At a discussion organised by an NGO at the Embassy of the State of Kuwait, panellists spoke about the role that ‘inspiration’ plays in the lives of people and how it is the responsibility of the successful to help those less provileged. Shrabasti Mallik reports
They say that the toughest most difficult times call for desparate bouts of encouragement, support and inspiration. And the first place a person looks for these things is at home. There are perhaps very few things in life that cannot be accomplished or achieved if one is inspired and supported enough.
Tales of encouragement and inspiration are present in every nook and corner of the place we live in but in a recent panel discussion, brought together by the Gunjan Foundation in association with the Embassy of the State of Kuwait, gave an opportunity for the audience to know what people, all well established in their respective fields of work, understood by the definition of inspiration.
The panelists at the discussion titled Inspiring to inspire were Rajendra Mal lodha, Chief Justice of India, Vinod Rai, former comptroller and auditor general of India, Sunil Bharti Mittal, founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises and Sairee Chahal, founder and CEO of a website that empowers people in various ways.
According to Chahal, one does not always need to look forward to other people for inspiration. “A lot of inspiration can be found by going deep into yourself. It essentially starts at home. It is in your hands and you just have to challenge yourself and be a little bit more attentive,” she said.
lodha, who works within the legal system, on the other hand, mentioned that in the beginning, we must strengthen other’s opinion. “And once we do that collectively, it will strengthen the foundation of our democracy,” he pointed out.
“I believe that each one of us is accountable for whatever we do and wherever we are,” said Rai, when his turn came to speak on the subject. He continued to explain that whatever work one does in life, he or she should be able to stand in front of the mirror, at the end of the day, satisfied that they have done something for the benefit and welfare of their progeny something that they would be proud of. “I agree with the Prime Minister’s campaign for a cleaner nation but, I feel that we should all be in a campaign to be clean in every sense. “All of it starts at home and not in school and colleges. And it is in everyone of us. Its depends all on our will,” he pointed out.
Bharti added to that, “We have to work much harder. It is the job of all those who are in a particular position and are successful, to provide for those who are not.” He elaborated on the many foundations and organisations under his banner that are selflessly striving to provide for better facilities and infrastructure to many, yet to be fully developed parts of the country. His works actually resonated with what he said. He said that when he sees the lives of the people which have benefitted from the initiatives taken, it makes him extremely happy.
“It is a happy feeling to provide to help them. Forty seven per cent of the kids who learn are girls and you never know whether they would grow up to become future officers, doctors and excel in other professions. And that inspires me,” added Mittal.
Moderator of the discussion Richa asked lodha to recollect one incident where he had to fight between his human heart and his judges mind and he obliged. He narrated an account of an event that happened at the Supreme Court where a lady had walked up to him and said that she was going to commit suicide in the court room. “We asked another lady judge to talk to her. She took the lady out and she confided in her that she was being mentally tortured at home and was a victim of domestic violence. We summoned the in-laws and the matter was settled. So, there are many times we have to ensure that despite judicial and constitutional constraints, if something could be done then we should not delay action,” he elaborated.
photo Sanjeev Kumar