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| Dashrath Manjhi |
My country is completing 75 years of its being a
republic. I’ve been asked to deliver a short speech in the morning assembly of my
school on the occasion. How to speak to young students on a political topic? I expressed
my concern to a colleague who then asked me what being a republic actually
means. Isn’t independence enough? That was enough for me to get the stuff for
my speech.
Independence or freedom is dangerous
without duties and responsibilities. The Constitution brings us those duties
and responsibilities while also guaranteeing us the security we require as
citizens. Liberty, fraternity, equality, justice, freedom to worship whichever god
you like…
No, I can’t speak on those things to
school students. So, I contemplated a while… and remembered Dashrath Manjhi.
In 1959, a poor young woman died in a
remote village in Bihar. She had had a fall on the mountainside where she lived
with her husband, Dashrath Manjhi, a poor tribesman. Dashrath wanted to save
his young wife. But the hospital was far away. With the help of some villagers
he carried his wife to the hospital trekking through the rugged mountain. She
died before they could reach the hospital.
Dashrath’s life took an entirely
different course after the death of his wife. He decided to construct a road that
will cut through the mountain. Armed with nothing more than a hammer and a
chisel, Dashrath embarked on a mission. His fellow villagers called him a lunatic.
They thought he was driven insane by the death of this wife. Dashrath was just
25 years old. Young. Loving. Longing. Romantic. And then his love departed.
Dashrath sat down with a hammer and a
chisel in the ridge of the mountain that separated the city from his village. Twenty-two
years of chiselling. And then the road was completed. 110 metres long, 8 metres
deep. That’s what Dashrath Manjhi’s hammer and chisel carved out of a mountain in
22 years. With no help from the government. No help from anyone.
This simple tribesman is going to be
the hero of my speech on Monday. People like Dashrath Manjhi make their country
a genuine republic. Dashrath Manjhi didn’t need any political rhetoric to do
what he thought was the right thing to do. Dashrath Manjhi is a republic. I
will chisel my cynicism, of course, while telling the story of this man to
young students. 
Dashrath Manjhi
Z
Hari OM
ReplyDeleteAh, the man who moved a mountain... excellent choice! YAM xx
The Mountain Man, yes, that's how he came to be known as.
DeleteRepublic is by Etymology is Res+ Publica = The Thing of the Public
ReplyDeleteThanks for that information.
DeleteLove makes life worth living. Hate destroys it. Manjhi is a great example.
ReplyDeleteYes, in many ways.
DeleteI think he is somebody and something he did needs to be made viral and taken to the young lads.
ReplyDeleteIt is 'what you did to the country vs what the country did to you' !!
I remember my father telling me stories about how people gather to clean the lakes and ponds in his days! The situation is different now, people gather only in social media to comment and make something useless viral!!!
Indeed, trivia becomes great now. The ridiculous goes viral. Culture of the superficial.
DeleteAs long as you have a good story, you can make a speech about anything and have a rapt audience. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteThank you. Children love stories. And characters linger...
Delete