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Monday, July 18, 2011

Gutsy Indians:

The movie "3 Idiots" has a main character Rancho (Rannchhod-das Shymaldas Channchad). Like a modern day Krishna he enlightens us to work not for success but to build skill within one self. Success will follow.

It's quite easy to dismiss such "people" as being too idealistic and not practical in this materialistic world.

Today I want to write that "NO. Such people are all around us and in us"
I'm lucky enough to have grown up knowing such people first-hand in the form of my parent, elder and younger brother.

0) My parents and elder brother (Arun & Meera Mallapur and Hemant Mallapur)
They always pushed us to "Try your best. Success or Failure doesn't matter. In the long run you will succeed." This advice was really heart-felt and not just some platitudes thrown at children. They supported us through trying times, financially, morally - by their very existence and example. When we failed they would cheer up up exhort us to give our best and then just rest.

Being middle-class people we knew the limits of what we could and could not aspire for. At the same time they never denied us the best of things - love, attention, time, books, music, movies which helped expand our horizons far beyond our limited means. Today the Internet makes almost anything almost instantly accessible. But back when computers were themselves part of sci-fi (at least in India) they helped us reach out for the stars.

My elder brother took me by the hand and helped me at the most critical points in my life. When life looked hopeless he was there giving the support without any expectation of gratitude. He only wanted me to be able to help myself be a stronger independent person.

My younger brother who's more mature in many things than I has helped me get over many failures and shown me by example how to be a more generous, forgiving person. I hope that more people have such brothers who can help them be a better person.

Whatever I've achieved can fully be placed only at the feet of my 2 great parents and my elder brother. They set the example. Many times I feel I'm being ungrateful for what all they've done for me. I hope they forgive me for any stupid lapses on my part.

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On a more general note:

Other than my parents and brothers I'm also happy to say that there are at least two other such persons in real life (not personally but by word-of-mouth).

1) Dasharath Manjhi - (poor and illiterate but rich in pure guts and pure heart) Bihar - Gaya
"Where there is a will, there is a way." This saying has been proved right by Dashrath Manjhi, a native of Gehlour(near Gaya, Bihar) who singlehandedly and using only a hammer and a chisel carved out a 360-ft long, 25-ft high and 30-ft wide road from a mountain.
This took him no less than 22 years. His feat reduced the distance between Atri and Wazirganj blocks of Gaya district from 75 km to just ten km, bringing him international acclaim.
Dashrath Manjhi died on August 17,2007 . He was suffering from cancer of the gall bladder.
http://theviewspaper.net/the-mountain-man/ (amazing article)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dashrath_Manjhi (wikipedia)
Is it a "coincidence" that he was born in Body Gaya the place of the Buddha's illumination?

2) Dr S S Mahant-Shetti, (highly educated, wealthy and inspired by Shri Krishna - the singer of the Gita!!) Karnataka - Manipal.
Somewhat like Rancho he retired with great honors from Texas Instruments
(the company that invented the Integrated Circuit - IC)
He's taught poor farmers children (SSC students) how to do VLSI chip design!!
They actually teach Electronic Engineers what to do when they join the company called Karmic!!
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/39950/talking-revolution.html (amazing story)
http://mahantshetti.blogspot.com/ (This is an amazing blog!!)

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