Book: Heroes Amongst Us

Author: Dr Amit Nagpal

There is always something in each of us that excites us no end. If we pay heed to that inner fire we can achieve success in whatever we desire from the bottom of our hearts.

As singer Jon Bon Jovi aptly says:

“Nothing is as important as passion. No matter what you do with your life, be passionate”

And it is this passion that is brought out in some 30 stories of ordinary people from various walks of life across the world who followed their heart and achieved great heights in the direction they chose in this book “Heroes Amongst Us” by Dr Amit Nagpal.

The story of Bhikkhu Sanghasena, a revered Buddhist monk, from Ladakh shows how choosing a path of one’s calling gives joy and satisfaction. Sanghsena joined army as a soldier at the young age of 17. But his heart lay in following the austere life of Buddhism. Leaving the army life he chose to embrace a monk’s life and integrate both the disciplines, one that he imbibed from his training in army and other as a monk, to help his community and people of Ladakh.

Among some of his endeavors are educational institute, meditation center, shelters for underprivileged children, healthcare, Save The Himalayas Foundation and more. His selfless contribution to the society has received acknowledgement in the form of ‘National Award for Welfare of People With Disabilities’ by Indian government, World Peace Award by Gandhi Peace Foundation and ‘Man of the Year 2002’ by American Biographical Institute. The monk lives by the mantra of taking work as worship and finding joy in enabling others.

Then there is Dr Vartika Nanda, recipient of ‘Stree Shakti Puraskar’ the highest civilian honor for women in India who brought about reforms in Indian prisons. Introduced to fame through anchoring TV show at 11 years for Jalandhar Doordarshan, Vartika grew up to become a crime reporter and author. She worked through ZEE TV, NDTV and having seen the life of victims and criminals up-close, she set up ‘Tinka Tinka Foundation’ for reform of inmates of jails. The foundation helped many inmates with organic farming skills, improving literacy and reducing the sentence.

Vartika currently heads the department of journalism in Lady Shri ram College, Delhi University and her reports on condition of women and children in jails has been recognized by Supreme Court Of India. Her success mantra is ‘work with passion and purity’.

Osama Manzar‘s journey to success as Founder and Director of Digital Empowerment Foundation that works towards digitally empowering the masses is another inspiring story included in the book.

Having grown under strict father and failing to succeed in conventional academics and subsequently in finding job as journalist, Osama finally found his passion and calling in the world of internet. He started work as a writer with Computer World Magazine and invested much time in learning as much from the IT professionals he met during the job. Soon he moved to digital portalof Hindustan times and later co-authored the book ‘Internet Economy Of India’. In the process he realized that most of the rural Indian population was unconnected to the progressive world. He set up Digital Empowerment Foundation to connect the masses. His mantra; hard work and using common sense.

There are many such stories in the book reiterating the importance of passion, hard work and belief in self. Written as short stories that inspire the book is the kind of compilation that one can read even after a long gap since the stories vary and are about different people.

The common thread in all stories is of course passion and dedication to one’s dreams.

Pick up the book, now available world wide, if reading about ordinary people who made a life for themselves with determination motivates you to define your journey to success.