Who said the eternal one has died?Who said the Light of hope has died?The enemy of the Sun is on the rooftop.With his eyes closed he yells out,"The brilliant Sun has died!" (Rumi)We don't know how many individuals are there who think that the Lightof hope is still alive. I am not expecting such people in millions. At themoment even in thousands or hundreds. Few imaginative dreamers,rational thinkers and dedicated workers can change the world forbetter.I am a student of history, which is witness to so many such individualssince time immemorial.I know how Kautilya was thrown out from the Nanda's court in Magadh.He was aloneHe decided to change the systemHe changed the course of historyI know how Mahatma Gandhi was thrown out from a train in South AfricaHe was aloneHe decided to change the systemHe changed the course of historyI also know how Martin Luther King was thrown out from a bus inAmericaHe was aloneHe decided to change the systemHe changed the course of historyThere are many more such examples who thought, decided and didwhat they wanted to. Do you know what is common in all theseindividuals? They dared to dream, had faith in themselves and werecommitted to their ideas. They were ready to go to any extent to realisetheir dreams. Remember Gandhi's Slogan in 1942- Do are die. And hedid because he knew he can. All these people knew exactly what, whenand how to do. Right vision, right direction and right timing is some thebasic requirement of a successful moment. But we should not wait forright timing as it will come only when we take few initial steps. And Ibelieve there is always good time to do good things.What we need is passionWhat we need is fireWhat we need is sincerityWhat we need is faith in ourselvesWhat we need is quality not quantity of workersWhat I am trying to say is that to bring a substantial change in the life ofthe most uncared people we do not need people in millions or for thatmatter in thousands or in hundred but few dedicated people fully awareof their dream and mission. And certainly there are such people.Thanks to internet technology, Ark is able to connect like mindedindividuals, institutions and organisation.Please encourage people around you to participate in debate anddiscussion through arkitectindia on yahoogroups.com and share theirdreams and mission of their life. It will help us find out other like mindedpeople. We should fully utilise this technology to reach maximum peopleand vice versa.Some people, in fact they are in majority, think that nothing can bechanged. They are not enemy of the change but they are tired of seeingso many promises unfulfilled and several policies and programmesfailed. We don't have to listen to them. We have to listen to our innervoices. We have to understand that every event, though looks like afailed one, is not a failure in a proper sense and spirit.First war for independent was crushed ruthlessly in 1857. Every peoplethought that it is a great failure. Several thousands people died andseveral lakhs were injured. British reestablished its grip and spread inother parts of India. Even today there are few people who think it was afailure.But we know that it was not a failure at all. It opened a new chapter inthe British history and new path for Indian thinkers. Every little progressaids up to big result. Educated people realised the exact design of Britishgovernment and they started thinking about their country. They firststarted to say "no" to what they thought is wrong. Then they startedforming organisations, demanding seats in the Imperial Assembly andfor a right to speak. It was only in 1892 that they were given right tospeak on budget. Remember it was just a right to speak not to criticizeor vote on the budget. With the advent of Tilak in 1890s concept ofSwaraj (self government) was popularized and then came the demandfor dominion status which was followed by the demand of completeindependent and in 1942 Gandhi gave the call for Quit India. 1947 thatday finally arrived on August 15.We have to be very patience, open to criticism and suggestions andmost importantly always in search of like minded people who can addvalue to our moment to realise our dream- that is to ensure each andevery child gets quality education, healthy life and a society free ofexploitation and violence. Is it impossible? At least I don't think so.
Shaheen Ansari
www.arkindia.org.in
