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I was pleased to know that Narendra Modi ensures Bharat Ratna(highest civilian award in India) for Subhash Chandra Bose. Thinking about the great hero of the nation, I found myself trying to recall lessons from my history classes, a little curious I cross-checked with my facts. As I was reading about him  I came across an incident of his life.

He was a student at Calcutta University. Once his English teacher made a negative remark about Indians. He couldn’t bare the derogatory remarks, he took initiative and  protested demanding a public apology but the incident resulted in expelling him from college. 

A few lines about the incident from his  unfinished autobiography , “An Indian Pilgrim”– “ Lying on the bunk in the train at night I reviewed the events of the last few months. My educational career was at an end, and my future was dark and uncertain. But I was not sorry. There was not a trace of regret in my mind for what I had done.  I had rather a feeling of supreme satisfaction, of joy that I had done the right thing, that I had stood up for our honour and self-respect and had sacrificed myself for a noble cause” –

This keeps me thinking how often we face situations where we have an opportunity to stand for the right and fight for it. I have faced a few where I did stand for the right and also a  few where I didn’t. Sometimes it seems a little difficult, reasons have been many like the society, insecurity or failing to identify an opportunity. But whenever I stood for what I believed in , I was proud of myself and whenever  I had a dilemma, a sense of strong emotions said  “Others  can be wrong  but you can’t be wrong to yourself!”

I know it’s not very easy to stand up for your beliefs always but what we also know is , it’s not as tough as we make it! Emotions can be many to help you  find a reason not to stand up for the right but when you look at at a bigger picture you see “If you don’t do it, you can’t expect others to do it!”

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Life has no remote – Get up and change yourself!  

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