INNER STRENGTH

What makes ordinary men become extraordinary is a question I have often debated but never truly found an answer. Dreams we all have but how many of us go out chasing them. So often we blame about lack of money, opportunity, support and finally ‘one size that fits all’ answer of Man proposes, God disposes….God does not want me to do it.  We never say that I am afraid that I will fail; we never accept that people may mock us for our audacious dream and finally if we were to even start acting, we give up too soon, maybe at the first sight of failure. Today I shall narrate the tale of one woman who lived her dreams and that too with absolutely nothing in her kitty except grit, desire, perseverance and most importantly as Shifu in Kungfu Panda says ‘inner peace’ and what she calls ‘inner strength’.

Subhashini Mistry was born to poor parents on the outskirts of Kolkata. She was married to an agricultural worker at the age of 12 and had 4 children. In 1971, her husband fell ill and was taken to a government hospital in Kolkata but the man died because the doctors refused to attend to him as he was penniless. With four hungry children to feed, poor and illiterate Subhashini started working as a maid servant in five houses doing almost every work you could think of from cooking, washing and to gardening.

But in this gravest hour of grief she took one oath that no one should meet her fate. The poor and needy should get the basic medical facility. She vowed that she would build a hospital for the poor. And yet her earning at that time was just Rs 100 per month.

She sent her eldest son, Ajoy, to an orphanage in Kolkata while the other three children helped her in her work. She soon discovered that picking vegetables and selling them was better than house work. She started selling vegetables and gradually set up a stall in Park Circus area. Her earnings grew to Rs 500 a month and she started saving a little of it in her post office account. She did this for 20 long years. She spent not a penny on herself except for the education of Ajoy. Saving bit by bit, with just one dream of building a hospital one day, she carried on silently.

लहरों से डर कर नौका पार नहीं होती,
कोशिश करने वालों की कभी हार नहीं होती।

In 1992 she bought one acre of land in her husband’s village of Hanspukur. She gathered the villagers and told them of her plans. The villagers pooled in all their monies and collected Rs 926. But they got together bamboos, ropes, leaves and earth and built a 20 by 20 feet thatched dispensary in 1993. An auto rickshaw went around the area asking medical professionals for help. Soon 5 doctors volunteered to give two to four hours of their time for free treatment to patients. On Day One of the dispensary, 252 patients were treated. Shubhashini aptly named the dispensary Humanity Hospital.

So far so good but when monsoon came in full fury, it was impossible to work in the make shift temporary dispensary. They needed more money to make a concrete roof and better amenities. Ajoy and his mother took the help of local politicians and gradually some more purse strings were loosened by other donors. It took time and the work went on till a formal foundation stone for a hospital was laid. And guess who came to inaugurate the Humanity Hospital…no lesser man than the Governor of West Bengal… which makes you wonder that the Lord God helps those who seek help in right earnest. With the Governor came press, and with the press came the interest of people and donations and help started pouring in.

नन्हीं चींटी जब दाना लेकर चलती है,
चढ़ती दीवारों पर, सौ बार फिसलती है।
मन का विश्वास रगों में साहस भरता है,
चढ़कर गिरना, गिरकर चढ़ना न अखरता है।
आख़िर उसकी मेहनत बेकार नहीं होती,
कोशिश करने वालों की कभी हार नहीं होती।

Meanwhile, Ajoy completed his graduation from medical college and joined the running of the Humanity Hospital. Eminent citizens including doctors and bureaucrats became trustees and started expanding the hospital which now has 3 acres of land, 9000 sq feet of area and is now spread over two floors. Throughout this growth, Subhashini never forgot her main objective of opening the hospital that is to serve the poor. The poor were to still get free treatment and those slightly better off were to now pay Rs 10 per consultation. This money was to ensure that the hospital gradually became self sufficient and not survived solely on donations.

With Ajoy in control of the situation at the hospital, Subhashini went back to selling vegetables. Her son, after much persuasion, asked her to stay back at home as she has grown very old. She however goes around the beds tending to patients. One of her son and one daughters still sell vegetables where mother once used to. The youngest daughter has become a nurse at the Humanity Hospital.

When asked how she achieved all this, she says, “Inner Strength. God in his infinite grace gave me a vision at the darkest moment in life. From then on my life had a purpose. I used whatever strength God gave me to make sure other poor people did not lose their loved ones for lack of medical attention.” She is still not done with her mission. She says until the day the hospital becomes a 24 hour full- fledged hospital, I cannot die in peace.

In the end, I am reminded of the movie Bucket List where two terminally ill patients went out enjoying what they wanted to do before dying. Standing near the pyramids, Morgan Freeman asks Jack Nicholson, “Do you know what ancient Egyptians' Gods asked of the dead at the entrance to heaven? They asked them two questions, answers to which decided their entry."

Have you found joy in your life? 

Has your life brought joy to others?

 Subhashini Mistry will be able to answer both the questions. What about you and me?

SS