I am not referring to the last leg that I am thinking for myself. But I am referring to those who call it as their ‘Last leg’ when it comes to giving back to the society. I am now beginning to believe that ‘Altruism’ in each of us will wake up someday for sure. At the same time, I also started to see how people change as soon as the ‘altruist’ in him or her is active.
There are a plenty of issues to worry about in Bengaluru for us. Starting from the Reddy brothers’ adventure in tearing the system up and down; our beloved CMs incapability of handling the issues; many of the very good and well reputed civil servants being inhumanly transferred; trying hard to move a file from one table to the other inside the government setup; pathetic roads; irritating traffic; BBMPs moves on cutting down trees and demolishing buildings for the metro; worrying about the routine office work; waiting for the right time to get into the system; changing the scene by getting into politics somehow; discussions on the 100% contribution of the time towards passion; and the list goes on.
Every weekend, before I go to sleep, all I do is to think about whom I met, what did I talk, what did I learn and what is the next step? Both the days of this weekend were as hectic as ever. When I mean hectic, I do not mean that I will be occupied or working for 24 hours, I only mean that on both the days, there will be enough content to get loaded onto my mind to think over it further. I can call it actually as a mind-blowing weekend. And it is not that it is happening for the first time, but it is making a significant impact on the way I was seeing things. It was mainly because of the people I met during the weekend, the discussions I had with them, the challenges that we discussed about, observations being made on activities and many more. Two of those interesting events are still lingering in my mind and poking me to share it in words.
I always had an anxiety of meeting people who are very passionately doing things and making a difference to the society. Not because I am not doing things or I do not have passion for things. It is because; first thing that they notice is that I am not able to pursue my passion as a full time activity. It is not that I do not want to do it, I was always ready to continue working towards things that I am very passionate about and to take the risk against the present comfort of financial security. But given the fact that having spent very less time on my passion, i.e., during the precious other-than-official-working-hours, it is obvious and easy to say that I cannot expect huge results. And this is exactly what I heard from a senior person I met yesterday who is working towards his passion since 30 years. It was not only inspiring, but also an eye-opener for me. While I was thinking about it myself and having discussed on the same with many other close friends of mine, this discussion is making me to get-off-my-ass state and think seriously about it. Hopefully, very soon, I will. (This does not mean that I will stop meeting such people).
The second event is about a person who is willing to dedicate his precious time for serving others. I keep meeting a lot of people who are in to such noble work. But the point here for me is not about ‘many other’ people; but about this ‘person’ over a period of time, has changed himself to take this noble decision. The reason why I am saying this is because I know this person from good number of years and I had always observed in him that he was fully occupied with just what he was doing and had not shown interest in whatever we are doing for our project. Not that we were expecting him to help us given the fact that he was always busy with his work, but it was just that we were in need of and waiting for a good break-through that could come from anyone at any time. So, I was thinking that he is the way he is and that is how his life is shaped. But interestingly, today, when I met the same person, I was surprised to see a completely different person in him. All because of his experience of working at a place where he got exposed to the harsh realities of India and eventually understanding the pains of many people who are in need of help. It was a very strange and had to believe because, even though he had seen us working for the cause since many years, and he had also seen few of his friends who are dedicating their time for the poorest of the poor who are in need of such people, he changed himself only after his encounter with the harsh realities such as ‘Poverty’. Altruism, I guess, wakes up at such strange encounters. It was good to see him confronting his highly spirited state with us this evening. So he has finally decided to spend his last leg of life by doing service to others.
I am very sure that there will be many such people with us who will be waiting for such encounters to happen. And I am sure it will happen at some point in time as we have a lot more issues to see and need a lot more people to do whatever it takes to do to see the others in a fairly good state. And one need not wait till they reach their last leg of their life.
Looking forward to more of such mind-blowing days!
Srik
6 comments:
Yes..!! There are lot of people who wants to contribute to the society. Most of them have willingness but they are hiding from the exposures of such encounters. Once they get experience of such eye opening events, definitely their altruism wakes up them to act..!!
I hope "Last leg of his life" will leave foot prints of hope in poorest of the poor's life.
I really solute for his nobel thought and decision and wish him all the very best..!!
T S
The two noble people you met this past weekend are nothing short of upatmas (little mahatmas).
The two are ready to give their talents, time, and effort in service to the needy is an inspiration to us all. That they do this with no expectation of reward is what makes their sacrifice so singular.
May all such people be blessed with a long productive life in service to the less fortunate.
It is this unrecognized little acts of simple beings that reminds that humanity still exists in the society and inspires us the possibility of bringing change.
My salutes to such "Change masters"and people who remember and get inspired by them.
Hari
Change is always better late than never. And if that is going to happen during a person's 'Last leg', then so be it. I personally do not believe that altruism is only about serving society, the needy and the poor and so on. Even if it is as simple as calling on an old aunt and enquiring about her fading health, makes for selflessness. These are also small things. And actually easy to do. You don't always have to spend money or make a big show of your generosity. This should come from the heart.
Thank you for the post, it was a nice read.
People practice Altruism in many ways: some in the organized way and some in unorganized way. Whatever be the form, I salute them for their spirit and work.
As pointed out by many in their comments, it is better late than never, if such realization happens to an individual.
Contribution (money and/or service) to the recent flood relief work in Karnataka, is one such example to show that how people are ready to help in case of need.
Wish many people join hands in the noble cause and benefit the society.
Sometimes we waste most of our time and energy in satisfying our needs and attaining what we want that we don't notice our fello beings and their needs. So people who are able to recognize that and are so selfless enough to donate their time and money for such a noble cause are really worth a Life on this earth.
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