Commonplace Greatness

Greatness is commonplace, one need to be a little more observant. Commonplace greatness was responsible for the success of our independence movement led by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. The success was not because of Gandhi, but because of millions of common people who sacrificed their jobs, their comfortable life, left the comfort of their homes, burnt clothes which they purchased from their hard earned money. Though the world always remembers and appreciates one individual who initiates or motivates, but no initiation would work if it is not continued, no motivation would work if one doesn’t get people who are motivated. No, it’s not true that a person can be motivated; motivation is an internal state, which can only be brought out, it cannot be created or manufactured in a person’s heart and mind. The intention to get motivated always stays there in dormant mode, in hibernation. The right environment only helps it blossom and come out. Independence movement happened around 70 years ago, but we are witnessing another revolution which was initiated by our karmyogi Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, yes you guessed it right its Swachchata Abhiyan, the movement which started in 2014 now has started showing its result. Even a city like Varanasi which was considered an eternally dirty city, where not so many years ago garbage mountains, overflowing waste dumps, was very common and almost synonymous to the cityscape, is now much cleaner and mountains of garbage have vanished. Hero for these changes in Varanasi and elsewhere in the country are common people, whose commonplace greatness influenced and inspired many. As we live in this city, we many not notice change but for an outsider the changes are startling. Few days ago, a friend of mine who lived in Varanasi around 10 years ago, visited me, though she was listening to the stories about cleanliness drive that Shri Narendra Modi initiated, and how the cleanliness drive has been successful, knowing the temperament of the city she was very apprehensive, but when I received her from the airport and took her home and later in the evening to the ghat for Ganga Arti, she was happily startled and amazed, she kept repeating “I am so very impressed”. It sure made me feel good, but I kept thinking, what made the city so clean that it changed the opinion of a person who had an earlier reference point. It is the common people, which include the swachhata karmi and ordinary citizens who decided to make the difference, they decided to demonstrate discipline, and result is there for everyone to see.

Commonplace greatness or everyday greatness is primary greatness; it has to do with character and contribution, as distinguished from secondary greatness which has to do with wealth, fame, prestige, or position. Everyday greatness is a way of living not a one-time event. It says more about who a person is than what a persona has, and is portrayed more by the goodness that radiates from a face than the title on a business card. It speaks more about people’s motives than about their talents, more about small and simple deeds than about grandiose accomplishments. It is humble. Commonplace greatness has unsung heroes; as I was talking about Swchchata Abhiyan and contribution of ordinary citizens, I will share stories of some of the unsung heroes - One of them is Vikas Chandra who has dedicated his entire life to cleaning the river Ganges. For the last 20 years, he has been working with a group of volunteers to clean the holiest and also the dirtiest river of India. Fondly called “Guddu Baba”, Chandra filed a PIL in Patna High Court to make the river pollution-free. Not only this, he manually pulls out the dead bodies from the river and cremates them.

Another inspiring personality is a 102-year-old lady on a mission to clean up the country. Ahmedabad-based Rama Mali has proved that there is no age to start something good. On her 100th birthday she started a cleanliness drive in Kalupur. Inspired by Gandhi, Mali spreads awareness about cleanliness in her locality, distributes pamphlets and makes sure that people use dustbins.

A girl from North East – Timsula Imsong with some friends in Varanasi, inspired by Modi Ji’s message decided to clean the Ganga ghat, she started with Prabhu Ghat, which was very filthy, because it was comparatively dark and people too advantage of darkness and converted into an open defaecation ground. No one could pass through Prabhu Ghat without holding his breath because of extremely foul smell. This girl an ordinary girl, with extraordinary determination discovered some boys and girls who were equally motivated and started cleaning the ghat, initially people were sceptical and discouraging, but seeing the unwavering determination of the girl, many faceless people came to help and soon the girl became famous internationally, so much so that Narendra Modi ji mentioned about her in his famous Madison Square speech.

Everyday greatness is the result of everyday choice. The choices that we make, the choice to act, the choice of choosing the purpose and the choice of keeping ourselves aligned with the principles.

1. The Choice to Act: We cannot control everything that happens to us. Life hits like the waves of the ocean as one event rolls in after another. Some events are incidental, causing us little or no impact. Others virtually pummel us. But each day we make the choice. Will we be as driftwood that passively floats with the tides and currents of the day or will we instead that proactive responsibility for determining our actions and destinations?

2. The Choice of Purpose: Plenty of us have made the choice to act, only to find that we made poor choices – choices that turned out to be of no value to ourselves or others, some perhaps even harmful. So, alone, the choice to act is not sufficient. 

3. The Choice for principles:  As lighthouses serve as a navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. The principles are like the lighthouse which help our ships ‘navigation and help us finding the shore when all other navigational tools fail.

These three choices are the foundation for everyday greatness. In a sense, the choice to act represents the energy we bring to life – our will power. The choice of purpose represents our destination – where we choose to go in life, what we choose to accomplish. The choice for principles then determines the means for how we will get there – how we will attain our goals. People who exhibit everyday greatness – distinguish through their responses to these three choices.

The message passed on by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi during India’s freedom struggle and the message by Narendra Damodardas Modi was same for everyone, but some who are clear about their choice of action, purpose and principle listen to the message and become ordinary extraordinary people, demonstrating commonplace greatness.