing

Success does not grow in comparison; it grows in focus. Over the years, women have made significant strides in every sphere of life. From managing homes to leading organisations, from nurturing families to building successful careers, women have proved that strength and resilience are deeply rooted in their nature. Financial independence has become a significant milestone for many women today, bringing with it confidence, dignity, and the freedom to shape one’s own destiny. However, along with growth has come another silent challenge — the tendency to constantly observe, compare, and sometimes even compete with the journeys of others. But a crucial question arises: Is it necessary to track the growth of others in order to grow ourselves? From my personal experience of more than two decades as an entrepreneur, I have realised something very powerful — true growth begins the moment we stop looking sideways and start looking within. A Small Beginning I had a flourishing career of teaching abroad, but when I restarted my career after moving back to India, my beginning was extremely small. My very first assignment was a simple home tuition for a single student, and the amount I earned was meagre. There was nothing glamorous about it. No recognition, no large batches, no big earnings. Just one student and one opportunity. But instead of worrying about how others were doing, how many students they had, or how much they were earning, I made a conscious decision—my only focus would be on improving myself. I focused on teaching better, preparing better, and becoming more disciplined and consistent. And slowly, without even realising it, things began to grow. One student became two, two became a small group, and gradually, over the years, the work expanded beyond what I had initially imagined. Looking back today, I can confidently say that the growth did not happen because I competed with others. It happened because I competed with myself yesterday. Comparison Creates Noise When we keep watching others' journeys too closely, we unknowingly divert our own energy. Comparison creates unnecessary noise in our minds. It brings doubts, insecurities, and sometimes even negativity. Instead of walking our own path with clarity, we start questioning our speed, our direction, and our worth. True success grows through focus, not comparison. Every woman has her own story, her own pace, and her own struggles that others may never see. The path of one person can never be identical to another's. So comparing journeys is like comparing two different rivers flowing towards the same ocean — each with its own route, its own curves, and its own rhythm. As women, we already carry many responsibilities. We balance emotions, relationships, work, and society's expectations. In such a life, the last thing we need is the burden of comparison with one another. Instead, what we truly need is support for each other. When women encourage women, something extraordinary happens. Confidence grows. Opportunities multiply. Strength becomes collective rather than individual. There is enough space in the world for every woman to create her own identity. Each of us can build our own niche without stepping on someone else's path. Choose Encouragement Envy weakens us, but encouragement empowers us. Rather than questioning how someone else is progressing, we can ask a more meaningful question: "How can I grow a little better than I was yesterday?" Lift As You Rise Today, after twenty years of experience, the most valuable lesson I have learned is simple yet profound — focus on your own work with honesty and dedication, and success will quietly follow you. We, women, are capable, resilient, and creative. We do not need to pull each other down or compete in unhealthy ways. Instead, we can lift each other up while building our own dreams. Because when one woman rises, she does not rise alone. She inspires many others to believe that they can rise, too. And perhaps that is the most beautiful form of success. (The writer is a tutor based in Thane. Views personal.)

Industrial Shame

For a state that styles itself as India’s most industrially advanced and administratively progressive, the Nagpur blast which killed nearly 20 workers, most of them women, is a big stain on its social fabric. Maharashtra sells itself as the engine room of the Indian republic. But the explosion at the Raulgaon unit of SBL Energy Limited in Nagpur exposes the harsher truth that gleaming investment summits mean little if shop floors remain perilous.

 

Preliminary findings from the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation and the Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health have pointed to multiple safety violations like failure to clear explosive stock daily as mandated under the Explosives Rules, deviations from approved layouts, irregularities in appointing safety officers and shortcomings in surveillance systems. It lays bare the thin line between routine production and mass casualty.

 

But Nagpur is not an isolated case in India’s industrial landscape. The 2020 gas leak at LG Polymers in Visakhapatnam killed 12 people and sickened hundreds, revealing glaring gaps in hazardous-chemical oversight. In 2022, a boiler explosion at a pharmaceutical unit in Himachal Pradesh left several workers dead, again raising questions about inspection regimes. Tamil Nadu, often lauded for its manufacturing prowess, has witnessed repeated fire accidents in fireworks units around Sivakasi, where compliance tends to loosen under competitive pressure. Gujarat’s chemical hubs have periodically been rocked by blasts in smaller factories operating on the margins of regulatory scrutiny. Maharashtra itself has seen several such blasts.

 

It proves that India’s industrial safety architecture remains largely anaemic. While rules exist in abundance, it is backed by zero enforcement. Compliance is a matter of paperwork rather than any actual practice. In sectors handling hazardous materials, the risks of negligence are exponential. Yet the culture of prevention remains reactive.

 

The gendered dimension of the Nagpur blast adds a further layer of discomfort. The packing section was staffed largely by women, many likely drawn by limited local employment opportunities. Across India, hazardous industrial work often rests on the shoulders of those with the least bargaining power, be they women, migrants and contract labourers. When safety becomes negotiable, it is they who pay first.

 

Nagpur is the hometown of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who has long cultivated an image of efficiency, probity and reformist zeal. If governance begins at home, this blast suggests troubling blind spots. When 19 workers, mostly women, die in an explosives factory allegedly riddled with safety violations, it undercuts the narrative of a state that claims to marry growth with good governance.

 

Maharashtra’s political class often contrasts its ‘progressive’ ethos with the supposed backwardness of other states. But progress cannot be measured in MoUs signed; it must be measured in the well-being of the toiling masses. The Nagpur blast should therefore trouble Mantralaya as much as it haunts Raulgaon. Industrial prowess, if it is to mean anything, must begin with industrial safety.

 

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