The Power Of One

The Time: March 2006
The Context: The Magboard was going to conduct a panel discussion on

"Ask not what the country can do for you. Ask what you can do for the country."

As a run-up to the event, we had evolved Spektrum (the wall magazine of UIET) into a 'Discussion Forum' where the students could express their views on the topic.

This is the article I wrote for Spektrum then. Publishing it here, in deep nostalgia- an ode to the Days That Were!


One evening, not many days ago, soon after I reached home, I got a call. On the other side was Samy, sounding very excited and charged up. She had just got an idea.

“Tomorrow, I plan to clean up the mess left behind by Goonj(the Annual Fest of UIET) all around UIET. And I want you to do it with me. I’ll ask Aditi too. And we’ll do it, irrespective of whether anyone else joins us or not.”

I was really very impressed with the novel idea and readily agreed.

“But I am getting curious about this sudden inspiration…?” I joked. We had been together the whole evening that day, and this idea had been nowhere around then.

“Mere parents jab mujhe pick karne aaye, to they commented ke uiet kitna ganda lag raha hai. I really felt embarrassed to hear them say so.”

Well, to be very honest, I just had not noticed the garbage dump that UIET seemed to have become after Goonj!

So, the next day, we reached there at 8.30 a.m. The Mitra team(the social welfare club of UIET) too had joined hands with us. So, we were a team of around 10 volunteers. And, we started the work. Picking up all the litter from all around UIET and brooming it all clean. A few students, on seeing us work, came forward to help us.

By 10.30, it was all done! The whole area around UIET was looking neat, and we were beaming with pride at the transformation that WE had created! It was a feeling of immense joy and satisfaction.

That single experience taught me the power of ONE. Even a single person can make a positive difference to the society! Each one of us can- you and me!

And we don’t need to take any drastic or radical steps. Big dreams like “I’ll rid the country of all corrupt politicians”, “I want to eradicate poverty” etc. are beyond the reach of most of us, and so likely to remain mere dreams. But that is no reason for disillusionment. Its not an all-or-nothing scenario. Let us start with what we CAN do, simple things really, that we can easily do. For example, not littering the roads, picking up scraps of paper or waste that someone has carelessly thrown around, teaching a poor child, donating money, clothes or books to an orphanage….there are an infinite ways in which we can show Social Responsibility.

You may find that you may not have made much of a dent to the country’s problems as such. The scams, the poverty, the unemployment, the red-tapism and all the other evils may still continue unabated. But if you have made a positive difference to even one individual, you have been successful. You have spread the spark. You have done your duty towards your country.

One Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra has inspired us all.
One of them was a girl called Samy.
And that girl, thus inspired, in turn helped me find the spark in me.

That is how the spark grows!

That is the power of ONE!

Abhi Abhi ye hua yakeen
Ke aag hai mujhme kahin


P.S. I am suddenly feeling so good thinking about the awesome panel discussion it was! Still remembered so fondly by everyone as 'The RDB Debate.'










WE- THE MAGBOARD

Pictures courtesy: Prabhjot's photo album