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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.)

Uncut Anthem

A country unsure of itself trims its symbols whereas a confident one restores them. By mandating the full six-stanza rendition of ‘Vande Mataram’ at official functions, the Modi government has chosen confidence and in doing so has exposed the Opposition’s chronic unease with India’s civilisational inheritance.


The original composition by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee which runs to three minutes and ten seconds will now be sung before the national anthem ‘Jana Gana Mana’ with attendees standing to attention. The Centre’s decision replaces an abbreviated version of ‘Vande Mataram’ that had, for decades, passed for prudence. A republic that reclaimed sovereignty in 1947 need not forever behave like a nervous caretaker of inherited anxieties.


The most vociferous objections have predictably emanated from the Trinamool Congress and the Congress, who have countered the move by stating that the BJP’s stance on Vande Mataram was clearly politically motivated, aimed at consolidating support ahead of the key Assembly election in West Bengal.


TMC leaders have accused the BJP of ‘rewriting history.’ But history is being restored in this instance. The six stanzas are not an afterthought foisted on the nation by a latter-day government. They were part of the song’s canonical life, sung and revered long before the Constituent Assembly opted for truncation in 1950. That decision, taken amid the raw politics of Partition, reflected a moment of fragility. It should not be fossilised as a permanent standard.


The Opposition’s argument collapses under its own weight. If the abridgement of ‘Vande Mataram’ was a pragmatic move to assuage minority sentiments, why treat its reversal as sacrilege? If the Bankim Chandra’s original song was genuinely offensive, then why did it animate generations of freedom fighters across Bengal and beyond, revolutionaries and moderates alike, who found in ‘Vande Mataram’ a shared obeisance to the motherland? The unflattering truth is that cultural compromise after Independence became a habit that masqueraded as principle. By mandating the complete song at constitutional occasions, the current government has signalled that national identity is not a negotiable add-on.


The political row also reveals a deeper problem with the Opposition which is an inability to distinguish pluralism from self-erasure. India’s nationalism has never been monochrome. It has absorbed languages, regions and traditions without dissolving its civilisational core. To sing all six stanzas of ‘Vande Mataram’ is not to exclude but acknowledge the sources from which the freedom movement drew its moral force. The goddess imagery that so agitates critics was never a demand for worship. It was a metaphor for belonging. The charge that the move is election-timed is thin. Cultural decisions, if they are to be taken at all, will always occur in political time.


Nations grow up when they stop apologising for their inheritance and start stewarding it. For too long, ‘Vande Mataram’ was reduced to an annual hashtag or a ceremonial chorus. Restoring it in full is a reminder that unity does not require amnesia. It requires honesty.

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