The best anecdote

One of the benefits of the wide travel and meeting people of varied interests and achievements is that you get to hear so much about many nice things. U will infact be loaded with anecdotes.

Gandhi is one special area in that, bcos of the enormous impact he has had across the country, nay globe. I always ask people (mostly farmers and other elders) in every village I go if they have met Gandhi. Lotsa old folks always have something interesting to say in that regard. Even in remote south TN town I have heard stories of how people have walked dozens of miles to have a glimpse of this man when he travelled that part. That is, when Gandhi went by in a train, they walked miles to have glimpse.

When I was talking about this to Jayesh Bhai, he gave me an anecdote which I rate as the best of what I have heard in a long time.

He was mentioning about an octogenarian who visited Sabarmati ashram the previous week (from my visit) and when asked what he was doing, that elderly man said he was running a school in some rural area of interior Gujarat.
For how many years? For some 60+ years now! How did it happen?
Read..
He was one of those who walked miles to have a glimpse of The man who was apparently crossing on a train. By the time this gentle man (then in his 20s) reached the station, the train started to move. So in a whiff our man shouts:
“ Bapuji, mein kya karoon” (What shall I do?)
And from the moving train in a sec the answer is “ shiksha dedho, school banadho” (give education; run a school)
And since then till date this old man (that young man) has educated scores of folks.

Talk of impact!! What a man he shud be to deliver a telling idea in a fraction of a minute and what an impact it could create!
Amazing aint?
I cant think of another anecdote beating this for some time to come.