sonny side up

sadhuji

It is a well chronicled fact that the Sun never sets on the British Empire.
It is also said that Japan is ‘the land of the rising Sun’. The Japanese have proved it time and again by their excellence in each and every field.

The Aztecs worshipped the Sun.

We Indians perform the Surya namaskar every day early in the morning to express our gratitude to Suryadev (or the Sun God) for giving us all the ingredients necessary for survival like the air that we breathe or the water that we drink. The Sun is the symbol that our cricketers display on their headgear and, whenever one of them reaches a landmark, he looks up to the sky to seek his blessings on his way to a second landmark.

India is also known as ‘the land of the rising sons’. The English have a saying – ‘like father, like son’. We have something similar – ‘baap ka beta, sipahi ka ghoda/ kuch nehi to thoda, thoda.’

It all probably started from the silver screen when Prithviraj Kapoor inducted his son Raj Kapoor into his fold. Raj became an instant hit. Until his last breath, he carried on the legacy of his father, subsequently, passing the baton on to his sons Rishi and Randhir. Similarly, Sunny Deol has been able to emulate his father Dharmendra and, even surpass him on a few occasions whilst Prasenjit followed in the footsteps of his father Bishwajeet to capture the imagination of the Bengalees.

In the business world, sons are normally expected to continue the good work started by the fathers so that continuity of purpose is maintained. Here, such a situation is possible because in this profession, the sons grow up in an environment where they can assimilate the various aspects of how to run a business empire. Of course, they have to have a basic business sense, understand the needs of the market apart from the nuances of mergers and acquisitions. They must also have the ability to manipulate decisions in their favor! Examples are the families of the Tatas, Birlas and Ambanis.

The sports world has its share of ‘baap ka beta’s! Mohinder Amarnath, the elder son of Lala Amarnath, left his mark in the field and is now following up those good innings with his attendance in front of the TV cameras. Sanjay Manjrekar did make an impression of sorts. Apart from them, there are a very few ‘sons’ who have been able to gain acceptance because one must have a certain amount of talent to shine in these branches. Being the son of a footballer or a cricketer of yester years does not guarantee success to the successor! He must possess the ability to capture the limelight on his own!
When it comes to Politics, many of us do not relish the idea of the reins passing into the hands of a son. In spite of that, there have been exceptions like Naveen Patnaik and Ajit Singh as also the sons of Om Prakash Chautala. Recently, a whole lot of youngsters have entered the fray. They have many factors in their favor – they are young, they are educated, they have a futuristic vision.

Let us hope that they can become powerful leaders like their fathers.

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