Today is 26th January 2013, the 64th Republic Day of India. A day which the whole of nation celebrates proudly, and also a day when I met Anna Hazare.
I have been fortunate enough to have worked at Infosys and seen Narayan Murthy in life and speaking, his speech is very mind blowing and keeps you involved. Today I met another such person, Kisan Baburao Hazare, popularly known as Anna Hazare.
We had gone on our office trip to several places nearby Pune and happened to visit Anna's village, and fortunately he was in the village. We had to wait for about an hour, but the wait was worth it. I actually was a bit nervous to met such a great and influential person and was lost and blank when I actually saw him and heard him.
Many of us including me touched his feet. He is a very very simple person. He met us openly and very humbly. There was also not much security around him, personifies his simplicity. We asked him to share a few words with us and he readily obliged. He said he always wondered what is the purpose of life. Everyone comes to the world empty handed and leaves also empty handed. What is the reason to carry all the luggage, he did not want to carry the luggage of a small family and today he has the whole nation as family and he is very happy.
He said he also tried to commit suicide once, and this is also written in his wiki page, but then he read a few books of Swami Vivekananda and he realized the meaning and purpose of life. He then devoted his whole life for the good of the country and helping poor and needy people.
He said he lives in a temple in the village and owns a plate for food and nothing else. Yet he had the power to take the wickets of 6 cabinet ministers and expose their corruption. Also he forced the resignation of 400 corrupt government officials. He asked us the youth of the country to be ready for the fight against corruption.
We took some pictures with him and he humbly obliged, he is very down to earth and very simple person. There is a museum in his village dedicated to all his achievements and boy there are so many trophies and certificates given to him. It took us around an hour just inside the museum. Also there is a trophy from World Bank given to him and they also offered him a blank cheque, which he did not accept!
Anna has fought corruption in India using non violence and principles of Gandhiji. I was not fortunate enough to meet Gandhiji, but I believe I have definitely come close today...
We had gone on our office trip to several places nearby Pune and happened to visit Anna's village, and fortunately he was in the village. We had to wait for about an hour, but the wait was worth it. I actually was a bit nervous to met such a great and influential person and was lost and blank when I actually saw him and heard him.
He said he also tried to commit suicide once, and this is also written in his wiki page, but then he read a few books of Swami Vivekananda and he realized the meaning and purpose of life. He then devoted his whole life for the good of the country and helping poor and needy people.
We took some pictures with him and he humbly obliged, he is very down to earth and very simple person. There is a museum in his village dedicated to all his achievements and boy there are so many trophies and certificates given to him. It took us around an hour just inside the museum. Also there is a trophy from World Bank given to him and they also offered him a blank cheque, which he did not accept!
