“Judicious praise is to children what the sun is to flowers”

Once I was strolling in the by lanes of Daryaganj, a place full of the best known publishing houses. With creativity in my arms, my art files and folders, I strolled through the thick fog and crisp winter chill. I stopped by an old building and tried to recognise it, yes, this is the publisher I came to as a little girl, with rough sketches that weren't up to the mark. Now, as a final year arts student, I was hoping for the best to come my way.
I entered the door and furnished the guard with all the answers for which he raised innumerable questions."Is she still working here",I thought, I wished to meet her again. A flash back ran through my minds eye. Nearly eight years back, I had come to the same place with my sketches and my father holding my hand. I wanted to see them in a book and one of my friends told me , that to get my pictures in the book, I need to meet a publisher. My father knew that I was an artist in the making and therefore he never discouraged me, and brought me to the gate of the world, I had always dreamt of entering. As we entered the building, we were directed to the room of some Miss Komal, whom we had to meet to discuss my work.
Any other publisher would have laughed at my work, but she looked at it with a lot of interest. Finally she smiled, looked up and said," You know child, you're a great artist in the making, but like every diamond needs to be polished, you too need a little more practise in your work, your work would sparkle like a precious jewel in a few years time and then you can come to me, for I'd be waiting to publish it ".
That day my work wasn't accepted, but I came back with such words of encouragement, that gave me a new direction, towards achieving my aims.
Today as an artist, I have come back to the same place, convinced about the fact that I would make a place of my own in this world. I didn't meet Ms. Komal, but after submitting my work , I was contacted in a weeks time...My work was appreciated and was finalised for the next children's book, I was also offered the post of the art editor.

Encouragement plays a very important role in our life...never discourage anyone, for you never know when people achieve what seems to be "impossible".

“A word of encouragement during a failure is worth more than an hour of praise after success”

The picture is courtesy google and this is a pure work of fiction.