NEWSLETTER | HOPE | INSPIRATION

The Power of One

One person CAN change the world around him

My morning pre-sunrise dawn. The tree on the left houses the noisy miner’s nest. Photo by Suma Narayan

One raised to the power of hundred

‘Say not the struggle naught availeth, The labour and the wounds are vain, The enemy faints not, nor faileth, And as things have been they remain. … In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly, But westward, look, the land is bright.’ Arthur Hugh Clough

Hello, hello, hello! How are all of you wonderful people on this bright and sunny day, in winter? Half the world is going into summer. For the other half, ‘winter is coming.’

And yet, the birds put in an appearance every single day. In front of me, as I sit and type words to connect with all of you, is a tree. And in the tree, is a nest. It is a quarrelsome noisy miner bird’s nest. At dawn and at dusk, I can hear the busyness of avian life from within the dense foliage. It is a message to me, of growth, and joy and life. It’s a message of hope that cheers me up even in these discordant times.

What fills you with hope each day? Do you have a person, a sight, a book, a prayer that infuses you with hope? Is it the presence of someone you love, a phone call with a friend? Or, like I am going to do today, go on a date with a friend, in a beautiful garden close to your house?

What is the one thing in your life that reminds you that life is beautiful?

This happened before I retired.

It was the last lecture of the day. Students were restive, eager to go home, exhausted after six hours of subjects dealing with psychology, logic, economics, math and accountancy.

Seeing the tired faces in front of me, I decided to dispense with the English Literature lecture of that day.

I asked them, “Can every person in life make a difference to the way others live?” Too restless to tax their brain for an answer, their replies were more or less the same.

“What can one person, alone, do?”

I answered their restless frazzled questions.

I told them this real-life, inspirational story. It is the story of a man who refused to believe that ONE person could not change the world around him.

And one of the many examples that I would like to cite about how ONE person can make a difference.

Not many people can have heard about Lapodia, a hamlet two hours away from the capital of Rajasthan, Jaipur.

Lapodia, in Rajasthan’s, was a village of 200 families. Around the village was a a cracked, broken mud embankment, a bund that had not held water in remembered history. Once, it held water for the entire village, but apathy and laziness had transformed the life source of the village to a dry husk.

Hunger stalked the land, and basic necessities were luxuries only to be dreamt of. Disease, illiteracy, unemployment and social conflict stalked a land in which farming was the main occupation. Younger people left to find employment in cities far and near.

Laxman Singh was a young lad of 17. He dropped out of school, after deciding to do something about his village. The first thing he did, was to repair a defunct pond in his village. Using a spade, he toiled all day and all night to repair an old stone dam, that hadn’t seen water in decades.

People mocked him: but then two friends joined him, to help. The next day, there were six people. By the end of the week, 20 people had joined in, to help this unlikely, ‘foolish’ hero.

Nine-inch-deep channels are constructed in a series of square pits and are bordered with two-feet high bunds. Trees are planted on the borders for cattle to graze. The chauka collects the rainwater, and once they are full, the water flows in adjacent chauka, thus avoiding an overflow.Then he went on from there.

[embed]School Dropout Invents 'Chauka System', Makes His Village Self-sufficient in Water! In 1977, Laxman Singh was mocked by his fellow villagers who advised him to stop wasting his time on the 'frivolous…thebetterindia.com

https://thebetterindia.com/193742/rajasthan-school-dropout-invention-laporiya-model-water-india/

He was just one person, who dropped out of school, seeing the plight of his village. Was he an engineer, a very rich man, an elected representative of the Government? No. Not that the last category does much, but anyway, this gentleman set to work with a will, mobilised people, used his will and wisdom to create a paradise, not only of his village, but 58 other villages.

In 2001, when there was a severe drought in Rajasthan, and every place in the State was rendered arid, Lapodia was green and prosperous. The Government authorities woke up then, and opened their eyes. They called him to find out the secret…and he told them.

Climate change does not affect Lapodia. Pasture land, three man made lakes, endless canals for irrigation, well and ponds for storing rain water, they have made them all. They have CREATED a forest, within the village, and called it ‘Devvan’, a divine forest, the forest of the Gods, a sacred place with trees and birds, water and reeds.

With ingenuity and integrity, compassion and common sense, Lapodia has beaten the naysayers, and proved the grim prognostications of the prophets of climate doom, wrong.

Thanks to downtoearth.org.in, we get to hear of these commendable successes. Stories like these do not seem to figure in the ‘News’ much any more.

[embed]This green oasis is a drought-proof village in Rajasthan In the arid and dry landscape of Rajasthan, one village stands out like a green oasis. Lapodia, with a little over 300…www.downtoearth.org.in

I am not saying that we must close our eyes to what is happening around us. All I am stating is that there is no need to despair, because there is hope. ALWAYS!

My favourite anthem, now and always, will be these immortal lines written by Arthur Hugh Clough:

‘Say not the struggle naught availeth, The labour and the wounds are vain, The enemy faints not, nor faileth, And as things have been they remain. … In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly, But westward, look, the land is bright.’

Stay hopeful, then. Keep that spark, that flame, that light burning. Please don’t let darkness and despair extinguish it. Sometimes, that’s the only thing that keeps us going.

And if, and when you can, help someone who has descended into darkness, out again. One doesn’t need to be a therapist, or a counsellor to do that. All one needs is a caring heart that understands and empathises.

Who, or what helped you hope again? Who helped light the lamp that had gone out? Have you ever been a friend who helped a friend out of despair? Should we only help those who help us? Is there a book, a movie, an incident, or a story that helped you when you felt hopeless? Does religion, or spirituality offer hope in times of darkness? What are the three, or more, sources of hope in your life? Do writing, and your friends on Medium, help you when you’re down in the dumps?

These are the words, and the writers, that brought me hope, since the last newsletter:

Sujona Chatterjee reflects on the value of life taking its own course, without us knowing all the answers:

[embed]Your Mind Was Never Meant to Have All the Answers Sometimes, you’ve just got to let things bemedium.com

Jasmin Wolf advises us to enjoy our vacation by not trying to fill every minute of it with ‘activities’:

[embed]DO LESS THINGS: My Best Vacation Advice Your vacation is not a checklistmedium.com

Paul Gardner gentle guru of grace and gratitude, narrates a poignant personal story:

[embed]I’m Grateful For One Last Chance To Say I Love Youmedium.com

Maria Rattray crafts a hilarious poem about the kind of mother all growing children idolise, and how they realise the value of their own in course of time:

[embed]Mothers, Wear Your Exclusion From the ‘Everybody Else’s Mother’ Club As a badge of honourmedium.com

Sujona Chatterjee speaks of gratitude for the little things in life, that are actually big things:

[embed]You Never Truly Value Your Lungs Until You Watch Someone Fight for Air Please don’t take your body for granted!medium.com

Suma Narayan differentiates between good and bad teachers:

[embed]Sammy, My Line Dancing Teacher One teacher cursed me. Another, blessed memedium.com

Maria Rattray shares an inspiring story about a child with Down’s Syndrome, in her usual well-researched, convincing, motivational style:

[embed]The Luck of Being Born with DS Into the Right Family At the wrong time in history … or at the right time in history, todaymedium.com

Suma Narayan writes about what poetry means to her:

[embed]My Poems Are Not Poems They are the breathings of my heartmedium.com

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Courage comes in various forms. This is one of them:

[embed]Truth Is, I Am Dying An open-letter to my Medium familymedium.com