I was watching the marathi musical programme ‘SA RE GA MA PA’ on Zee TV Marathi. The famous singer and the judge for the show, Devaki Pandit was telling about the renowned vocalist Mallikarjun Mansur. Someone said to him that he had to labour very hard for learning music. He said it was no labour at all. There is no hardship to learn what is next to your heart. This anecdote is an eye opener for all of us. If you love something very dearly then no price is too high for it. Music being his heart and soul, Mallikarjun Mansur didn’t consider labour of love as labour at all.
The labor of love is at the root of progress of the human race. Had the scientists, artists or for that matter anyone of our ancestors considered labour of love as hardship then we would still be living in the caves. If one has passion for anything then working hard for its achievement brings only joy and bliss. Take the example of the famous dancer Sudha Chandran. Even after losing her foot she continued her dancing with the help of artificial limb.
One of my friends used to cycle 40 kilometers a day for obtaining coaching for cricket. At that time the women cricketer didn’t have many facilities. Still, that dedicated lot would travel in adversities just for the sake of playing cricket. If one looks at their photograph of those days the radiance speaks for their enjoyment. Even now, all the sports do not enjoy the prosperity of cricket. Yet, there are people who play the game and contribute towards its development.
Once, during an educational tour my friend had gone to Harsul in Himachal Pradesh. She told me that the kids there had to walk many miles to go to a school. That too in a snow laden weather. Still, you will always find the kids in a cheerful mood. The population there is highly educated and the education has not driven these people away from their homeland. They still continue to brave the adverse weather condition and lead a happy life. This is more appreciable on the face of the fact that for four to five months in a year they are forced to live confined to their houses bereaved of contact with outside world. What makes them do this? Obviously their love for their homeland.
Our soldiers posted in the Siachen glacier have to work in extreme weather conditions that too away from the comfort of their family. I always wonder what makes them brave such hardships. Labour of love is the only answer for it.
The greatest example of labour of love is a MOTHER. The mother nurses, feeds, tends, rears her child through continuous efforts and hard toil but doesn’t consider it as labour at all. Even when today’s women are discharging dual role of a career woman and that of a house wife there is no change in her labour of love. Rather, many a time, women take up the career only for the sake of providing the best of everything in the universe to her child.
The famous Tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain would practice for hours together till his fingers bled. Such dedication is outcome of the intense love, passion for that particular activity. Look at any achiever, we will find that for achieving something the person has sold his soul to that particular thing. That activity becomes part and parcel of that person’s personality. You can not separate that person from that activity. The labour of love makes possible such situation.
However, at this point of reasoning a doubt arises in my mind. Look at a miser. He loves his money so dearly that he labours hard so that he has to hardly part with a paisa. Should we call this as labour of love? After all he is labouring hard for the object he loves. Just as I am labouring hard for the subject I love – making people read my article. So friends, I hope you too are labouring hard to read this article just for the sake of your passion for reading and that too whatever you get your hands on. May your labour of love match with that of mine.

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