Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Lage Raho, You Inspire Us - Anshu Gupta!

Everytime I meet you in person, I feel blessed and inspired! People like you are rare species :)

Yesterday(20 September) while we all were celebrating GOONJ's inspirational work and Ramon #Magsaysay award, I was constantly feeling goosebumps and my heart was filled with pride :)

Both veterans and beginners had assembled to be part of Samosa, laddu and Chai party. While he invited veterans & close friends to come and share about Goonj, I felt overwhelmed when he asked me to come and share :)

At the first instance I was short of words and full of emotions but then I shared two things that makes him class apart!

It was February 14, 2012 and I was sitting with him in Goonj's office sharing the plan and idea of our upcoming Lead The Change program, we spoke for an hour or so, he gave some brilliant feedback. During the entire conversation we did not talk about funds, after the meeting I was about to leave, when he stopped me and handed over a cheque. Without even uttering a word I looked into his eyes and he replied,"Mujhe pata hai tumhare paas paise nhi hain, kaam ayenge.(I know you dont have money, it will be of use)" I had a big smile on my face and enough courage to never look back! It was the first funding cheque for Youth Alliance and he wrote "Lage Raho" on my diary. One of the best Valentine's Day gift I can imagine :)

Second thing, that I shared is often missed in this data driven, quantifiable world, where numbers matter more than anything. Couple of week back I called him and asked him, "Bhaiya, how many talks have you given til now?" and we estimated around 500 talks/lectures. With an average of 50 people(I am sure it will be more than that), he has spoken to more than 5000 youngsters in past five years and with his powerful oratory, if he has ignited even 1 heart in every talk, he has inspired 50 more initiatives or individual to do something powerful. Apart from this, thousands of people have visited Goonj's processing center and left spellbound and inspired. I know around 5-6 youngsters personally who have initiated their enterprise because of him. This cannot be quantified and the seeds of inspiration that have gone deep because of Goonj, cannot be seen currently and we might witness the impact in decades and centuries to come.

Goonj might be there or not but 100 years down the line, its inspiration would be doing things which are incomprehensible!

Thank you Anshu bhaiya! You are my hero :)