A Man with a Big Smile and a Bigger Passion!

Hello everyone! How have you all been?

It’s been a while since I have posted anything but here’s an amazing story I want to share.

I go for a walk every morning and today (May 3) happened to be a lovely day! It rained yesterday making Delhi’s weather quite pleasant in the month of May.

I have been exploring a forest area with friends recently for our walks. It’s dense and hence makes it easier to avoid the heat. There is always something new to explore here. It has these allocated usual paths and then there are these unallocated and unexplored pathways. Getting lost in these pathways and then discovering a new way is something that really excites me. I think it gives me the permission to make mistakes and still emerge with a lot of experience.

Today, during our exploration, we came across a man who was happily watering the plants. We assumed that he is a member of the local body and was just doing his job. He seemed very approachable and something about his personality drew us to him.

During our conversation we got to know that he was not working with the local body and in fact was doing this out of choice and very happily I must say. He gave us a tour of the area proudly showing off the plants. He had a story to tell about each plant. He remembered the dates he planted them. He supposedly used a compass to ensure that the plants are in the right place (depending on the sunlight). Not only did he plant the saplings, he came every other day to water them and ensuring that they were not dying. In a span of 10 years he had planted more than 400 trees!

While he tries his best to ensure the plants are well protected, every other day there are mishaps. Sometimes a ‘nilgai’ destroys the plants, and at other times somebody flips the metal net put around the trees for safety. However, he doesn’t give up. He keeps coming back and starting again from scratch. All this for the environment and for his passion. Such is his passion that sometimes he completely forgets to have his meals.

It’s difficult to find people like him and very few with so much passion. His passion was inspiring and gave me lots of food for thought! He does this every day when nobody is watching him, just out of his passion. While explaining about the plants and giving us a tip or two he kept smiling his infectious smile.

I did not ask his name. I was too engrossed to listen to his stories and tips.

How do you fuel your passion? What keeps you going? What is your ‘true’ passion? Let me know in your comments.