Calling Navin a role model for the differentially abled would not be enough. He is a role model to all of us, with dreams that we don't always have the courage to pursue. He is a living example of his favourite legend: Our ability never restricts us, our thoughts do. If we think we can, we can.

 After a freak accident doing gymnastics paralysed him neck down, Gentleman Cadet Navin Gulia of the Indian Military Academy spent many months lying on his hospital bed with a traction drilled into his skull to keep his spine straight. He spent that time making a mental list of all the things he would never be able to do. "I would never be an Army officer, I would not be able to write, I would not be able to do anything with my limbs…the list was endless," he says. And then he performed a small act of courage. He decided that his self worth did not come from any of those things.

"I taught myself to be proud of what I was. And then I started finding ways to make myself worthy of that pride".
It wasn't easy. He hung a book from his hospital bed and started to read, practiced mental chess on an empty chessboard, dictated his answers and passed a computer proficiency course at Aptech with 99 per cent marks; had his friends carry him up the 40 stairs of Symbiosis everyday and completed his Masters Degree in Computer Management with first class. He started teaching computer science for a living, fought for a driving license and when car manufacturers did not show any interest in his hand control designs, went ahead to design a hand driving kit for the differentially abled that can be attached to any car. Also modified powered hang gliders for adventure sports.

It was a decision that has impacted hundreds of lives around him. From someone with 90 percent disability Navin has gone on to set a Limca World Record – he has driven a Tata Safari to Marsimik La, the highest mountain pass in the world — at 18632 feet it is 1232 ft higher than the base camp of Everest.
He has modified cars for polio affected, designed controls for differentially-abled people, given motivational talks to Army officers, toured hospitals to share his infectious enthusiasm and will to live a happy life with the war wounded and paraplegics, held the position of Senior Coordinator at the War Wounded Foundation, Delhi, and now runs two NGOs – ADAA and Jan Jagriti - in Delhi that work with street and rural children.
Navin has received Chief of Army Staff Commendation for Exemplary Service 2005 and National Role Model Award from former President APJ Abdul Kalam in 2006. He lives in Gurgaon with his wife Kushi and a handsome Doberman.

Rachna Bisht-Rawat

In praise of the unsung

Mahesh Bhatt writes about meeting ordinary men and women who have dwarfed him by their sheer act of courage.

Sometime in 1996 a magazine commissioned me to shoot for a story on the vanishing architectural heritage of coastal Karnataka. My host and the author of the story was Vijayanath Shenoy. Though born and brought up in Mangalore, I had never met him till then. As we travelled in the hinterland of Dakshina Kannada district, Shenoy explained the intricacies of traditional architecture. He talked relentlessly about the need to conserve the architectural heritage. I was astonished by his passion. Till then I hadn’t met anyone who was so single-mindedly dedicated to his or her calling. Shenoy, I though is a true hero, a role model. During those days the idea of doing a book on such people was born.

I met 10 extraordinary people out of which nine were featured in my book Unsung. I travelled across India several times to spend time with my heroes. Everytime I came back humbled, each trip was an eye opener.
It was minus 12 degree Celsius when I landed in Leh on a December morning. Later in the morning when I met Chewang the only warm clothing Chenwang had was a heavy jacket. I was under several layers of clothing and still shivering. Chewang makes artificial glaciers in the rugged Ladakh! He was 68 then and I 38. I struggled to keep pace with him in the high altitude desert. 

I read about Subhashini Mistry. It was a small article in a weekly. When I finally traced her address and reached Hanspukur near Kolkata, I was greeted by her and her son Dr Ajoy Mistry at the entrance of their Humanity Hospital. After her husband passed away due to gastroenteritis in the 70s, she took on the responsibility of bringing up her children, worked for over 20 years to save Rs 20000 and built Humanity Hospital — so that no one else would be deprived of basic healthcare because they didn’t have money! Most of us complain and constantly crave for things that we don’t have. There I saw Subhashini who didn’t have anything but gave so much to the world around her.

It was a stirring moment when I heard human rights lawyer and activist George Pulikuthiyil repeated Gandhi’s words  “If resistance to evil is the best form of worship then every act of mine is a prayer.” He was not mearly quoting Gandhi, It was his way of life.

Rangaswamy Elango, who gave up his cushy job, became the sarpanch of his village panchayat and realised Gram Swaraj. The dedicated ranger and warrior of the jungle K M Chinnappa was responsible for Nagarahole becoming one of the best national parks of India. Lakshman Singh defeated drought in his village of Laporiya in Rajasthan. The most amazing Tulasi Munda educated over 20,000 people for free in the last 30 years in the impoverished Serenda region of Orissa. Our own Hasnath Mansur has been seeding reason and breaking myths in the minds of the poor Muslim women.

All these heroes when I approached them with the idea of the book asked me if they were really worthy of being featured in the book! Another interesting point that Anita Pratap (journalist and co-author) and I observed, there was one man who had influenced all our heroes — Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.
Publishing Unsung was not an end in itself. It has been an endeavour to make sure that it reaches the right people and that it makes some difference to the lives of these heroes. Most of the people featured lack one thing —funds to carry out their work. I hope that Unsung will make a positive impact on the readers and the good word will spread.

The stories from Unsung will be used as cases for courses like leadership, change management, influencing and team work at the Dept. of Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources at IIM-Bangalore. I sent a copy to several world leaders, Bill Clinton wrote a personal letter that said: “It is a beautiful way to document such inspiring stories.”

(The writer is a documentary and editorial photographer based in Bangalore. He has authored a book of photographs on Karnataka and co-authored four more. He co-authored with Anita Pratap, his latest book, ‘Unsung’)

Poll police
This one is for all those cynics who think ‘nothing can be done.’ Prof Trilochan Sastry not only thought otherwise, but went on to take up the task of cleaning up the political system. As a result, today, we are aware how much a political candidate is worth; whether he/she has any criminal records against them before we vote them to power. And very soon you can even find out how they made their crores, by actually looking at their IT returns.

Incredible, considering all this was unthinkable a few years ago. And those responsible for this electoral reform were people like us led by an unassuming professor at IIM Bangalore — Prof Sastry. “Most of the big leaders from Rajiv Gandhi to Narasimha Rao, to Laloo Prasad Yadav to Jayalalitha to practically everyone was involved in some scam or the other. I would get so angry, and would think was this why I did my PhD from MIT and came back to India,” recalls Prof Sastry of a journey that started with that one act of courage. To act.

Incidentally, Prof Sastry has been selected as one among 17 Indians listed in the World Economics Forum’s Global Young Leaders for 2008.

“I was working in IIM Ahmedabad and I mooted this idea of filing a PIL for electoral reforms. The reaction was lukewarm.” Nonetheless, Prof Sastry persisted. Finally in 1999, when general elections were announced following the fall of the Vajpayee government, Prof  Sastry with about 10 like-minded IIM professors formed the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and filed a PIL in the Delhi High Court seeking disclosure of assets and criminal records of contesting candidates. Despite a favourable judgement, the then BJP government and all parties across ideologies opposed it. In May 2002, the Supreme Court upheld the Delhi HC’s judgement. The then BJP government called an all-party meeting to discuss this landmark  judgement. “I remember the anguish I felt at the whole approach by politicians to deny the people their right to an informed choice,” says Prof Sastry. Armed with the all-party consensus, the Union government decided to amend the Representation of the People Act to beat the apex court fiat. An Ordinance was mooted in August 2002.

After many appeals and special leave petitions, the fight reached the doorstep of the then President Abdul Kalam. “About 40 of us — people from all walks of life — met the President and requested him not the sign the Ordinance.” President Kalam returned it unsigned. “We also challenged the all-party order saying how it was an infringement of our Fundamental Right.” Finally in March 2003, SC struck down the Ordinance as unconstitutional.

The fight did not end there. To ensure that the order was implemented, Prof Sastry and his team established the Citizens’ Election Watch. Today there are 14,000 NGOs across the country partnering Prof Sastry and others in the battle for electoral reforms. “Public awareness is high. In Bihar today, no minister in the Nitish Kumar government has a criminal record against him. In UP, there were 206 MLAs with criminal record in the Mulayam Singh government. The figure has come down to 160 in the Mayawati government,” he remarks.

During the UP elections, Rahul Gandhi had called the ADR’s Varanasi office asking for details of the contesting Congress candidates. “Recently Advani called asking for the records of BJP candidates for the on-going Karnataka Assembly elections,” Prof Sastry reveals.

Last year, ADR had filed an application under the RTI Act with the income-tax department. They wanted audited accounts of political parties filed before taxmen to be given to them. This year the SC announced a judgement in their favour. “As they say follow the money...we want to track the money as all corruption arises out of the need to generate cash for elections,” he says.

For Prof Sastry and his team of ‘warriors’ the battle has just begun. “For us this is like the second war of independence,” he says. Considering fighting the internal enemy is much more difficult, Prof Sastry is prepared for a long haul. 
Dipti Nair

Good samaritan
Think of a horrible road mishap and list out a few possible reactions of  passersby. ‘Oh god,’ some may exclaim, ‘what a frightening accident!’ and move ahead. Some may stop for a while, look at the grimness of the situation, ask themselves ‘why should we take the risk?’ and continue. Rarest are those who will not have a second thought on the consequences and rush to save lives.

To add to the list of such samaritans, here comes Charmady Hasanabba, a small cha dukan owner at Charmady, the beginning point of the dangerous Charmady ghat stretch that connects Mangalore and Bangalore. Day or night, rain or shine, it is Hasanabba who rushes to the spot of crisis anywhere in the ghat stretch, and saves lives. And he has been at it for the past 35 years!

Road mishaps are not rare on Charmady ghat featuring as many as 11 hair-pin curves at a height ranging from 475 ft to 1975 ft above sea level. In fact, days are rare without accidents here. But the point is one cannot find a single house or a tea shop on the 15-km stretch from Charmady to Kottigehara, but only dense forest, steep curves and frightening valleys. For Charmady Hasanabba, as he is known in his area, rushing to the accident spot, admitting the victims to the hospital, informing their family and police, lifting the damaged vehicles from the trenches, helping the affected for insurance cover... have become a part of his routine.

When Hasanabba was 20 years old, there was a fatal collision in the ghat section at midnight. People came to know about the mishap only in the morning; by the time two people had lost their lives. “I was very much touched by the incident, and from that moment I decided to do whatever I could for people in distress,” says 57-year-old Hasanabba.

It was in 1985, a Chikmagalur-based bank employee accompanied by his son was on the way back to his native place with a newly bought truck, which he himself was driving. “The truck met with an accident in the night and I got a call. When I reached the place, both were lying unconscious, and I took them to the hospital. I also recovered a briefcase from the spot and when I opened it to find the victim’s address, I was surprised to see Rs 53,000 but no address. As the vehicle was new, there was no registration number and I could not trace the address. Finally, I contacted the dealers of the truck in Mangalore and succeeded in getting the address. The victim took 11 days to come out of coma, by the time his family members had arrived and I returned the money to them. It was after a week the wife of the victim came to my home, and touched my mother’s feet, saying, ‘Amma, your son saved my mangalya’. That scene is still alive in my heart…”
Sibanthi Padmanabha K V

Jungle man
It (late 1960s) was a time when a failing system had to be questioned, revolted against and rebuked. It was also a time when a new order had to be enforced — the right one. And one brave man stood tall against all odds to do what he believed was right. K M Chinnappa has never once felt otherwise about the importance of keeping our forests intact. It doesn’t take more than a minute to realise that in every vein of this over 60-year-old former Range Forest Officer at Nagarhole, runs the lifeline of a jungle he is instrumental in bringing alive.

When Chinappa walked through the gates of Nagarhole over 35 years ago, he was taken aback at the sight. The place was infested with humans rather than wildlife. It looked like a village settlement, with agriculture flourishing and any sign of wildlife was conveniently eliminated. Crime was looming large and there wasn’t anyone who could or wanted to change that. But someone had to do it. 

A recent interaction with him was an eye-opener to the fact that it doesn’t always take an army of people to make a difference. Instead one man, with grit and determination, who can spark a revolution, incidently becomes a role model for the less dauntless who spring up and help the lone warrior fight his battle. A conservationist in the true sense of the word, Chinnappa is a man of integrity, never letting anything come in the way of his duty nor letting adversities get the better of him.

With Chinnappa, his work got him a lot of admirers (also a few dedicated protegees who have stood by him and continue to take his work further) but plenty more enemies.

e lost his house when some people, infuriated by his aggressive stand against intruders in the forests, torched it down, slapped with false cases and even got him arrested once but later released. None of this deterred his work. Instead, he got up and moved on with his fight, with added determination. “Couldn’t let that come in the way of my work,” he simply says.

As years passed, he realised education was just as important and effective in the process of conservation. Along with being a Trustee of Wildlife First and a Member of the National Board for Wildlife, he is instrumental in initiating the Nagarhole Wildlife Conservation Education (NAWICOED) project that strives towards educating and creating awareness on issues related to environment and wildlife conservation.

Many conservationists and biologists opine that emotions aside, one needs to have a scientific approach to an issue as sensitive as this. And that there’s no place for a sentimental fool. When Chinnappa talks, the strong string of emotional bond with the land of the wild is unmistakable. “I haven’t seen God but I know and believe in Mother Nature,” he always says.

He has stood by his motto — wildlife is the purpose of my life — and fought every battle head on with a lot of aggression and a bit of emotion. Afterall, the barking deer, the roaring tigers and the mighty elephants in Nagarhole stand as a testimony to Chinnappa’s undying commitment to the forests.
Madhumitha B

Mountain man remembered
This is the real life story of a septuagenarian Dashrath Manjhi, who moved mountains some two decades back. Call him a superman or a super human, but this 5-feet tall Manjhi single-handedly carved out a 360-feet-long, 25-feet-high and 30-feet-wide road by cutting a mountain for 22 years (from 1960 to 1982) near Gaya in Bihar.
It all started four decades back when on a hot summer day Manjhi’s wife slipped off the rocks and hurt herself, while crossing the narrow pathway round the mountain. In the process, the earthen pot in which she was carrying water for a thirsty Manjhi broke and she returned empty-handed. It was then that Manjhi, then in his late 20s, realised that the mountain was coming in the way of  water. “It had to be removed, come what may,” he told his wife.

Born as an extremely poor Mushar (the community which is considered as a social outcast and faces the stigma of eating rats and drinking liquor), Manjhi sold his goat the very next day so that he could purchase a chisel and hammer.  After 22 years of untiring effort, he had dug a pathway 360-feet-long and 30-feet-wide, thereby reducing the distance with the nearest town by 80 kilometres. But his victory was tinged with sadness. His wife had died of illness as she could not be taken to the hospital on time. The real tribute to this ‘mountain man’, as he is fondly known, however came from Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. So overwhelmed was the Bihar CM that he got up from his chair and asked Manjhi to sit there when the septuagenarian called him up with a request to set up a hospital in the name of his wife in that village.

Manjhi died fighting cancer at AIIMS, Delhi, in August last. The Bihar government announced a state funeral and named the road (dug by him) as Dashrath Manjhi Road.
Abhay Kumar

Olympian dreams
She’s a simple frail looking girl next door. Until a few years back, there was a long list of people who dismissed her dreams of being a power lifter champ as mere ‘wishful thinking’. They just couldn’t believe that she could really do it. There were others who asked her parents to dissuade her from such a ‘manly’ activity or finding a matrimonial match would be real tough. Who would want a pahalwan bahu in the family?

But Mala Sukhwal, 24, proved them all wrong. With her perseverance, hard work and the strong conviction of her parents, she did succeed in carving out a niche for herself.

Winner of four gold medals at the 2007 Commonwealth Power Lifting Championship in New Zealand and also the title of Second Strong Woman of Commonwealth countries, Mala is now the role model for sports women of Rajasthan. And the best part is she got married on January 31 this year.

Nurturing an irresistible urge to stand out from the rest since her school days, Mala always put in her best efforts in studies, sports and extra-curricular activities. Born in a small village of Chittorgarh, Mala was brought up in Udaipur where her father Tulsi Ram works as a mechanic. With a BSc degree and the best student certificate from Meera Girls College, Udaipur, Mala also has a post-graduate degree in commerce. Though her initial dream was to be a doctor, destiny dragged her to power lifting. Swimming was her  passion as she won district and state swimming competitions many times. But her fascination to power lifting started after watching boys doing their workouts at the gym. One day when they failed to perform a feat their coach had asked them to, she took up the challenge. To everyone’s surprise, she did it with effortless ease.

That was the turning point in her career. Prior to winning four gold at the Commonwealth Power Lifting Championship 2007 (junior category) in all the three parts — squat, bench press and dead lift, Mala has been an Asian Power Lifting Champion, winning four silver and a bronze at the Federation Cup championship.

A strict vegetarian, Mala is training under her coach Amrti Lal Kalyani, who is from NIS, Patiala, for the past four years. While her coach has groomed her for the championships, she has derived inner strength and inspiration from her parents. While father Tulsiram toiled hard in his job to support the family, Mala’s mother was always a strong pillar of support. Her mother Rukmani worked extremely hard to supplement the family income by sewing and cooking for at least 30 inmates at a hostel. The parents at one time even decided to sell their small house to arrange for her visit for the Asian Power Lifting Championship .

Mala recounted her success story with immense gratitude to her parents. Her ultimate goal is to participate in the Olympics and she is praying that power lifting is included in the Olympic events. She wants to make India proud. But at the same time, would also like to secure her family life.

“It’s a cruel reality that many sports champions are today living a life of penury and neglect. Rail minister Laloo Prasadji has assured me a job. If I get it, I will play for the Railways,” she said.
Abha Sharma