Thinking About Recognition

The picture above is one that i saw first today morning, in my English newspaper, Times of India, a paper read daily by several million people across India, front page, lead story! It is of a person, whom I never knew of, but now know. He is Babasaheb Pandurang Adhav, an autorickshaw driver. He has been awarded by TOI group the top Lifetime Contribution Award. Born in 1930 in Pune a rather big city in Maharashtra India, Baba, as he is known in every side-alley of Punes working class areas, became a committed activist, involved in many of the countrys major political upheavals. He joined a satyagraha against high prices and food rationing during a drought, and went to jail for three weeks for the first time in 1952. As an ayurveda doctor, Baba practiced in Punes Nana Peth for several years. He saw first-hand the hardships faced by hamals (headloaders), mainly from backward castes, who come from all over rural Maharashtra to Punes markets, unloading heavy sacks of grain or cement on their backs all day, with barely enough time off to find food, and no house and hence sleep in the same market. Lately, Baba has been actively involved in similar struggles for auto drivers, ragpickers, hawkers, domestic workers and construction labourers. He is also known for his social reform work, which is based on the ideology of Gandhi, Jyotirao Phule and Ambedkar. Caste is the root of inequality in Indian society. Is that a very uncommon story anywhere? I think not, may be only the conclusion. Many struggle for recognition, all their life, but few ever succeed. The terrain of the road is very rough and demanding. Recognition seldom comes quickly, one has to struggle, by working hard in a sustained manner for very many years. Even after that it is not guaranteed. Everyone aspires for recognition, but few have enough gusto to work for it, they resign to anonymity, to a state when recognition is limited to a few friends, relatives and associates, which come automatically to all. It is well known, I remember the review of a classic Indian movie Pyasaa that I read recently. I quote a couple of lines here: Pyaasa, a Guru Dutt's real masterpiece, tells of the thirst for love, for recognition, for spiritual fulfilment. a strong parallel between the hero, a poet, the outsider trying to make a place for himself in the society I think, I too have that thirst, I do not know whether I will ever succeed in quenching it, but I am working for it, keeping in mind, that it may happen or it may never. I do not seek recognition by merely increasing the number of my followers or friends on fb, but by the number of people who appreciate my thoughts. Yes, I have miles to go before I sleep. Rakesh Mohan Hallen