Part-1:
A real story of how a local “don” transformed into an inspirational soul.
It’s been proved over-n-over
again that “Destiny lies in one’s hand”. You either make it or break it. There
are numerous examples of people who have fought hardships of life before they
rose to prominence and inspired others. But 360° transformation is rare and
this is one rare and real.
It was one of the
routine guest lectures at Dhanwate National College, Nagpur. A bright sunny day
–hot, humid and fans overhead just seemed to be doing their set of duty for the
sake. One of our colleagues, Prof. Vinod Kudre, one of the most lively member
in the staffroom) in his loud voice introduced us to a man- Mr. Akhilesh Paul.
Prof. Kudre said- “He is Mr. Paul is our guest of honour today ”. Everything
was normal, until a high degree voltage shook me to bulge my eyes at its worst,
when Mr. Paul said-“I run an NGO, sponsored by FIFA”.
Here’s the journey of a
man from being a local don to a figure of staunch belief and inspiration. There
was an eight year-old boy who went to a municipal-run school. There was a huge
playground on his way to school. Every day he noticed a bunch of grown-up boys
in the playground doing “certain” things and passing time. This little boy
observed that these “big boys” were quite happy with the way they were.
Curiosity is the first step towards attaining expertise in any given field. One
fine day, the “little boy” could not hold himself from approaching these “big
boys” and there opened a new chapter in his life. The contents of this chapter
were smoking, drinking, gambling, stealing and even hurting someone for money.
The “little boy”, son
of a peon in some hospital, lived in the slums of Ajni, better known for people
involved with all kinds of wrong doings. This only added fuel to the
accelerating growth of this “little boy” – now an adolescent (Akhilesh Paul). The
easy money and merrymaking dominated over the ideology of hardworking father,
who earned too little to run his family appropriately.
Akhilesh like any
Bollywood don saga, completely smitten by the easy money and lavish life-style
demarcated his aim in life- He wanted to become a Don. His wishes were soon
answered by the Almighty and in hardly 2 years of self-proposed ambition, he
had 45 police cases registered with almost every police station in the city.
People were scared of him and he rose to the ill-fame in the city.
One fine day, he was
attacked by the goons in a broad daylight and he ran for his life and took
shelter at graveyard for about 2 months. He could neither go to the police as
they were in look-out for him for several cases. In these difficult days, none
of the people who sponsored his misdeeds extended their hand. This was an
important lesson for him.
Another incident which
completely changed his life forever was accidental meeting with Mr. Barse (a
Physical Education Teacher and Father of Soccer for Slums). Mr. Barse asked
Akhilesh and group to play football and in return, a Rs.5 note was given to
each. Taking it as no-loss deal. Akhilesh agreed. This went on for a few
(20)days until Mr. Barse stopped giving Rs.5 and even football to them(The idea
was to divert him to sports and make him understand that while playing no soul
could ever involve in any kind of wrong doings). Akhilesh found it hard to
do-away with his new found love-football. He could not resist the temptation
and made a ball out of bundle of clothes rolled and ties in shape of a
football. The interest in the sports grew stronger and Akhilesh made it to
State level, National level and was finally chosen to represent his nation in
the international team of Soccer for Slums. He even went ahead with the
responsibility of Captaincy for the pronounced team in 2010.
In his mid-thirties,
Akhilesh was summoned by Court to leave the city as he was a notorious one and
a threat to the society. He loved his parents dearly and took special
permission from the authorities to visit his parent’s place at night and leave
the city by dawn. He worked for a bar owner where he faced hoodlums of the
past. He apologised to each one of them and made sure that he wanted to lead a
normal life. It was this bar owner who played an instrumental part in
provisioning for Passport, so that Akhilesh could fly to his destination of
International Game.
Mr. Akhilesh Paul has
made the country proud time and again by playing well. He was applauded all
across the world for the kind of life he previously lead and what he was made
out of, in present- Indeed a 360° transformation.
In recent times he was
one among the critically selected guests at the nationally acclaimed charitable
reality show, Satyamev Jayate hosted by Superstar- Mr. Aamir Khan. The whole
nation heard him say and stood by him.
Today Mr. Akhilesh Paul
is leading normal life (which he dreamt of) and heading an NGO, supervising a
soccer team for slums and inspiring many more lives.
By:
Asst. Prof, Dept. of Business Administration,
(N.B: I was part of
this Guest Lecture at Dhanwate National College, Nagpur.)
(Pic courtesy: Prof. Kumar Dhanwani)
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