THE COCONUT LAGOON OUTSIDE OUR WINDOWS
“I am sorry… Tried my best and I failed… Forgive me my ocean and my country.” With these words, Afroz Shah suspended the Varsova-beach-clean-up drive 110 weeks after he first started it… Alone, that was! But, has Afroz really failed? Not in my view. To me, Afroz is a winner… an inspiration… a true hero. I have always believed in Afroz’s kind of initiative, his kind of ‘social change’. “Don’t ask what your country can do for you; Ask what you can do for your country.” I was in ninth standard when I came across these inspiring words of JFK’s speech in our English text book. This was how Mahatma Gandhi, (Afroz’s inspiration) carried out his mighty movement of social change: “Be the change you wish to see in this world”… Yes, don’t wait for the authorities and others to do it. You do it… Start from you and others will join you. This was precisely how Mother Teresa went about carrying out her mammoth mission: “I alone cannot change the w...