He failed the first time he tried rescuing a child. Yet, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kailash Satyarthi said he was determined to keep trying.<\/b>
\nHe failed the first time he tried rescuing a child. Yet, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kailash Satyarthi said he was determined to keep trying. He was beaten up several times during many of his rescue missions, but his mission was bigger than him and he marched forward.
These are some of the anecdotes we learnt about Satyarthi when he launched his book \u201cKaruna: The Power of Compassion\u201d at the plenary session of the 15th Hyderabad Literary Festival on Saturday, January 24, where he also spoke about what compassion means to him.
\u201cCompassion, for me, is when you feel other people\u2019s problems, feel their pain and you try to solve it, forcing you to take action,\u201d he said. \u201cUnlike emotional quotient or intelligence quotient, compassion quotient (CQ) is unlimited. Compassion is innate,\u201d the social reformer said.
Satyarthi said humans are amazing creatures who are born with power. \u201cWe have the capacity to find solutions.\u201d This is why he wrote the book: \u201cto spark compassion in people and a willingness to make a change.\u201d
Describing how he had lost the speech he prepared when receiving the Nobel in Norway, which apparently made King Harald and Queen Sonja \u201cnervous,\u201d the activist said he decided to tell a story that encapsulates his work.
\u201cThere was a fire that broke out in a forest and all the animals, including the lion, the king of the jungle, ran out. On his way, the lion saw a hummingbird carrying water in its beak. The lion asked, \u2018Why are you not running away too?\u2019 The hummingbird said it is trying to extinguish the fire. When the lion asked again, \u2018What difference will your small beak make?\u2019 the bird said, \u2018I am doing my bit.\u2019\u201d
This, Satyarthi said, \u201cis the story of me.\u201d
\u201cWhenever you feel the desire to take action and make a change, you are being the hummingbird. I am here to awaken the hummingbird in all of you,\u201d he said to a captivated audience at the Sattva Knowledge City in Hitec City.
In 1981, when the Nobel laureate was about 27 years old, a man named Wasel Khan, a bonded labourer in a brick kiln in Punjab, came to Satyarthi\u2019s home in Delhi begging him to write in his magazine named \u201cSangharsh Jaari Rahega (The struggle will continue)\u201d about how in his employer was trying to sell his daughter, Sabo, to traffickers for prostitution.
According to Satyarthi, the traffickers were offering Khan money to sell his daughter, after they were driven away from their home in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, in search of a livelihood.
\u201cI told Wasel that I will write about this after I rescue his daughter,\u201d he recalled.
The first time he tried rescuing her, along with some of his friends, he was beaten up and unable free anyone. \u201cI came back empty-handed but determined to carry forward,\u201d he said. The social worker came back to Delhi and filed a petition in the High Court.
\u201cIn a few days, I rescued 36 children and women from being trafficked. The children were jumping around in joy; the mothers hugged their children. I felt like I freed myself too,\u201d he said.
This incident, he said, gave him a clear purpose.
\u201cThis was the force of compassion, not sympathy or empathy,\u201d Satyarthi said, adding that he wants people to feel the same through his book.
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