Man can rise to Mahamta

This blog is about a wonderful program that I have attended at Hyderabad. On Oct 9th, Nirmaan has arranged an IT company exposure program In Mahindra Satyam for the children of the schools which it has adopted in urban slums of Hyderabad. The students of my village are fortunate to be part of this excellent program. Students have gone through the campus, the learning centers there, the zoo, the different facilities that Mahindra Satyam provides to its employees and finally to the big convention hall where the students are shown video conferencing and few inspirational videos. It’s been a wonderful trip both for students and myself. At the end of the program, Rajesh was kind enough to provide me an opportunity to speak to the students in the convention hall. The talk was mainly intended in telling the students not to get stopped in thinking big because they come from economically or socially backward families. The talk was mainly intended in telling them they too can become great achievers inspite of their troubled backgrounds.

Respected members of Mahindra Satyam foundation who have not only granted their permissions for this excellent program but also provided their full support and encouragement, members of Nirmaan who have made this possible with their exceptional planning and execution, members and representatives of other organizations who extended their support for this program, dear teachers and students - My whole hearted Namakars to you. I have a habit of starting my speeches by first submitting my pranams to our dear mother land, Bharat Mata.

Bharata Mata ki Jai. Bharata Mata ki Jai. Bharata Mata ki Jai.

Some of the volunteers and students over here very well know that if by mistake they handover the mike to me, I will not leave them without atleast half an hour of my speech. But friends, today I promise you that this time I will not speak more than 5 minutes. It’s because today we have come here to spend our time in a much better program than listening to my speech. Today in our country, more than 60% of our children study in Government schools. India has travelled a long way from 1947. Today India is growing at a rapid scale. Today our foreign reserves have grown to unimaginable numbers. Government is spending crores of money for improving infrastructural facilities in schools. Government is taking several measures on soft infrastructure development area. Yet, the children lack confidence and are not able to compete with children from Private schools. Four years of our uninterrupted research and experiments in Government schools in rural and urban areas reveals that schools lack programs that can inspire for dreaming big and for them to know the latest happenings in the world. It is in this context, Nirmaan, With a lot of effort and planning has arranged this Mahindra Satyam IT exposure trip. Today you have been provided this opportunity which even engineering students from reputed institutions could not obtain. You are really fortunate enough to get such a wonderful opportunity. You have been going around the Mahindra Satyam Campus and have been observing many new things and listening to people from the morning. Have you learnt new things today? “Yes”. Have you enjoyed this program “Yes”. Then I would definitely treat that the program is successful.

Today in this short time available, I would like to quickly tell you two things very clearly. First, do you Abdul Kalam? He is our former President. Yes he is not only our former president but he is also Bharat Ratna. Such a man has started his education from a small school in Island of Rameshwaram. And when Kalam wanted to move away from Rameshwaram for doing his engineering studies, Kalam didn’t had enough money to pay the fee. His sister has given all her gold ornaments and with the money that is received from the sale of those ornaments, Kalam went for his engineering studies and with the scholarships he received from college, he was able to complete his education post which we all know what happened.

Do you know Ambedkar? He is the architect of our constitution. He is just not an architect of constitution, but he is also a Bharat Ratna, highest civilian award holder, a great intellectual, a great fighter of the oppressed. Such a great man was discriminated in the worst possible manner in his school because he was born in a backward meher family. In school, Ambedkar was not allowed to drink water with the glass available near the pot. The attender has to pour water and Ambdekar used to drink it by joining his two hands together. From such a worst and shameful discrimination, Ambedkar has grown as a proud leader for India. At this moment, I would hesitate to say that it is because of his masterly work in writing an excellent constitution, India is able to distinguish itself from Pakisthan. We have corrupt leaders in both the countries. But India could survive because of the futuristic thinking that Ambedkar had put in defining our constitution.

Do you Know PV Narasimha Rao? He is a man whom we all should feel proud of. PV Narasimha Rao is our former Prime minister. He hail from a small village called Vangara, which is close to Warangal city. PV has studied in a small Government Junior college in Warngal which still exists today. The students of this college proudly say that they are students of the same college in which the great PV has studied. PV having studied in such a small Government college, has started from the smallest position of our democracry, Sarpanch of his village and occupied almost every important position like MLA, MP, State minister, Chief Minister, Governer, Central defense minister, external affairs minister, home minister and finally led the nation in severe economic and political crisis times as it’s Prime Minister and gave a new direction to the nation through rapid economic reforms which he introduced.

Do you Know Shastri? Shastri was born and brought up in economically troubled family. But, he has grown to the highest possible position in our democracy and has remained in Indian history as one of the greatest Prime Ministers we had.

Dear children, by narrating all such cases, I would like to tell you that being born in a socially backward family or economically family or studying in Government schools or small private schools is not a hindrance to your growth. If we are passionate about our goals, if we have the right attitude and if we follow the right path and if we work hard to reach goals, one can overcome all the short comings in life and still achieve the highest possible things in life. I wouldn’t like to convince you by just giving few good examples or just through my oratory skills, but I would like to prove this with a great philosophy. As you all know, Hindu culture is one of the most ancient and one of the most renowned cultures in the world. Such a culture has a great philosophy as its base. i.e.” Advaita” which means “na dvaitham” which means “two are not different”. God and we. Every human being is part of the creation of the sacred God. This means that every human being has unlimited and unimaginable power in himself. It’s all about exhibiting that power by following the best values, ethics and leading a disciplined life. That is the reason why, people from the ground, people from the oppressed sections, people who are discriminated have achieved the highest possible things in life.

Friends, the second point which I want to tell you is that if we keenly observe the life histories of great people, we can clearly see that there will be few incidents in their lives which turned as major turning points in their lives due to which they have become what they are. Let’s take Ambedkar life history. It is the severe discrimination that he has faced that filled a great fighting spirit in his blood and that has made him fight for the poor and the oppressed. That made ultimately him the Bharat Ratna.

Let’s talk about Kalam. Jalaluddin is a resident of Rameshawaram. Jalaluddin was a close friend of Kalam in his childhood. Even though Jalaluddin was around 10 years elder or so to Kalam, both were close friends. Jalaluddin was a very learned man. He was the only person in Rameshwaram at that time who could fluently read and write English. At a later point, Jalaluddin marries Kalam’s sister and becomes kalam’s brother in law. Being well educated, Jalaluddin used to closely follow the new inventions in science and he used to share all such information with Kalam when Kalam was at his school age. That made Kalam very inquisitive about things and made him develop his love for science and research and that made him a great scientist and thus a great leader for this country.

And same is the case with Gandhi. Gandhi after coming back from South Africa has toured the whole country, observed the worst poverty that country is facing, talked to people, understood the pain that India is going through under British and that made him dedicate his life for the independence of this nation. It is that tour which made him wage an uninterrupted fight against the British in his rest of the life and become champion of all sections of people In India and it is that moment which made him rise from man to Mahatma. Same is the case with Vivekananda. It is the meeting of Shri Rama Krishna Paramahamsa which made him a great monk, a great thinker, a great patriot who has given a great hope to India when India was in deep despair through his simple and yet inspiring and eloquent summary of all the great Indian scriptures.

Friends, it is few incidents and few moments in many people’s lives which offer them a permanent inspiration to become great achievers. I pray to God that this Manhindra Satyam IT Company awareness program organized by Nirmaan gives you such inspiration for you to become achievers and thus becomes a milestone and a turning point in your life.

With this I would like to end this talk by singing my two favorite sholaks.

mahaa mangale punya bhoome twadarthe
patatwesha kaayo namaste namaste

let our bodies be perished in the service of the motherland

param vaibhavamne tume tat swaraashtram
samrthaa bhavatwaashishaa tebhrusham

May our victorious organised power of action, by Thy Grace, be wholly capable of protecting our dharma and leading this nation of ours to the highest pinnacle of glory.