Dashrath Manjhi, the Man
who Moved a Mountain
When
I started hammering the hill, people called me a lunatic but that steeled my
resolve.” Dashrath Manjhi
Almost five decade ago, a landless
farmer Dashrath Manjhi from Gahlor Ghati, of Gaya (a district of Bihar)
resolved to end the difficulties of his villagers by shouldering a near
impossible task of slitting a 300-feet-high hill apart to create a one-km
passage.His village would nestle in the lap of rocky hills for which villagers
would often face gigantic troubles for crossing small distance between Atri and
Wazirganj, the outskirts of Gaya town. He started hammering the hill in early
1959 in the memory of his wife, who could not be taken to the nearest health
care center on time for the immediate treatment as the nearest road that
connected them to the city was 50km long.
He knew his voice will not create
any reaction in the deaf ear of the government; therefore, Dashrath chose to
accomplish this Herculean task alone. He sold his goats to purchase chisel,
rope and a hammer. People would call him mad and eccentric spirited with no
idea of his plans. Unfazed by his critics’ discouraging remarks, Dashrath
hammered consistently for 22 long years to shorten the distance from 50km to
10km between Atri and Wazirganj. The day came when he stepped through a flat
passage — about one-km long and 16-feet wide — to his dream, ‘the other side of
the hill’.
After this impossible
accomplishment, Dashrath Manjhi became popular as the ‘mountain man’. On
August 18, 2007, he breathed his last after fighting cancer at New Delhi’s All
India Institute of Medical Sciences.
Some invaluable lessons to learn
from this Legend
1. He never got panicked by measuring the whole task at once;
instead, he started keeping his tiny steps one by one, faced difficulties on
its encountering and progressed while solving them one by one. There is no
point thinking much about the task that looks seemingly unconquerable and
impossible; nobody completes them in one step. What matters the most is your
small steps through which you reach there. So focus on your task and accomplish
them with great care.
“The greater the obstacle, the more
glory in overcoming it.” ― Molière
2. Patience is the greatest virtue that leads us to success.
Dashrath Manjhi cut through the hill for long 22 years. His patience give him
the courage to overcome extreme pain, frustration, disappointments and personal
loss.
“Patience. A minor form of despair
disguised as a virtue.” Ambrose Bierce
3. Dream the impossible! Dashrath Manjhi dreamt of
making a walkway through two arrogant and treacherous rocky hills. He planned
accordingly, accomplished the task and walked his dream. He was a legend who
taught us to dare to dream the impossible. If you keep working on, the
near-impossible task will seem a lot easier tomorrow.
“Whether an idea becomes a reality
or not, does not depend so much on whether it is possible — but on how great
the desire for it is.” ― Edmond Danken Sailer
4. Attitude matters! Don’t ever blame difficulties if
you crumble if front of them; it is not the difficulties but the attitude that
lets you down. If Dashrath Manjhi could triumph over difficulties, it was his
attitude that kept him stay focused and going.
“Attitude is a little thing that
makes a big difference.” ― Winston Churchill
5. Stay positive! Your positive thoughts and words
initiate you to reach your destiny along with your own values.
“Keep your thoughts positive because
your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words
become your behavior. Keep your behavior positive because your behavior becomes
your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values.
Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.” ― Mahatma
Gandhi
6. Don’t lose heart if people call you mad and crazy for you
unique thoughts. The same people appreciate you, promote you and example
your tale for encouragement on successfully completion of your plans. When
Dashrath Manjhi began working on his plan, people called him mad and
discouraged him with impossibilities, but these same people appreciated him and
used the way that he created.
“Never let your head hang down.
Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way. And don’t pray when it
rains if you don’t pray when the sun shines.” Richard M. Nixon
చాలాకాలం క్రితం ‘వెరయిటి’ అనే తెలుగు మాసపత్రికలో దశరథ్ మంజీ సాహసం గురించి తొలిసారి చదివాను. ‘కమెండో’ నాగరాజు అత్యద్భుతంగా రాశారు ఈ కథనం... మళ్ళీ ఇన్నేళ్ళ తర్వాత దశరథ్ ప్రస్తావన ఇక్కడ చూశాను.
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