For growth: The benefits of connecting with people

Hasmukh Patel

I got a call from brother. 'I want banyan saplings. My daughter is getting married next winter. I want to plant 1000 paddy trees. Not only by sowing, but by growing and celebrating.' I didn't have that many seedlings. A few were planned to be sown. I thought I would tell them. In a few minutes I remembered a brother from Gandhinagar. Who does the work of sowing paddy with a lot of heart. I contacted them. He expressed his readiness to join the brother's mission to plant 1000 paddy trees. I contacted that brother within an hour and asked him to contact the brother from Gandhinagar. He said that I don't want to work with any organization, I want to sow alone. I said, 'You talk, if you agree, go ahead.' The brother from Gandhinagar does the work of Vad so wholeheartedly that I thought the brother would melt and freeze both of them. I thought that if both of them get together, not 1000, but 5000 plants will be planted and grow. When I messaged the brother and asked him, I found out that he has got the head, but I don't know from where. Normally I see any man as a new prospect, but this brother's language, and especially his tone, makes me shy away from pursuing him further. By keeping my faith in humanity diminishes. However, this is my limitation. How many things in life do we do alone? How many struggles do we face alone? When really help is at hand. Somewhere our ego moves, some where ability and strength, some where a strong desire to do something or everything by ourselves, some where a sense of self-sufficiency, some lack of trust in people or some where the worry of being insulted like me or even the ability and courage to communicate. lack of Often we don't realize, experience or have the skills to benefit from connecting with people. As for myself, I too did not understand the concept of public-participation initially. At the beginning of my career, the Gujarat government issued a circular to install furniture etc. in police units through public participation. My attitude then was that if we take charity from whomever we have to take action against him, we should hesitate. My opinion has not changed much even today, but I believe that people's participation in government and non-government activities is very beneficial. This is not just a matter of financial support of the happy people but of their active participation. It is because of public participation that the school entrance festival became a public campaign and the children of economically weaker sections, especially girls, became educated. In this monsoon we had set a target of 25000 plantations. No wonder if we cross 50000. We could not have done this alone. Even if it had been done, why so many people joined the tree planting campaign? They don't stop there. They will continue to do this for the rest of their lives, not just next year. They will not light alone, they will light other lamps. Some people want to grow trees, but they don't have the confidence to do it. The belief that they can also do this work is born in them is no small achievement. It would not be surprising if this confidence instilled in them the confidence to do other things successfully. Let me tell you another experience. I joined the Indian Police Service. No one in my family did any government job. I got Gujarat cadre. I was constantly afraid that if I was in a relationship with people, they would come to me to do wrong and I didn't know how to say no. After five years on the job, I had time to think quietly when I had to go to the United Nations Peace Keeping Mission. After discussing with my wife, I decided to join people for social work. It was hard because of my introverted nature, but what if I hadn't done it? So perhaps my pharaoh of human life would have been taken! Whatever the limitations of us or the circumstances, unless we join the people, the potential of us and the people will not be fully developed, will not be used by the creation.}