NICHOLAS WINTON Vs. ICE-BUCKET CHALLENGE

August 23, 2014

Pic.: Girish Gupta

“But when you give to the needy,

do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.”

- Jesus Christ

Have you heard about a man called Nicholas Winton?

Most probably, you haven’t...

At least, I hadn’t.

Last week, Ganesh Waran, one of my friends, who lives in Australia, had posted a BBC video-clip about this man... It was then I learnt, that he was one of the true unsung-heroes of World War – 2 times. Then, I got hooked on to his stories... searched more about him and learnt this:

Nicholas Winton was a handsome young-man, had a smooth-going life in England... Just before the War broke out, he had been on a holiday to Czechoslovakia, and, then, was left caught up, there, to accomplish the most unlikely mission of his life... He ended up saving the lives of 669 children, by secretly arranging to transport them to England. The parents of these children, mostly Jews, who knew what fate awaited all of them, wanted their little children, at least, to survive the holocaust of Nazis... Thus, Nicholas became their Moses... But, one can imagine the kind of risk, this Moses had taken upon him!

That was during the Nazi times...

The children Nicholas had saved were well brought-up, here, in England... All of them were adopted by great families... rose in life to become great citizens of the world... raised their own families, their children and grand children... But, amidst all this, they were unaware of the most important truth in their lives – that, it was because of a man called Nicholas Winton, that, they were all alive and thriving, now!

And, for fifty long-years, Nicholas kept the noble mission he had accomplished under the wrap... Not even his wife, Niki, knew about it. Then, one day, accidentally, the wife found the scrap-book of her husband... and, she was overwhelmed with awe! In spite of the colossal mission that her husband had accomplished, a word was not spoken about it even in the ears of his own wife!

So, it was Niki, the man’s wife, who got BBC in the picture... and, the rest became the great story!

A few months ago, Nicholas Winton completed his 105^th birthday... You can imagine, who must be the happiest souls on a celebration like that!

Now, what brings tears to my eyes and makes my hair stand on my body, is not the heroic act of Nicholas... It is the fact that he chose to keep it as ‘a quiet deed’ for over half a century... That would be a herculean task to accomplish to any human on this earth... Imagine, to keep it away from one’s own wife even!

When Ganesh shared this story, there was a strong urge in my heart to write something about Nicholas Winton... But, then, it had to wait till this morning...

This morning, I happened to see a Post (95.1 WAPE Jacksonville’s # 1 Hit Music station) shared by, Pragati Dudi, another friend of mine, who lives in the US. In the Post, a tough guy has a question:

“WHAT IF I TOLD YOU...

YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO DUMP ICE ON

YOUR HEAD TO DONATE TO CHARITY”

Believe me, my heart turned ice-cold when I read it!

I, immediately, decided to write on Nicholas Winton and found a befitting title, too:

“NICHOLAS WINTON Vs. ICE-BUCKET CHALLENGE!”