Who said the Light of hope has died? By Dr. Shaheen Ansari

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 system. He changed the course of history.
• I know how Mahatma Gandhi was thrown out from a train in South Africa. He was alone. He decided to change the system. He changed the course of history.
• I also know how Martin Luther King was thrown out from a bus in America. He was alone. He decided to change the system. He changed the course of history.   

There are many more such examples who thought, decided and did, what they wanted to. Do you know what is common in all these in dividuals? They dared to dream, had faith in themselves and were committed to their ideas. They were ready to go to any extent to realise their dreams. Remember Gandhi's Slogan in 1942- Do are die. And he did because he knew he can. All these people knew exactly what, when and how to do. 

Right vision, right direction and right timing is some the basic requirement of a successful moment. But we should not wait for right timing as it will come only when we take few initial steps. And I believe there is always good time to do good things.

• What we need is passion. 
• What we need is fire.
• What we need is sincerity.
• What we need is faith in ourselves.
• What we need is quality not quantity of workers.

What I am trying to say is that to bring a substantial change in the life of the most uncared people we do not need people in millions or for that matter in thousands or in hundred but few dedicated people fully aware of their dream and mission. And certainly there are such people. Thanks to internet technology, Ark is able to connect like minded individuals, institutions and organisation. Please encourage people around you to participate in debate and discussion through arkitectindia on yahoogroups.com and share their dreams and mission of their life. 

It will help us find out other like minded people. We should fully utilise this technology to reach maximum people and vice versa. Some people, in fact they are in majority, think that nothing can be changed. They are not enemy of the change but they are tired of seeing so many promises unfulfilled and several policies and programmes failed. 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 people thought that it is a great failure. Several thousands people died and several lakhs were injured. British reestablished its grip and spread in other parts of India. Even today there are few people who think it was a failure. But we know that it was not a failure at all. It opened a new chapter in the British history and new path for Indian thinkers. Every little progress aids up to big result. 

Educated people realised the exact design of British government and they started thinking about their country. They first started to say "no" to what they thought is wrong. Then they started forming organisations, demanding seats in the Imperial Assembly and for a right to speak. It was only in 1892 that they were given right to speak on budget. 

Remember it was just a right to speak not to criticize or vote on the budget. With the advent of Tilak in 1890s concept of Swaraj (self government) was popularized and then came the demand for dominion status which was followed by the demand of complete independent and in 1942 Gandhi ji gave the call for Quit India. 1947 that day finally arrived on August 15. We have to be very patience, open to criticism and suggestions and most importantly always in search of like minded people who can add value to our moment to realise our dream- that is to ensure each and every child gets quality education, healthy life and a society free of exploitation and violence. Is it impossible? At least I don't think so.

Dr. Shaheen Ansari
www.arkindia.org.in