Fairy tales of The News World- The Better India

The child in me never grew tired of the hundreds of stories of princesses and princes, of dwarfs and red riding hood, of rapunzel and the fairy godmother. Each story was a war of good versus evil, and every time good triumphed.  The transition from reading fairy tales to newspapers was marred with conflicting emotions and disappointment. Life had a different meaning in every headline; rather it was reduced to being a headline only. Stories of murders, rapes, cheating, begging as a business, trafficking, and many other crimes was the core content of any newspaper out there. Newspapers are not story books and they print the news as it happens, but the lack of positive news or total absence of it bewildered many. As the negative stories unfolded every morning page after page; it made me wonder: Was our society devoid of any Good Samaritan or the newspapers weren't interested?  

While the world was complaining, finding ways to criticize, a couple was brewing a revolution in their minds. A revolution like no other that involved getting positive stories from around the country into one place so that people could read and benefit from it. Seven years ago, Dhimant Parekh and his wife, Anuradha Kedia  tired by negativity and sensationalism decided to start an alternative news medium. There was one thing that both founders had decided early on. Their website wouldn't be another moral science lesson or an op-ed in the newspaper. The website slowly grew into a medium for stories of unsung heroes, innovators, educators, success of organizations trying to bring about a change, forgotten art forms, and tales that would not only impact the reader but channelize a reaction so as to bring about a change. 

The journey wasn't smooth and not as easy as it looked. The couple started with collecting positive news from other mediums and sharing it on their own, but soon they ran out of stories. Content published in other publications did not  qualify as positive stories.  It is then that they decided to don the hat of  ournalists themselves and scout for positive stories in their city. They spoke to individuals working to improve the society, organizations helping the needy,  took pictures and put it up on their blog. Sharing it was very crucial to gaining readership and they took help of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Family, friends, colleagues, friends of colleagues played an important role in giving visibility to this alternative news website. 

Persistence is what kept them going, and it paid off six months later. A journalist offered to write for them: being from a different city they could cover more and the background gave them a new perspective in their writing. The movement kept growing  and they have grown from a team of two people to seven and more than five hundred freelance writers who work tirelessly to bring the positive stories. These stories are not only a delight to read but have had a huge impact on the readers. A story about a genius mind who created 33 forests in India reached as far as the BBC World and a special project request from Germany. Another  inspiring story  about a school for the hearing-impaired children in Chennai moved a reader so much that he visited the school and contributed INR 3.5 lakhs (Approximately, 6000 USD) towards its repairs. These are just some of the many positive changes that have come about just by sharing positive news.

Determination, passion,  and the zeal for positivity is working its magic and impacting the life of millions. They do not have any supernatural powers of superman or the gizmos of batman; storytelling is their cape and their magic wand. The numbers are proof of the impact these stories have had. 1.5 million readers, 300,000+ social media followers and 500+ writers is a gigantic feat that positive storytelling has achieved and it continues to grow.  You don't have to be a magician to change the world. Join the cause, share a positive story and help them change the lives of millions. The fairy tales you missed, happy endings that were lost, fight for justice and hundreds of other stories can be found here: The better India

Originally written for India West: September 17th,2015:

http://www.indiawest.com/eedition/page-a/page_7522ff02-7207-538d-9895-7e17a8fac008.html#page_a08

http://www.indiawest.com/eedition/page-a/page_179fe07a-7278-58e1-bb3a-541a264ec138.html#page_a16

Manjhi- When Love Broke a Mountain!

The road I tread today bleeds courage, drips with passion, and speaks volumes about a man's resolve to change the lives of his people single handedly. This sentiment must have been echoed by every person who travelled this path cut across a mountain in Gehlour, Bihar.  Two things in life make you want to move mountains to achieve what you want to: love for someone and passion for something, and when the two combine it becomes a story extraordinaire!! Dashrath Manjhi's story was born, when his soul mate lost life's battle owing to inaccessible roads leading to the nearest hospital. Fired with grit and determination, one man took it upon himself to break down a mountain and carve a road. Devoid of any machinery, he took on the herculean task of cutting through the mountain with just a hammer, a chisel, and a crowbar.   

In his quest for providing the villagers with easy access to hospitals, schools and jobs, the mountain man started a mission to carve a road across a mountain with tools like hammer, chisel, and a crowbar. The community called him a madman, doubting his success, but he continued with this extremely difficult construction project ever undertaken. He needed money to fulfill his dream; therefore he sold his goats, ploughed fields during the day and cut through the mountain in the evening and night. A treacherous mountain that deprived the villagers of the most basic facilities was converted into a road by a man who worked tirelessly for 22 years. The film making team worked equally hard to do justice to this story. The diction teacher was so strict that sometimes he had to be reminded that people outside Gehlour are also going to watch the film.

This legend will soon come to life on a 70mm screen through Ketan Mehta's film,' Manjhi - The Mountain Man.' The movie travels through Dashrath Manjhi's life from the time he was just a laborer to when he achieved the miraculous feat and until his death. The film is not another love story or just a documentary drama. It is a beautiful depiction of the various colors of life, of a man's love for his wife, his courage to follow his dream and the love-hate relationship he develops with the mountain he set out to break. Two different scenes in the movie capture this brilliantly. While in one he is heard talking to the mountain and saying." Bahut bada hai tu, bahut akkad hai tujh mein. dekh kaise Ukhadte hai Akkad teri." In another scene, under the influence of alcohol at his son's wedding, in blissful happiness, Manjhi talks to the mountain and says ' I won't break you today." Ridiculed for his actions when he began the daunting task, Dashrath Manjhi is now a local hero and worshiped by the villagers. His name was even recommended for the Padma Shree in 2006 in the social service sector by the then Bihar Government.  

Hidden in a remote village of Bihar, how did the story break? 'Parvat Purush' or The Mountain Man was the name given to Manjhi by a curious journalist who gave this story to the world and is an interesting character himself. In the movie, the role is essayed by Gaurav Dwivedi of the Rang Rasiya and Bombay Summer fame. Gaurav is an engineer by qualification but found his calling in the movies. He was first chosen by Ketan Mehta for the role of the lead's younger brother in Rang Rasiya while he was performing in a play as part of his curriculum at the Film and Television Institute of India.  Four years later, he bagged this role of a journalist without having to give any auditions.  

The simplicity of the character and the various shades is what interested him in the role. There is no doubt that Manjhi is the hero of this film, but the narrator brings the legend into the spotlight. It is through his vision; Dashrath Manjhi was introduced to the world and is now a legend. When I spoke to Gaurav and asked him how he prepared himself for the role, having no prior experience as a journalist? He said, “From what I understand, a journalist is a hunter for stories, a khoji and it is this instinct that helps them. This attitude is what I tried to bring into my character."  It is no coincidence that the decision to quit his engineering studies and pursue a career in acting was purely on impulse and instinct while he was on a train in Australia. I see a resemblance in these stories, of the mountain man and of the narrator.  

Gaurav did not have to break a mountain, but it takes determination to leave behind the safety net an engineering degree can offer and fly across a continent to follow your dream. The courage, conviction and passion to follow his dream is what got him here. His talent extends beyond acting: he is quite a story teller and anecdotes from his experiences make any conversation with him exciting. He strongly believes that the few films he has done and the time it has taken him to reach where he is, has helped him hone his talent. If success had come to him early on, minus the struggles, he wouldn't have respected his craft as much he does today.  Watch the film for the legend, Dashrath Manjhi, for the brilliance a Ketan Mehta film offers, for the powerhouse of talent, Nawazzudin Siddiqui, and for the freshness that Gaurav brings to you in the role of a narrator.  

Image Courtesy: https://www.facebook.com/ManjhiTheFilm 

Originally written  for India West - August17th, 2015. -

http://www.indiawest.com/blogs/manjhi-a-beautiful-depiction-of-the-various-colors-of-life/article_bf96d382-4504-11e5-abf6-9be703b6ee08.html