I DON'T KNOW HIM .

'DA' of DA-IICT actually has various attributes associated with it . Wherever you go , you introduce yourself mentioning DA  , you are bound to catch eyes , just as what happened with me today while i was being introduced to the co-operative society officers . What's it with this DA that makes a student , as me , feel odd one out or rather a superior one in ? . Superior probably is the wrong word . Rather , i should represent the people associated with "DA" as high minds , 'High minds' was an adjective which caught my attention years back ,  way back in the ninth grade , when we studied a chapter entitled "Cutie Pie"  .

This day of mine led me into rediscovery or rather a re-interpretation of who actually a 'Big Person' is . Parents used to say , relatives used to say "Beta ek din bada aadmi banega"  ,  what i was thinking few hours back was that "Ye bada aadmi hota kya hain?" . Actually ,  i just chilled out over the fact that , a regular 18 year old guy sharing his name with "DA" on an ID card who is travelling in a train using this very ID card as his ID proof is being greeted by the ticket collector who says " Arrey saab , aap kyaa ID dikhaaoge , "DA" vaale ho " . That look on his face if by chance he checks the ID is of a guilty person who thinks he shouldn't have checked the ID . That's the power of 'DA' . Otherwise , what is DA-IICT  without 'DA' ?  .  These thoughts were playing catalyst in the chemical reaction which was going on in my mind , inputs being the co-operative society's ideologies , and the expected output as i said , was re-interpretation of a "Big Person" .

You see , there's a difference between a visionary and an entrepreneur.  An entrepreneur has a vision , but he does not know what lies down , down below . He does not know what a "Ground level reality" is . He does not know what is "Walking with people hand in hand" . He does not know what is coupling vision with a mission  . He does not know , how many people rely on him , he does not know how to wipe off teary eyes , he does not know how to snatch a rope from an about-to-commit-suicide-guy and hand him a plough instead .

All an entrepreneur knows is to make  "Money"  .  An entrepreneur is capable of setting up all standards and bars so high that barely can anyone manage to surpass them  . DA was an entrepreneur , DA stood up against all odds , from working at a petrol pump to owning thousands of them . DA was too sharp , actually a generation ahead for people of those times . He was too sharp , to leave behind everything and stand for just one thing , setting up his own empire . The one which we now feel obliged to be a part of , the one which gets us eyes wherever we go , even at a rural internship ,  the one which makes us feel the center of talk while sitting with a group of senior officials . You see , that's what DA was , he made me  , he made me a DA-iictian .

Late mansinh patel was a man with a mission , a mission collaborated with vision and strategies . He was  a man of the ground , for the ground and by the ground . I don't know him .  Being one of them , he knew and was well acquainted with the plight of farmers back then in 50s . I don't know him . He knew the military jawans at the border demanded of milk and powder supplies  during the time they were scarce . I don't know him . He persuaded the farmers on one hand to enter the cattle farming occupation and on the other hand set up a milk union . I don't know him . He acted as an intermediate between the both , trying his best to meet up the demand and supply of both ends . I don't know him . He knew what it was like , for a farmer to commit suicide , what it was for a "Nation of Farmers" to LOSE a farmer , he knew how ironic it was . Still , i don't know him . Progressing upon his visionary road , his firm met the requirements of the jawans single-handedly during the Indo-China war , supplying them milk and milk powder . I don't know him  .Today , living in gujarat , i have gained a 100 kilos , owing to some butter and ghee  ,  still i don't know him . His firm covers over 90 % of Gujarat operations , still i don't know him  .   Now , his firm 50 years since then has a turn over of over 6000 crores , still i don't know him . Wow  .

What did this man do ? . He wasn't a self-centered guy for sure  . Had he been ,  we wouldn't have ended up on crossroads . My interpretation of the man and the other man "DA" , is that both of them are necessary for a good societal existence . Both of them , attribute equally to society  . At the end of the day , both of them are creating jobs and in turn feeding families . But , as there is always a 'But'  , what we saw in the latter case was just a vision transformed huge . So was the former , but the ideologies and principles were more self-centered and let me just say it , greed-driven  .  They were for sure selfish motives which were capable enough of generating millions of jobs today , but in the building up of this road , those who were crushed , are forever forgotten . The latter case , nullifies this effect and provides  , as there always is , an alternative . If a brain in collaboration with heart can create a vision , a vision can create a feeling of togetherness  , a feeling of togetherness can inject peace into someone's mind , peace can transform the whole human being ,  definitely , a whole human being , a "BIG PERSON(Bada Aadmi)" can transform the whole world just with a vision .

"VISION" might not be a visible entity to everyone of us , but for whom it is , they are capable of doing wonders .

DA gave me this platform and for that i'll be forever obliged to him with all due respect , but now I KNOW HIM . He is the "BIG PERSON" . . .  Late mansinh patel and all others who share imprints deep back then forgotten somewhere in the past .

Now re-think 'big' in 'big-person' ?