Do you think ONE man is enough to cut a mountain ?
Is it possible for one person to bring down a 360 feet long, 25 feet high mountain and create a 16 feet wide pass in place of an almost an impassable gap ?
No ...... ?
Think again .
Dasrath Majhi , from Gaya district , state Bihar in India, did just that.
Dasrath eked out a living as a farm hand, toiling in the fields of local
landlords on bare subsistence wages. One day, in the early '60s, his wife
Phaguni Devi fell ill and Dasrath set off with her to the nearest hospital.
Phalguni Devi died on the way.
If only there was no hill blocking the road to the town, Dasrath
would have made it to the hospital in time, and perhaps his wife's life would
have been saved.
The villagers had to take a circuitous route and travel 19 km
to Wazirganj, the nearest district town. This was because the massive 360 feet
long, 25 feet high and 30 feet wide sheer rock came in the way of the shortest
possible route between the village and the town.
The situation would have brought about a feeling of resignation or fatalism in
the average man—as if God had himself put this giant obstacle in the path of
his ailing wife.
Dasrath's response was different and radical, unthinkable and stunningly simple.
He decided to alter geography with chisel
and hammer.
To cut a road through the huge mass of rock.
Alone.
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The next morning, armed with a hammer and
chisel, he started off on a task that was to become an obsession. The villagers
called him a madman.
But that did not deter him.
After 22 years of back-breaking, single-handed toil, Dasrath finished in the mid-'80s. The mountain had yielded to man. Now, Wazirganj was just about six kilometres away. The people of Gelaur village could reach it in under an hour.
In Manjhi’s own words, “What I did is there for
everyone to see. When God is with you, nothing can stop you,”
“I will keep
working for the development of the villages here so long I am alive. I am
neither afraid of any punishment from any government department for my work nor
am I interested in any honour from the government “
Dasrath Majhi died on 17th August, 2007, at the age of 73.
But he will be remembered forever as the "Mountain Man".
A man who loved his wife . A man who thought about others.
A leader, who walked alone and moved the mountain.
Wow! So inspiring. Good that I chanced upon your blog. Kudos.
ReplyDeleteThanks ... Become a member .... :-). See if you like my Teeny-weenies .... the blog which I have posted today
DeleteI feel so sad for tough a life is in this "world"... I would carefully choose my words . Normally people do consider life in rural as tough, but i dont take it away from citydwellers and take them into account... since life in city , like in delhi is also very tough.. Such a pity people die due to distance to medical facilities. Also , issue is , he did died after working breakneck for 22 years , and not even a single person got moved to contrinbute to him , at 20 years , at least , his effort must have shown fruit to villagers .. no ? .. also , how did he sustained his llfe for these many years .. what about his daily earning , as people do dig wells and drink water everyday . I wonder ..
ReplyDeleteHelllo mate nice blog
ReplyDelete