“When you're sacrificing valuable things for your family, you are not losing

something, you are just passing the value to your loved ones”

Good Afternoon GOTD, gaveliers, toastmasters, judges and guests

What is a sacrifice for a family?

Sacrifice for the family is something that happens in unexpected ways.

A child sacrifices his petty savings for his younger sister's birthday gift,
a loving mother who sacrifices her sleep to take care of her sick child
or when a woman sacrifice her dream to take care of her family
Sacrifice is so common in family life that we sometimes fail to notice it.

Every one of you must have sacrificed something or the other for your
family, Right?

I would like to recollect the sacrifices done by a lovable soul for her family.

Lakshmi a beautiful baby was born in Chidambaram, Sathapadi in 1959

As a fourth girl child to the richest family in the village. She was brought up
with all love and affection. She had whatever she wanted.As years passed,
They were cheated by their relatives, her family faced a lot of financial
issues and were forced to leave the village and move to Pondicherry, the
nearby city. The family initially struggled and somehow managed to earn
from whatever jobs they got.

At such a tender age she left her birthplace not even understanding the
reason. That was not the time to understand the betrayal.

Those days, Lakshmi's elder sister was the only one married among the
four sisters and Lakshmi had just completed 10th grade

Her ambition was to become a Nurse but all her dreams went in vain. Days
passed and her other sisters too got married.
Lakshmi who was with her parents was still in poverty. When life was so
miserable, A laddie who was a neighbour of a sister understood her family
situation and asked if they were ready to accept him as their son-in-law.
Everyone in the family liked him and they were not ready to even ask for
Lakshmi’s opinion. They forced her to marry Seeniraja, and also Lakshmi
understands the family situation, and knowing that no one will be able to
help her she won’t be able to study further she too had to accept the
proposal.

She sacrificed her studies just to get the burden off the shoulder of her
family. She married Seeniraja who was also from a well-to-do family. But as
he married her without his family’s consent he had to leave the family.

Even though many people from Seeniraja’s family cursed Lakshmi as a

young girl from a place far away from Pondicherry
Without parents' or in-laws' support, how will they live?** Lakshmi made it a
point not make these words true. She tried very hard to support her
husband. When they married seeniraja was just in the final year of BL.
Then he worked as a car driver and completed his studies. Became a
successful Lawyer with all her support.

While many girls of this age were in college, Lakshmi became a mother
and we are truly aware of the sacrifices of a mother. Their children are
also weak children who fall sick very often and they run to hospital very
often. This affects them financially. But they paid no heed to that.
Seeniraja and Lakshmi sacrificed their happiness, and money for their
children. *It continued after their girls grew up they didn’t have time to rest
as they soon became grandparents they lived their whole life like this. And
They both were sure of giving the kids a better education and making them
stand on their own feet. Today one of them is an HR manager, another one
is a software engineer and the last daughter is an Ayurvedic doctor. Even
though she did so much sacrifice for her family no one understood it.
*They understood the responsibility which is beyond the sacrifice which
their mother showed When their daughters got married and they became
mothers.

They realised that they did not even return 50% of what their parents did
for them.

Now you might be wondering who Lakshmi is, she is none other than my
grandma, the tall standing pillar of my family and I am honoured to stand
before telling this speech dedicated to my grandma.

So you see, you can make small or big sacrifices for your family as the
result later will be fruitful at the same time don't sacrifice your family for
others