REAL HEROES

I believe every one of us at some point in our lives need to read stories that inspire,

motivate and encourage. I hope these will prove to be such uplifting stories which

will provide food for our souls and boost our enthusiasm to be good Samaritans.

World evolves when we improve not only our lives, but also of those around us. I

believe that when we give more, we get more from life. Stories like this help us from getting sucked into scepticism created around us by many people in different ways.

Medicine Baba

Medicine baba gives a new meaning to the “the ones who are crazy enough to believe that they can change the world do change it”.

Mr. Omkar Nath Sharma, popularly known as medicine baba started collecting medicines by pleading on the street for unused medicines.

Babaji started collecting medicines when he realised the intense need of medicines in lower and middle class people who could not afford to buy medicines.

The life changing movement came, when he witnessed the collapse of a bridge of Delhi metro which was under construction in East Delhi in the year 2008. The collapse claimed the lives of two labourers and injured many others. The local hospital gave them a first aid, nothing else and the labourers had to go back home and ultimately they died as they could not afford the costly medicines.

This incident shook Omkarnathji and he became determined to do something so that such a thing did not happen again. Today Medicine baba, who is 75 years old, spends his days knocking on the doors in Delhi’s upper-middle class neighborhoods collecting leftover medicines and giving it to the needy. A number of small steps he took has resulted in a

giant leap where he has created a medicine bank for poor today and he continues to provide a medicines for the poor with his positive attitude and as a result a big problem has been solved.

It was a journey that he took up alone as friends and family criticized him for begging for medicines. But, he was working for a cause and not applause. He was strong enough to stand alone and work towards the goal he had set for himself. Stars don’t shine without darkness and at an age where people retire, he is still striving to save to accomplish something which is much bigger than himself and is building a world where there is care and compass

THE ICEMAN OF INDIA

Ladakh is a beautiful place with magnificent scenery and exquisite beauty which takes away the breath of any tourist. But living in this area is a completely different ball game. The locals had to struggle to meet the basic water needs every year.

It was Chewang Norphel’s remarkable innovative technology which relieved this region of its water woes. Norphel was born in 1936 and comes from a farming background and served in the Government for more than 36 years. He had to take an early retirement due to bad health conditions. Staying back at home is not what Norphel enjoyed.

Added to it were the poor living conditions in Ladakh, which constantly troubled him. But Norphel was a solution seeker and not someone who dwelled for long in his troubles. He decided to put his engineering skills to better use. Almost all the villages of Ladakh have buildings, bridges, roads, irrigation systems built by him but his biggest contribution came in the form of artificial glaciers.

Ladakh is a high altitude mountainous region with very little rainfall of 50mm annually. It depends solely on the water provided by melting glaciers. Unfortunately, the glaciers melt in May whereas the water is needed in April. The dearth of water pushes people away from their home town to big cities.

Norphel had his Eureka moment when he noticed that a small stream had frozen solid under the shade of Poplar trees, though the same stream flowed freely elsewhere. He realized the reason for this phenomenon was the water was moving too quickly to freeze but the Poplars had slowed the streams, therefore they froze.

Based on this knowledge, he created artificial glaciers by diverting a river into the valley and slowing its stream by constructing checks. The artificial

glaciers led to increasing the groundwater levels and also provided water for irrigation in the month of April. He constructed these glaciers at a lower level than the natural glaciers so that they melt earlier. This cause an expansion in the growing season.

By 2015, Norphel had built 15 artificial glaciers. The largest glacier that he built is 1000 feet long, 150 feet wide and 4 feet in depth. It can supply water to the entire village of 700 inhabitants. It costed a mere Rs. 90,000. This low cost model used only locally sourced material and the community help in construction.

His efforts have increased the agriculture production leading to an increase of locals. This has in turn reduced the migration to the cities and most importantly, water is closer to the villages and is available when they need it the most. Man does not always have to be responsible for disturbing the nature. Right intent and a simple idea can save earth and its people.

By: Dev Gupta Sakshi, 8A