Lokmaya Tilak: the man who dared to dream

*Lokmanya Tilak

Swaraj is my birthright, and I shall have it!”- Lokmanya Tilak

Every child in India knows the above sentence and the man who said it. However, when he talked about it Swaraj was considered a hopeless dream, a mission impossible. The British had invested in a lot of propaganda to make Indians believe that British Raj was for their own good and how freedom wasn’t a happy outcome. Many Indian leaders shared the outlook. Bal Gangadhar Tilak was the first leader who not only challenged the idea but believed that freedom was possible.

Most of the leaders of that time preached from the dais but half of them weren’t eager to work along with the people. They considered the Indian people backward in ideas. Tilak was the leader of the masses and earned the title ‘Lokmanya’(acceptable to the people) with his involvement with the people from all strata of society.

A drop of water

Water is the driving force of all nature- Leonardo da Vinci

She was living her dream in a beautiful city and an adorable house, only if it weren’t for water supply shortage.

She stared at the dirty dishes in the sink wishing for the faucet to flow continuously.

She should have dreamed something different like life on the sea―a gorgeous yatch, her hair blowing in the wind, dancing waves.

Her reverie broke when she realised, she couldn’t use that water either.

Life would be just the same, beautiful yet empty.