Hitherto, Balu, the destiny's classic child was raised by his foster mother, who did love and care him but eventually she could not attribute to provide him much attention and care and sooner he was left to fend for himself. His childhood days were encounters of struggle which made him a self efficient boy, who not only assisted his mother in household cores by fetching fire woods from forest, but also washed his clothes and went on errands and also attended a nearby school.
At the outset, as an young boy Balu was naughty. He was enthralled by stage shows for which he would skip classes to watch plays either in nereby theatres or tents. He went on to be extremely passionate for those, theatrical plays. He along with his fellow guys would stealthily sneak into tents or theatres possibly in his home town or even, walk all the way to watch them in distant towns. His passion for them induced him to even steel money from his home. Sometimes he would come home late and his annoyed mother would never let him in, on such occasions he slept on the porch outside his home using gunny bags. It so happened that some of his friends who enjoyed his company would come in search of him in the wee hours, and they would try to awaken him and if Balu was in deep slumber, the highly disappointed boys would pick-up nearby sand, fill Balu’s ear with them and run away. The naughty boys repeated those tricks fewer times.
Gradually Balu's attention and concentration in the class too subsided which irked his class teachers who in turn punished him. For reasons unknown, gradually Balu was rendered short of hearing loss which proved as an additional hindrance to his sulking attention and concentration in class. By the time Balu reached Class VIII, his short of hearing disability further developed as an acute impairment which turned to be an agony to young Balu who eventually eluded classes and set his attention towards theatre shows. His education came to a stands still when he was detained twice in class VIII. As he was denied re-admission in the same class since he failed to fare well and on that context his mother was summoned and reported of the facts. She deliberately punished him by not providing him with food and she also accused him of being disobedient, but, Balu remained unabashed and paid no attention to his mother’s pleadings, instead, he set his dreams for theatre plays. To escape the ire of his mother Balu striked a cordial friendship with show organizers and theatre troupe members. Later, his friends too got hooked to his passion for stage plays and they too ignored their studies to join hands with Balu.
Balu, with his fellow guys would sneak into forests to enact plays created by him. He would pen the requisite sequence and dialects for the play "Raama Pattabhisheka" for which he created a stage in the forest, gathered leaves to weave crown, branches and wood sticks to utilize them as bows and arrows, swords etc., required for the play. The boys enjoyed his company immensely. All those acts attributed to his friends parents accusations on Balu and also his mother for ruining their children’s future. Complaints piled up against Balu despite and his mother's pleadings to dis-associate himself from his friends and abandon his involvement in theatre activities were indeed unheeded by Balu who secretly began to render his assistance to show organisers for distributing hand bills, sticking posters, running behind carts for theatre play announcements and other associated jobs. All these he did in exchange to view the plays for free of tickets. He nursed and pursued his dreams for theatre stage plays until it became a reality, many a times he ignored the boys mocking at his short of hearing disability and engaged himself by participating in the activities of the theatre.
In due course of period, Balu’s presence at home too was ignored which prompted him to while away his time in theatres and tents. Many a times he sat all alone in isolated places to read hand bills and notices to improvise his Kannada language knowledge. Ultimately he turned to be a self taught boy. Though a class VIII fail, Balu’s knowledge in Kannada was transformed to a laudable learner inspite of not even being tutored at home. In later years he had an amazing command over the language. An adage says-confidence begets confidence, so were the confidence in himself which was a major asset to Balu.
Balu's association with members of theatre troupe camps and organizations bonded well as he volunteered to assist them in all petty jobs. His constant presence in the camp were observed by the entire camp members. Though all the communications were conveyed on a high pitched tone or sign language, yet Balu carried on the tasks without any complaints. At times he was assigned with task, of a gate keeper, curtain raiser or assisted in painting backdrop or even preparing hand bills. During off peak periods when there was a dropback for packed audience, Balu would be denied to be entrusted with any jobs and he would be shooed away. Nothing deterred him from presenting himself, instead, he continued to remain unabashed, in fact, he would return in no time to grab any opportunity. Henceforth, his constant presence was realized and acknowledged for his penchant desire and aspiring passion for stage shows, and also his unflinching faith in himself, which devoid of his short of hearing disability were all keenly monitored. Hence, when shows fetched a handsome profit, Balu was provided with food and shelter.
A MESSAGE:- Hard work, constant persuasion and a WILL to achieve one’s dream shall ultimately bear fruit. Never give up hope or succumb to failures, as failures are only stepping stones to success.