Heros' way

I was watching a talk show in Vijay TV (a Tamil channel part of Star Network) few weeks back. The topic was about Educational loans. As usual there were heated debates on both sides - Students vs Bank Managers. Some of the things which came more evident are, that the bank managers are themselves not clear on the rules required for Educational loan criteria. All so far is a standard talk show.. but I was impressed by a student's stand. He argued so well about his eligibility and the bureaucracy which refused his loan, one of the bank mangers on the other side offered him a loan. But, he refused it saying now he had joined a different course, and that is not what that stuck me. He went along to request the bank manager to grant the same loan promised to him to another student in the talk show. The manager agreed to grant the loan to the student pointed out. I was so impressed. I was thinking for sometime, what would I have done in such a situation. The nearest honest answer I could come up with is I could have said no to the bank manager's offer. I could have not thought about getting that loan to another deserving student whom i have not met before the talk show. It is rightly said "Heroes just go farther than ordinary people".. How true it is.

With in a few days of this, I was again dumb struck by another boy in clutches of poverty. Being born in a poor family, this boys thought that education is a luxury and if one visits his village can see for themselves. This guy is in west Bengal in the district bordering Bangladesh (I forgot the district name). His name is Babar Ali. He has to travel 10kms for his school daily and it didn't matter for him. he felt so lucky for himself. On one fine day morning in his 10th, he realised that the favourite game of this friends (teacher-pupil) is no more a game but an un-quenched thirst by his uneducated friends for studies. He decided to take the game further. Thus a school was born with a 10th standard student as the principal. It was started two years ago and now 800 students .. yes 800 students.. are studying in the school. It is managed by Ali and some of his school mates. Free Education to the community. A bunch of students made a difference in life of 800 students. An accomplishment the Indian bureaucracy had failed to accomplish country wide. Again I was reminded that "Heroes just go farther than ordinary people."

I read a news today that 425 schools are shut down in last year - another accomplishment by Indian Government - citing poor student attendance... What an apathy.