Inspirational and Motivational Short stories Volume #7

This is a collection of inspiring and motivational short stories which I have posted on my Facebook page. Every story gives a distinctly positive message. Enjoy reading the volume #7 of this collection.

1.

How easy it is for anyone to give up his lifetime earnings and comforts, to lead a simple life? It is very difficult, especially if the earnings are Rs. 600 Crores.

That is what Bhanwarlal Doshi, 59, from Delhi did last week. In a grand ceremony, in the presence of 1000 Jain monks, he took deeksha from Jain Acharya Shri Gunratna Surishwarji Maharaj, to lead a monastic life.

So, what must have promoted this ‘Plastic King’ from Delhi to renounce his comfortable life? Is it some kind of a ‘realization’, which changed his attitude towards life?

Mind is a very powerful thing. It has the power to make a rich person into an ordinary one in no time.

While the world looks with disbelief and awe at Bhanwarlal Doshi, for his extraordinary act, he probably looks at the world with pity … that the people in this world are blindly chasing their materialistic dreams unmindful of their actual aim in life.

The world is the same … it is perceived differently by each one of us based on our experiences.

2.

A brave and courageous person is someone who acts as per his conscience irrespective of the difficulties of the hurdles, which come his way.

Just as Pritam Sharma, 45, a rickshaw puller from Bijnor, in Meerut, UP.  

In 1997, he found an abandoned infant girl child wrapped in a polythene bag left near a stream. He and his wife, Satisho decided to adopt that child and named her Deepa. She is now a class XI student in a government school.

In similar circumstances, in 1999, he found another girl child and he adopted her too and named her Anjali.

So far, he has adopted 6 girls and 1 boy. All these children were abandoned by their parents.

Pritam Sharma knew his financial constraints very well, but his conscience did not permit him to leave the small children unattended. That is real bravery and courageousness.

He is no less than God for these children.

Ironically, when several educated and rich people are aborting the girl child, poor Pritam Sharma is establishing a new benchmark on protecting the girl child.  

3.

As a general perception, what do we expect the boys in their early twenties enjoy doing most? Watching movies? Eating out? Going for picnics?

Well, three friends in Coimbatore, Padmanaban, Sudhakar and Dinesh, all aged between 22 and 24, have developed a new passion. They enjoy feeding poor people in slums, orphanages and ashrams in the city. For this, they collect the leftover food from marriage halls, association functions and hotels, on a regular basis. They have a two wheeler fitted with a cardboard box to transport the food across to the hungry people. 

Over last five months, they have fed over 4000 people. They have identified 30 marriage halls, three hotels and few other associations from where they collect the leftover food.

Surely, the noble deeds of these three youngsters will go a long way in providing them most precious asset in life – the blessings of the needy people.

We salute these real life heroes for their social work, which not only helps the needy, but also avoids precious food being wasted.  

4.

At a ripe age of 67, having spent entire lifetime in a central government job, one looks forward for a peaceful retired life. Maintaining good health and finding pleasures in small things become priority for such a person.

Well, not quite so for Gangadhara Tilak Katnam from Hyderabad.

Daily morning, he sets out for a noble mission … to cover the potholes on roads of Hyderabad. He carries eight to ten bags of tar mixed gravel in his car looking around for potholes. The moment he spots one, he parks his car and fills up the pothole. He has filled up over 1100 potholes so far. He has used up most of the money earned from his retirement benefits for this purpose.

Few years ago, he had seen some accidents due to potholes, in which people were seriously injured. Since then, he had determined to do his bit towards the society in this unique way.

We salute Gangadhara for his selfless act, which is saving many lives on Hyderabad roads.

5.

Helping others in need is a noble thing. But helping others, by risking one’s life is nobler.

This was demonstrated recently by Gurteg Singh, 23.

Last week, as he reached the Park station to catch a train to his place of work in Boston, he heard a scream and saw a visually impaired man tumble on the rail track. Someone tried to pull up the person from the track, but could not succeed. On seeing this and without losing a moment, Gurteg, who was on the other side of the platform, jumped on the track and pushed the blind man out, threw his luggage on the platform and then ran back to pick up his walking stick.

 As he pushed up the man from the track, a few other passengers lent a hand in pulling him up quickly. American media is quoting him as saying that his religion taught him to be at service to others. "It is day when I could help someone. For me it is like a good day," he said.

Three weeks back, a Sikh youth in New Zealand had removed his turban to help an injured child. The clip of his act of bravery had gone viral and made headlines in several countries.

These acts of kindness and helping attitude by the Sikhs outside India, particularly when they are sometimes subjected to unjustified and mistaken racial discrimination, speak a lot about their culture and upbringing.

They are the real brand ambassadors of India. India is proud of them…!

6.

Improving one’s life with training and motivation is called self-development. But what do we call it, when one single person improves the life style of an entire community, by his sustained efforts over a period of two decades?

Well, this difficult feat was achieved by one Nandlal Master in Rajatalab, a village near Varanasi.

In 1994, Nandlal Master observed that the people of his village practiced several unhealthy practices like child labor, child marriage, dowry etc. He started an NGO, Loksamiti with the sole aim of bringing in awareness among the people.

Over the last twenty years, he has introduced several path-breaking measures, which appealed to people. For example, he started personal training centers for girls, in which various forms of life skills like stitching and embroidery were taught. This led to a drastic reduction in the child labor and child marriages in the village. The girls and women were empowered.

He convinced people that marriages are meant for uniting families and not for spending money lavishly, often by taking loans. He introduced community marriages, where the expenditure is divided. He has managed to conduct over 700 low budget weddings so far. Moreover, he also advised that the gifts given in marriages should be the items essentially required by a new family, like cooker, fans, and cycles. 

Today his NOG has over 25 members and 400 volunteers. He dreams of taking this village on the forefront with his untiring efforts.

The fate of the people in Rajatalab would have been very different without Nandlal Master.

He is the true reformer of our times …!

7.

A true friendship is known to transcend the barriers created by wealth and social status. It survives even if one friend becomes a rich or powerful person, while the other is not.

Just like the friendship of G.R. Aloria and Hanuman Prasad from Goner in Jaipur.

They were very good friends in their childhood. However, as time passed, G.R Aloria progressed in his career and became an IAS officer while Hanuman Prasad did not study much and became a class four employee in Rajasthan government.

Currently, Aloria is the Chief Secretary in Gujarat government.

Recently, he got his son, Deepak Aloria married to Kavita, the daughter of Hanuman Prasad. Their friendship is now converted into relationship.

It takes lot of courage and conviction to do what he has done, in facing the society bravely.

He has almost re-defined the true meaning of Friendship …They can be called the Krishna and Sudama of Kaliyug.

8.

All of us dream of achieving something or other from time to time. But, how convinced and passionate are we about our dreams? Do impossible dreams also come true?

Well, if we ask Shrikant Pantawane from Nagpur, he would probably say YES.

Shrikant is son of a security guard, and drives a delivery auto to supplement the family income. Once he went to supply a delivery at airport and learnt about a pilot scholarship program run by the DGCA, Director General of Civil Aviation.

He dreamt big. He applied for the scholarship got admission. Once in the college, he excelled in every exam and got the coveted CPL, Commercial Pilot License.

Recently, he was recruited by the Indigo airlines as a First officer, also known as the second pilot or a co-pilot.

He is probably the only person in history to have upgraded himself from driving a three-wheeler auto to running a three-wheeler plane.

Shrikant has proved that no dream is unachievable. What is needed is self-belief and the passion to pursue the dream.

9.

Most of us face adversities in our careers at one time or other. How many show the tenacity and perseverance to continue undaunted with the challenges and overcome them? 

Well, Ishwar Singh Bargah, 48, from Bhilai does it. And he does it extremely well.

He started his career in young age as a Salesman and subsequently worked as a gardener, watchman and a construction supervisor. However, his passion for education did not die down, and he continued to study while working in above mentioned positions.

Over a period of several years, he completed his BA, M.Ed, M.Phil and a Doctorate in Education. 

Recently, he has been appointed as a Principal of Chhattisgarh Kalyan Shiksha Mahavidyalaya in Aheri.

Truly, he has proved to the world that the extent to which a person can rise in his life is determined by his own actions. A bad start or a lackluster growth in initial phases in career need not stop a person from dreaming big. 

If one can dream big, one can indeed become big. 

10.

Most of us experience momentary failure at one time or other in our life. While most of us are dejected by such failures, there are some, who use that failure to inspire and motivate them further.

Like P.C.Mustafa from Wayanad, Kerala, who failed in 6th standard in school.

However, this failure propelled him to study hard and he went on to study Engineering from the NIT, Kozhikode. He got job in Motorola and after few years switched job to work in Citibank. During these jobs he was based in Britain, Riyadh and Dubai. However, he was not satisfied.

He returned back to India and did MBA from IIM Bangalore.

The turning point in his life came when he spent some time on weekends in a grocery store run by his cousins. He observed that many women purchased the ready batter for preparing Idli and Dosa.

He decided to start the business of packaged food. With the fourteen-lakh rupees, which he had saved, and with the help of his cousins, he started the business.

Today, hic company ID special foods Pvt Ltd, employs 650 people, has 200 delivery vans and operates in eight prominent cities in South India and in Sharjah, supplying to over 10,000 stores. The turnover of his company is Rs. 62 Crores.

So, did his failure in 6th standard propel him to such heights? Would he have achieved same success, if he had not failed in 6th standard?

Well, sometimes failure is good…!

***

Coming soon Volume #8