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Saluting the change-makers |
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So another year has come to its end. Whatever be the events happening during the last 12 months – cyclones, earthquakes, deaths, marriages, government changes, time does not care and in a cycle, as always, it moves inevitably at its own pace, from 1st January to 31 December.
‘Looking back to the year’ write-ups now fill the pages of newspapers and magazines and feature in the electronic media. Year-end party preparation takes up much of the time for the young and old alike, picnic programmes by the river or in the open grounds rustle up, and so on. But doesn’t it seem so very predictable? By the middle of January will we remember what really shook us in the past year? Perhaps not, just like New Year resolutions taking a tumble by February or even earlier.
So I like to think of people who have made a difference to people’s lives, not in one year, but years together. People like Sister Cyril of Loreto School, Sealdah, who has retired this year but will never retire, I am sure, from her good work till health gives away. Coming from far-off Ireland’s misty land, she has brought sunshine to street children around the busy Sealdah station by giving them shelter and education as a way out of the quagmire of deprivation and in the process, helped change the mindset of children who come from so-called privileged class to study in the elite school.
And then there are those making a difference to lives in poor villages of India whose stories unfold for us when they receive awards in recognition from an electronic channel –or a well-known newspaper. These are initiatives very welcome indeed. We have read, or listened to, IIM alumni leaving the lure of ‘good life’ to work among poverty-stricken people in remote villages, we have read about or watched women getting a new lease of life under a leader who perhaps had come out of their own community, and many such stories. But it’s also true that once they receive the awards and we read their stories of struggle and achievement against odds, we tend to forget them –like the New Year resolutions.
I was wondering if the stories of these extraordinary people could be recorded in capsules, and the clippings of the writings on the work and the people behind could be collected and then shown or put up by institutions, schools, etc. to inspire young and old alike. At their annual events, or with extra fund kept aside for functions, schools, colleges and other institutions perhaps could invite some of these people, whichever region it is relevant to, to talk about their work and why it is important for them to do that kind of work.
It is perhaps important more for us than them to remember and recognise their work. For, they are the kind of people who started the work out of conviction, out of commitment, and not waiting to be recognised . Their work is their own reward. Today, thanks to special initiatives by corporate houses, print and electronic media when they come to our notice we think, ‘Thank God, there are people like them!’ Because they bring a whiff of refreshing breeze to the minds made cynical with the imbroglios of unscrupulous politicians, corrupted officials, businessmen who make illegal money out of anything, from unsafe hospitals to food grains meant for the poor. The mind becomes weary - year after year, observing such things and so perhaps it’s better not to think of the negatives but concentrate on the positives at the year end. Of people who are human beings with a heart, and hard-working enough, selfless enough, to let the heart dictate them. For them it’s not a year-end but continuation of the years to come. Shouldn’t we salute them even as we plan our festivities for the New Year?
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