Akram Youth Right Understanding | March 2015 | Akram Youth | Page 18

HE CUT THROUGH THE MOUNTAIN
WITH JUST A HAMMER, A CHISEL, AND
CROWBARS.
After 22 years, Dashrath Das
Manjhi, the outcast landless labourer
had conquered the mountain: he had
carved out a road 360 feet long, 30feet
wide. Wazirganj, with its doctors, jobs,
and school, was now only 5 kilometers
away. People from 60 villages in Atri
could use his road. Children had to walk
only 3 kilometers to reach school.
Grateful they began to call him ‘Baba’,
the revered man.
But Dashrath did not stop there.
He began knocking on doors, asking for
the road to be tarred and to be
connected to the main road. He walked
along the railway line all the way to New
Delhi, the capital. There he submitted a
petition for his road, for a hospital for
his people, a school and water. In July

2006, ‘Baba’ went to the then Bihar
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Bhardwaj’s
‘janta darbar’. The minister feeling
overwhelmed, got up and offered
‘Baba’ his chair, a rare honour for a man
of Manjhi’s background.
The government rewarded his
efforts with a plot of land which Manjhi
donated for a hospital. “I do not care for
these awards, this fame and the
money,” he said. “All I want is a road, a
school, and a hospital for our people.
They toil so hard. It will help their
women and children.” It would take
them 30 years to tar this road.
On August 17, 2007, Dashrath
Manjhi lost his battle with cancer. All
that he had done was for no personal
gain. “I started this work out of love for
my wife but continued it for my people.
If I did not, no one would.”

Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired
of doing the hard work you already did. - Newt Gingrich

18 | March 2015